Takeaways: Turnovers help Steelers handle Patriots

Steel City Underground presents post-game takeaways following each 2025 NFL regular season game that focuses on how the Pittsburgh Steelers performed, key statistics, their opponents and more! 

“A win is a win,” has become a common phrase, but the Pittsburgh Steelers could not seem to elevate the emotion of several turnovers into a more enthusiastic response. The 21-14 victory over the New England Patriots in Week 3 of the 2025 NFL regular season was what many would call an “ugly win.” Although some aspects of their play improved, it remains clear that the Steelers still have work to do to be more competitive. Yes, turnovers helped them handle the Patriots, but those positive plays should have helped them to make more of a statement than they did.

Steelers turnover tempo: arrow up

It’s rare to see one team give up as many turnovers as the Patriots did and remain competitive until the final minutes. New England hasn’t posted a five turnover game since they lost to Pittsburgh (33-10) on Nov. 30, 2008. Quarterback Drake Maye threw an interception (and nearly another) and lost a fumble on a sack; Antonio Gibson lost one and Rhamondre Stevenson fumbled twice.

Credit the Steelers for their pre-game practices that head coach Mike Tomlin inferred, following the game, included keying in on Stevenson’s history of poor ball control and working on creating opportunities for takeaways across the board. “We identify opportunities and certainly (Stevenson) had some fumble history last year and so it was an agenda of ours,” Tomlin said in his post-game press conference.

The issue was not with the takeaways, but two other related matters: the Steelers offense was not able to capitalize on each turnover and the defense wasn’t able to score off of any of them.

Line better, but offense still hot and cold

Quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who took no sacks in the game, admitted that he had confidence in his offensive line. He continues to work in the schemes Arthur Smith draws up, and that has led to him running into pressure. Rodgers, though, admitted the game was disjointed.

Speaking on the offense, Rodgers said, “We had three possessions in the first half. We had a chance on the third possession to keep it going … just Pat (Freiermuth) and I weren’t on the same page on the scramble drill. Then we sat on the bench for what seemed to be 20 or 30 minutes, so we just couldn’t get into a rhythm at all. Then we came out for the second half, and I made a terrible throw… we couldn’t find that rhythm in the second half.”

The Patriots offense won the time of possession battle 33:20 to 26:40 which meant that, despite turnovers created by the Steelers defense, the offense operated in a truncated fashion.

Balance between the run and pass (49 plays) was 64 yards on 24 attempts versus 139 yards on 16 completions. Pittsburgh converted just 17 first downs.

By comparison, New England’s offense ran 29 times for 119 yards versus 28 completions for 250 yards. The Patriots converted 26 first downs.

Had the defense not earned takeaways, the Steelers offense might have had even less time to orchestrate the fourth quarter drive that resulted in a nice throw from Rodgers to Calvin Austin for the go-ahead touchdown.

Pittsburgh needs to find more spark offensively.

Final thoughts

The Steelers got good participation from different players on defense this week that made a difference. Nick Herbig, in for injured Alex Highsmith, earned a strip sack. Brandin Echols grabbed an interception and made a shoestring tackle that forced the Patriots to turn the ball over on downs – giving Pittsburgh the victory. Derrick Harmon was back in the lineup and helped the run defense, especially in the middle.

Cameron Heyward and T.J. Watt stepped things up another level this week, too, applying more pressure and seeking out the ball.

Offensively, there still is not a clear pattern of who the game-in, game-out skill playmakers will be outside of Rodgers, Jaylen Warren, Kenneth Gainwell, D.K. Metcalf, Austin, and Pat Freiermuth. Jonnu Smith was fortunate to have his fumble roll out of bounds. No one else has truly emerged as a WR3. No other tight ends have been targeted much on routes.

To be truly explosive – as Tomlin and Omar Khan preached they desired this team to be ahead of the season – a lot more personnel on both sides of the ball need to step up their performances. That isn’t a dig against any individual, it’s an opportunity that needs to be addressed and embraced. For such a talented team, on paper, the Steelers have yet to show just how explosive they can be as a complete unit.