FOXBORO – (Wire Service Report) – Aaron Rodgers tossed a 17-yard touchdown pass to Calvin Austin on a third-and-6 play with 2:16 remaining in the game to help the visiting Pittsburgh Steelers defeat the New England Patriots 21-14 Sunday.
New England moved the ball to the Pittsburgh 28-yard line on its final possession before turning the ball over on downs.
The Patriots (1-2) committed five turnovers in the loss, including two fumbles by running back Rhamondre Stevenson. Running back Antonio Gibson and quarterback Drake Maye each lost a fumble, and Maye was intercepted once. Stevenson fumbled seven times last season, which was the most among NFL running backs.
“We don’t need to lose a football game to know that turnovers are very hard to overcome,” said Patriots coach Mike Vrabel. “They erase all the good things that you do. They take away momentum. They take away points, give them field position. We didn’t need to turn it over as many times as we did to learn a lesson. I think we knew that before. So, it was very unfortunate.”
Tight end Hunter Henry caught two TD passes for New England, which had a 369-203 edge in total yards.
The Steelers (2-1) took a 14-0 lead by scoring on each of their first two possessions. The first TD was set up by a Stevenson fumble that gave Pittsburgh the ball on its own 46-yard line. The Steelers capitalized when Kenneth Gainwell scored on a 1-yard run with 8:25 remaining in the first quarter.
“There’s a lot to clean up,” said Vrabel. “A lot of good in there, but unfortunately just not enough to get us the win, to get us to really have any sort of advantage in the football game. Every time I felt like we were going to take the momentum and be able to score and move forward in the game, and the defense did a great job there. Unfortunately, it got to be one too many opportunities on their part.”
It was 14-0 after DK Metcalf caught a 12-yard TD pass from Rodgers and Chris Boswell made the PAT with 13:49 left in the second quarter. The play moved Rodgers into fourth place in career NFL TD passes with 509. He trails Tom Brady (649), Drew Brees (571) and Peyton Manning (539).
The Patriots scored on a 5-yard pass from Maye to Henry with 9:01 left in the first half. New England had a chance to tie the game later in the half, but Cam Heyward tipped a Maye pass that was intercepted by Bradin Echols in the end zone with seven seconds remaining in the second quarter.
New England tied the game when Henry hauled in a 16-yard TD pass on a fourth-and-two play with 14:56 left in the fourth quarter. The Andres Borregales PAT made it 14-14.
Pittsburgh scored the go-ahead TD after Maye fumbled and the Steelers recovered on their own 33.
The Steelers got two sacks from T.J. Watt.
–Field Level Media