Offensive woes: "Clearly not good enough," said Steelers coach Mike McCarthy. "That starts with me."
While quarterback Aaron Rodgers countered that McCarthy "is going to take accountability, sometimes when it's not his fault," the coach took that accountability for the offensive struggles anyway in the 20-3 loss to the New England Patriots.
The Steelers didn't score a touchdown, but they did have one more first down than the Patriots, the same number of turnovers, one fewer penalty, five-plus more minutes of possession, and were outgained by only 92 yards. Yet, the Steelers could only gain more than 20 yards on one play, a 26-yard check-down pass that Jaylen Warren took to the 4-yard line, the Steelers' furthest advance of the game.
"As an offensive coach, I always welcome the opportunity to play against pressure defense," said McCarthy. "I think it's clearly an opportunity for big-play potential. That was not the case today. We didn't answer the bell. Our protections weren't clean."
Rodgers completed 23 of 29 passes for 187 yards, but on throws of 10-plus air yards, he connected on just 3 of 9 passes for 49 yards. He's 0 for 9 this season on passes of 20-plus air yards.
"We just didn't get into a rhythm," said Rodgers. "I didn't feel like there was anybody that had an exceptional game out there. We all played below our standard."
Patriots pressure: Rodgers was blitzed on 39% of his dropbacks, his highest rate with the Steelers. Overall, he was sacked four times, fumbled twice, and threw an interception. The Patriots blitzed on 18 total dropbacks, their most since Week 10 of 2024. On those blitzes, the Steelers gained only 43 passing yards.
"Good pressure plan," said McCarthy. "I think the biggest thing is the pressure and the challenging of our routes, man-to-man. We expected that this week. That's the way we prepped to come into the game. We did not execute, so you've got to give them credit."
The Steelers have one of the youngest offensive lines in the NFL and McCarthy was asked if changes are possible.
"If you're making the same mistakes, whether you're young or a veteran, that's what we have to address," he said.
Turn down the volume: McCarthy said he felt his team struggling in practice during the middle of last week, and felt he should've reacted with less in the playbook.
"If it's not clean, you cut the volume down, and we're not clean on offense," he said. "So, the volume is getting cut down. That's the first starting point, and that's my fault. I felt it earlier in the week. We've got a quarterback that could play at any volume of game plan, but at the end of the day, it's a team game."
McCarthy, for the second week, pointed to one of his former mentors, Marty Schottenheimer, as a teacher of the term "volume."
"When the volume is up, you know when you're pushing the envelope, too," McCarthy explained. "You want to push your players, but end of the day, you've got to do it to win a game. We came here to win a football game, fully expected to win a game, were in the game, even, for as many things as we didn't do right on offense. Just the basics weren't there, too, with the ball on the ground a number of times. When the detail is not right, that starts with the coaching, and we have to get that cleaned up."
Without Pittman: In the opener, Michael Pittman Jr. led the Steelers with 58 receiving yards. But he missed Sunday's loss with a foot injury and the Patriots matched their best cover cornerback, Christian Gonzalez, against the Steelers' other Week 1 starting wide receiver, DK Metcalf.
Gonzalez was isolated on Metcalf a career-high 34 times and limited him to 3 receptions for 11 yards. Overall, Metcalf finished the game with 4 receptions for 27 yards. In two games, Metcalf has 8 receptions for 67 yards.
"I'm not worried about it," said Rodgers. "We're going to get it sorted out. We've been on the same page since I came back. I'll talk with DK like I always do, and we'll be fine."
"All this really leads to one thing, and that's your players being confident," said McCarthy. "When you're not having success, when things aren't rolling, flow is important. We talk about getting up-tempo and playing out of the huddle and putting our players in position through rhythm, timing, execution, and when it's not there, that's what happens."
Solid defense: McCarthy complimented the performance of a Steelers defense that again allowed only 13 points.
"You hold them to 13 points, I expect to win every game we line up in," McCarthy said.
Late in the third quarter, the Steelers were down only 10-3. But a 45-yard Patriots field goal on the next series was followed by the fumble return for a touchdown and the Patriots suddenly had the game secured at 20-3.
"The defense has been playing great," said Rodgers. "They've been holding [opponents] to 13 points a game in two games, and offensively, I think we're averaging like 8 points a game. That's not winning football."
The Steelers pressured Patriots quarterback Drake Maye on 48.1% of his dropbacks, the third-highest rate in a game in his career. He completed 6 of 10 passes for 89 yards and was intercepted by Patrick Queen while under pressure.
Explosives: T.J. Watt took no solace in the defensive statistics compiled by the Steelers.
"We have a lot of great players. We have great scheme. I feel like we can create havoc in the backfield," said Watt. "It's just a matter today of the explosives. There were, I think, three or four explosive plays that can't happen. They're devastating."
The Patriots had five plays of 29-plus yards, topped by a 63-yard catch by Romeo Doubs that set up a field goal for a 13-3 lead. The Patriots scored their first touchdown on a 39-yard run through the middle by TreVeyon Henderson.
"They're unacceptable," Watt said. "Can't have any explosives, especially when you're playing good football everywhere else as a defense. I think in the NFL, man, if you bust the coverage, if you don't rush when you're supposed to rush, or whatever, those things get exposed quickly."
Sack exchange: Watt led the Steelers with 1.5 sacks to give him 3.5 in the first two games of the season. But Watt deflected any praise to his protégé, Nick Herbig.
"Hats off to Herb," Watt said. "Truly a great locker room guy, a good teammate, a guy that's continually on the rise, a guy that will do whatever he has to do to help this team win. I have a lot of respect for him and his mentality, and the football gods pay those guys off. He works hard and he performs well on Sundays consistently."
Against the Patriots, Herbig forced a fumble (recovered by Payton Wilson), made 7 tackles, and led the Steelers with 3 tackles for loss.
Alex Highsmith also had a sack and led the Steelers with 3 QB hits. Defensive tackle Derrick Harmon led the team with 8 tackles and had half a sack.
