Matt's Stats: Week 2 at Patriots

SERIES HISTORY

This series began in 1972 with the Steelers winning the first two matchups and five of the first six. Overall, New England leads 19-17 including five playoff matchups. Pittsburgh's only postseason win over the Patriots was a 7-6 victory in the divisional round after the 1997 season. The Patriots have won the last three of the last four meetings, but the Steelers won in New England last year. In the last 20 meetings dating to December 1998, New England is 15-5.

MATCHUP OVERVIEW

• The Steelers have been to eight Super Bowls, winning six. New England has been to 11, also winning six. This is the most of any of the 32 franchises.

• The Patriots were 6-3 at home last year while Pittsburgh was 5-3 on the road.

• After playing on Wednesday, New England will have a four-day rest advantage over the Steelers.

• New England has lost five straight home openers.

• Last week was coach Mike McCarthy and quarterback Aaron Rodgers' first shared win since Week 10, 2018. That is 2,863 days between wins of a head coach/quarterback duo, the third-longest gap of such a duo since 1950.

• Drake Maye is now 1-12 against teams with a winning record as New England's starting quarterback.

• Last week, New England held the ball for 34:17 and ran 19 more plays than the Seahawks. When these teams met a year ago, New England ran 71 plays compared to 49 by the Steelers and possessed the ball for 33:20. Pittsburgh possessed the ball for 28:53 last week.

• Patriots running backs failed to gain yardage on a league-worst 29.2% of their runs in Week 1. Pittsburgh's running backs were at 27.8%, 31^st.

• In the meeting last season, Pittsburgh won the turnover battle, 5-1. New England's current -3 turnover ratio is the worst in the NFL, tied with Tampa Bay. Maye threw three interceptions in the fourth quarter last week.

• Last season, the Patriots ran the most offensive plays in the league when leading on the scoreboard.

WHEN PITTSBURGH HAS THE BALL

• The Steelers averaged 4.1 yards per play in Week 1, better than only the Broncos, Vikings and Titans. New England allowed 5.9, better than only seven defenses.

• The Steelers ran 58% of their offensive snaps out of 11 personnel (three WRs) in Week 1.

• The Patriots employed their nickel package on 91.7% of defensive snaps in Week 1 and didn't play a snap in dime.

• Pittsburgh had 37 called dropbacks vs. 12 called runs against the Falcons.

• Since the start of last season, New England allows the ninth-fewest passing yards per game (206.1).

• Rodgers attempted 26 passes in the first half last week, his most in six years. Last year Rodgers had a league-low 2.52 average time to throw coupled with the shortest average depth of target (6.0 air yards). Last week those jumped to 2.85 seconds and 10.5 air yards. Rodgers hasn't thrown an interception in his last 272 pass attempts.

• When these teams met last year, Pittsburgh didn't have a pass-catcher accumulate more than 34 receiving yards.

• DK Metcalf only left the field Week 1 for kneel-down situations at the end of the game. Michael Pittman Jr. played all the 11 personnel snaps as well as all but one 12 personnel (two tight ends) snap. Roman Wilson played 37 snaps last week compared to just 3 from Germie Bernard.

• Against Atlanta, Metcalf averaged over 20 air yards per target, a mark he didn't hit in any game last season. He caught 4 of 10 targets. Metcalf had 32 receiving yards when these teams met last season. He had a 27% target share in Week 1 compared to 19% in 2025. 86.7% of Metcalf's snaps were aligned outside against Atlanta.

• Pittman aligned on the outside for 75% of his snaps. He caught all three passes thrown his way and ran a route on 92.9% of dropbacks.

• Tight end Robert Tonyan saw the field for just two snaps compared to 49 by Pat Freiermuth and 44 for Darnell Washington. Washington did out-snap Freiermuth on early downs in 11 personnel, and the Steelers ran the ball on 47.6% of Washington's snaps compared to 28.9% for Freiermuth. Freiermuth's 73% snap share was higher than any game last year.

• Freiermuth caught five passes in Week 1, including a touchdown. That matches the most receptions Freiermuth had in any game last year.

• New England blitzed on 44.4% of Seattle dropbacks, fifth highest of Week 1.

• The Steelers ran for 64 yards on 26 carries when these teams met last season. In the 2025 season, New England gave up just 77.1 rushing yards per game to running backs, fifth best.

• The Steelers averaged 2.8 yards per carry last week. They rushed for 58 yards, lowest in the league Week 1, but had 61 before kneeling out the clock. Pittsburgh averaged -1.3 yards before first contact, last in the league.

• Rico Dowdle out-snapped Jaylen Warren, 39 to 25, against Atlanta. On third downs, Dowdle had nine snaps compared to two for Warren. There was only one drive in that game in which one of these two backs entered the game after the other started the series. Dowdle touched the ball 10 times but finished with 21 yards.

• Fullback Riley Nowakowski saw the field for eight plays.

• Seattle was 2 of 11 on third downs against the Patriots while Pittsburgh's offense was 3 of 13 against Atlanta.

WHEN NEW ENGLAND HAS THE BALL

• The Patriots averaged 4.1 yards per play last week, better than only Denver, Minnesota and Tennessee. Pittsburgh allowed 4.2, sixth best. New England averaged 5.2 yards per play when these teams met last season.

• In Week 1 New England was in 11 personnel 59.7% of the time and utilized 12 personnel at a 22.4% clip. They also used 21 personnel 7.5% of the time with a fullback on the field.

• Last year a league-leading 32.9% of New England's pass plays gained 10 or more yards and they led the league with 85 plays of 20+ yards.

• In Maye's most recent five games including last year's postseason, he has thrown seven touchdowns compared to 11 turnovers with seven interceptions and four fumbles lost. He has taken 24 sacks over those five games, losing 143 yards from sacks. Maye has averaged just 6.6 yards per attempt during this stretch. He threw three interceptions and took three sacks last week. Last year, Maye led the NFL with a 72% completion percentage as well as his 8.9 yards per attempt. Last week Maye averaged 6.2 air yards per attempt compared to 9.1 in 2025. He averaged 5.9 air yards per attempt last year against Pittsburgh, his lowest of the 2025 season, and Maye did not attempt a pass over 20 yards in that game.

• Wide receiver A.J. Brown played 31 snaps in New England's opener before leaving with an injury early in the second half. The Patriots wide receiver snap counts ended up as Mack Hollins (50), DeMario Douglas (44), Romeo Doubs (40), Brown (31) and Kyle Williams (12). Williams only had two first-half snaps. Hollins was on the field for 31 of a possible 35 snaps after Brown's injury. Douglas led the Patriots with a 79% route share for the game.

• Only two tight ends saw the field for New England last week, Hunter Henry for 54 snaps and Eli Raridon for 38. Henry had a route share of 62% compared to 19% for Raridon.

• Henry was New England's leading receiver with eight catches for 90 yards and two touchdowns when these teams played last season.

• Last week tight end Kyle Pitts was only targeted once and didn't have a reception in Pittsburgh.

• Running back Bijan Robinson caught eight passes in Week 1, but all remaining Falcons caught just four passes.

• Maye was sacked five times when these teams met last year, twice by T.J. Watt.

• The Steelers blitzed on just 7.7% of Atlanta's dropbacks last week, the lowest blitz percentage in the league.

• After three against Atlanta, Cameron Heyward now has 34 batted passes since 2021, most in the NFL. Watt is second with 30. Watt also had an interception return for a touchdown in Week 1 to go along with two sacks. Watt only had one multi-sack game in 2025. Watt is now only the second player in NFL history along with Julius Peppers with at least 100 sacks and 10 interceptions. As a team, Pittsburgh has 41 batted passes from 2023-2025. Not only is that most in the league, but no other defense has more than 33.

• Heyward played 32 snaps last week, his lowest number of snaps in a game that he finished since 2013.

• Watt and Alex Highsmith were two of six players to record two sacks in Week 1. Pittsburgh had a sack rate of 15.4% last week, third best.

• Highsmith played 41 snaps. Nick Herbig played 39. Watt played 38. There were 12 snaps with all three players on the field together. Jack Sawyer played 23 snaps.

• The Patriots averaged 3.5 yards per carry in Seattle, but excluding Maye's rushing attempts, New England averaged just 1.9 yards per carry from their running backs.

• TreVeyon Henderson was inactive in Week 1. In turn, Rhamondre Stevenson was on the field for 60 of a possible 71 snaps. Stevenson played every third-down snap. His 85% snap share was third highest among all running backs. Against Seattle, Stevenson averaged just .33 yards before contact, which would have ranked last among all running backs in 2025. Including the postseason, Henderson was asked to pass-block just 48 snaps during his rookie year compared to 112 for Stevenson. Henderson had four runs of 50+ yards last year, tied for most by a rookie.

• Reggie Gilliam played 13 snaps at fullback in Week 1.

• Maye rushed for 450 yards in 2025.

• Payton Wilson had a 95% snap share last week, the highest of his career. That was the first time since Week 9 of the 2025 season that he reached 80%.

• In last season's meeting, New England went for it on fourth down five times, converting four.

• Pittsburgh's defense held the Falcons to 2 of 12 on third downs.

• In Week 1, Atlanta failed to run one play in the red zone.

• After having the league's worst fourth l-quarter defense (10.9 points allowed) in 2025, the Steelers gave up just three points in the fourth quarter in Week 1.

SPECIAL TEAMS

• Steelers kicker Chris Boswell now has 301 made field goals in his regular season career. Boswell is currently eight field goals behind Gary Anderson for the most all time in Steelers history.

Most Memorable Moment: Jan. 27, 2002, Heinz Field: Patriots 24, Steelers 17 (AFC Championship)

This was the Steelers' first matchup against Tom Brady, who was just 25 years old when this game occurred. Brady's squad was a huge underdog coming to Pittsburgh to play the top seed in the AFC. The Steelers had only lost three games all year. Brady was a relative unknown in his 16^th career start, and New England had just snuck past the Raiders the previous week in what is now referred to as "The Tuck Rule Game." The Patriots led this game 14-3 at halftime in what was a defensive struggle to that point, but Troy Brown got New England on the scoreboard first with a punt return for a touchdown. Brady had to leave the game late in the second quarter and was replaced by Drew Bledsoe, who ignited the Patriots offense, ending the half with a touchdown pass to David Patten. The Steelers rallied late with Kordell Stewart at the controls, but it wasn't enough. New England went on to pull off another upset against "The Greatest Show on Turf" Rams, beginning an amazing legacy for Brady, Bill Belichick, and the Patriots of the 2000s.

KEY MATCHUPS

Patriots RT Morgan Moses vs. Steelers EDGE T.J. Watt

Watt put on a show last week. He was a dominant player against the run and pass and made the play of the game against the Falcons. With the wealth of top edge players the Steelers have, the veteran Moses could have Watt one-on-one quite a bit throughout this matchup.

Steelers WR DK Metcalf vs. Patriots CB Christian Gonzalez

Gonzalez spent much of Week 1 following Jaxon Smith-Njigba. Smith-Njigba didn't catch a pass when being guarded by Gonzalez. Of course, we don't know for sure that Gonzalez will follow Metcalf, but that does seem like a logical conclusion. The Steelers fed Metcalf in Week 1 as their top receiver. Gonzalez could make that difficult to pull off.