Coming into Week 2 with a loss under their belt, the New England Patriots will try to get their season back on track in front of their home crowd. To do so, they will have to get their revenge against a Pittsburgh Steelers team that managed to beat them the last time they met in 2025.
Naturally, most of our attention this week was on that particular game. However, there is a lot going on at One Patriot Place these days, so let’s clean out the notebook.
Welcome to the latest edition of our Sunday Patriots
Notes.
Search for takeaways
The Patriots defense is one of the best in the NFL, but it is lacking in one critical area: taking the ball away. Last regular season, the unit ranked just 19th in the league with 19 takeaways. This year, it failed to record a fumble recovery or interception — while throwing three picks themselves — in the season-opening loss to the Seahawks.
Naturally, the Patriots are looking for ways to get better at creating turnovers.
“We focus on it like crazy,” said defensive coordinator Zak Kuhr. “We focus on it in training camp, in OTAs, now. It’s about the opportunity. Capitalizing on opportunity, in my opinion, is the biggest thing on takeaways. And the way you do that is you get more attempts.”
For free agency pickup Kevin Byard, who led the NFL with seven interceptions last season, those attempts need to come within the framework of the defensive structure.
“You can’t chase plays,” Byard said. “You can’t try to go out here and just say we’re going to get turnovers and just try to magically just go make a play that’s not for you. We have to stay true to the defense, stay true within the scheme. But for us, it’s going to be more about trying to get those attempts at the ball.
“When I say attempts at the ball, just like, last week I think Jaylen Warren fumbled the ball, guys swarming the little check-down and the defensive line comes from the line of scrimmage and punches the ball out. I think those are the things that we can probably take to the next step as a defense. I think interceptions will come. Those things come in bunches. Those aren’t situations where, if you’re playing man coverage, you just turn around and look at the ball and you’re not covering your man. I think it’s one of those situations where the interceptions will come, but it’s more about getting those attempts at the ball carrier.”
Of those 19 regular season turnovers mentioned above, nine came in the form of fumble recoveries. That was good enough for 10th in the league. The interceptions, meanwhile, were not on the same level: despite fielding one of the NFL’s top cornerbacks in Christian Gonzalez, New England’s 10 picks ranked them only 18th.
Gonzalez did come close to an INT last week versus Seattle, but he dropped a Drew Lock pass attempt that landed in his hands. Needless to say, the Pro Bowler wants to get better at finishing plays.
He also thinks the Patriots as a whole need to get better at communicating on the defensive side of the ball.
“It just comes down to communication,” he said, “getting us in the right spot and then capitalizing and making the play.
Home opener blues
Historically, the Patriots are a pretty good team playing at home. However, Gillette Stadium has witnessed a disappointing streak as of late: between 2021 and 2025, the team has not won a single of its home openers:
- 2021: 17-16 loss vs. Miami Dolphins
- 2022: 37-26 loss vs. Baltimore Ravens
- 2023: 25-20 loss vs. Philadelphia Eagles
- 2024: 23-20 (OT) loss vs. Seattle Seahawks
- 2025: 20-13 loss vs. Las Vegas Raiders
The Patriots’ last victory in their first home regular season game came in 2020, when quarterback Cam Newton led the team to a 21-11 win over the Miami Dolphins.
Replacing Carlton Davis
The Patriots’ defensive quest for takeaways will be without Carlton Davis on Sunday versus Pittsburgh. The starting cornerback was ruled out for the game because of a neck injury, meaning New England will have to adjust at the position.
How? By primarily relying on two players, Marcus Jones and Charles Woods.
“It will be Marcus and Charles Woods that will come in and play a little bit more in those spots and situations,” said cornerbacks coach Justin Hamilton. “Both guys have quality reps outside and inside. That’s valuable from training camp and through the past, with Marcus last year seeing some of that. But to have two guys that are multiple enough to be able to play in two corner groups outside and then come in and play in the slot is very valuable for us.”
Mike Smith-Aaron Rodgers connection
Two members of the NFL’s 2005 draft class will be in the spotlight on Sunday, albeit in different capacities. On one side, Aaron Rodgers will lead the Steelers offense as its starting quarterback; on the other, Mike Smith will try to help disrupt the future Hall of Famer.
The difference is, Smith will do so not from the field but the sidelines: he is in his second season coaching the Patriots’ outside linebackers, despite getting drafted the same year as Rogers.
“It blows my mind,” Smith said about their connection. “Somebody said the other day about 2010, I was with the Jets and we played New England in the playoffs. I was like, ‘God, that was like 16 years ago.’ And I was like, ‘Oh my god, wait a minute, 16 years? Aaron Rogers is still playing.’ It’s like, ‘What the heck?’ That’s just credit to him.”
Whereas Rodgers was selected 24th overall in the first round in 2005, Smith remained on the board until the 234th pick in Round 7. His career also was significantly shorter, ending after just four seasons and 14 games. For comparison, Rodgers will start his 280th career game on Sunday.
“One guy had a better career than the other guy,” said Mike Vrabel. “He’s done it for a lot of years at a very high level, a Hall of Fame player. I guess it’s funny to think that they’re the same age and they got drafted the same year.”
Gabe Jacas’ tracetory
Due to injury and a drawn-out contract negotiation process, second-round draft pick Gabe Jacas had a slow start to his Patriots career and some rough stretches both in training camp and preseason. The season opener against Seattle was a different story, though: while only playing 19 snaps, Jacas registered a sack and a tackle for loss.
“I saw growth and that’s what’s most important, there is improvement,” said Zak Kuhr. “There’s going to be bumps and bruises along the way, and he’s going to get some good experience. We just have to look through the bumps and bruises and make sure that’s not the same mistakes. But I thought he played hard, he played physical, he played fast. Just have to clean up some details and technique. We want this week to look better than last week.”
“Just playing a little bit faster, seeing things,” added Mike Smith. “It takes time. We still have a long way to go, but things are starting to slow down, starting to recognize for him. We had loads of extra time to prepare for Seattle, but [this] is the player we expected to see and we’ve just got to continue from where that was at and keep building.”
Big nickel advantages
In its first training camp with Zak Kuhr as coordinator, the Patriots defense opted to incorporate more big nickel looks with three safeties on the field. In the season opener versus Seattle, the team used that package on 40% of snaps.
“It gives you some versatility in some calls and some structures,” Kuhr explained. “When you play these teams that like to move around a ton, sometimes it just helps you to have that extra second-level defender rather than having a defender on the line of scrimmage. It just gives you some more multiplicity and you can kind of get to some different coverages easier with those guys than with the bigger guys.”
Pass lane disruption
When describing the Steelers’ identity this week, Mike Vrabel specifically mentioned size and length. It’s something no player will be more directly confronted with than Drake Maye.
The Patriots’ starting quarterback will not just try to avoid the long reach of edge rushers such as T.J. Watt but also attempt to throw passes through what will be a forest of arms.
“I think it’s hard to look at when they’re jumping and when they’re trying to get hands up,” Maye said. “Cam Hayward had one last year that got tipped in the end zone and got picked. So, they have a special feeling for it, and they’ve done a lot in their careers of making plays, pass rush, and pass breakups. So, it can’t be something I’m really thinking about. They’re going to try to get their hands up.
“I think just finding good passing lanes and moving around the pocket in some different ways. But really, I think it’s easy to say quick game, but at the same time, they know they’re going to get their hands up fast. So, it’s just being cognizant of it, whether it’s technique or little things to get the hands down.”
Settlement information
The Patriots have released multiple players with injury settlements over the last few weeks, but only in three of six cases have they actually agreed to pay a settlement sum. According to a report by salary cap expert Miguel Benzan, only offensive lineman Andrew Rupcich, defensive tackle Isaiah Iton and safety Eric Butler were financially compensated:
- RB Jam Miller: $0
- RB Terrell Jennings: $0
- WR Jimmy Kibble: $0
- OL Andrew Rupcich: $94,167 (3-week salary)
- DT Isaiah Iton: $28,611 (1week salary)
- S Eric Butler: $143,506 (5-week salary)
Players released by a team with a settlement are allowed to return after an agreed-upon settlement period. This means that, theoretically, all six could come back to New England at some point.
TreVeyon Henderson defense
For the second time over the last six months, TreVeyon Henderson was in the headlines because of a social media post. When asked about it this week, however, head coach Mike Vrabel came to the second-year running back’s defense.
“I think he’s handled it maturely, and I think he tried to explain himself,” Vrabel said. “TreVeyon Henderson is a special person, a great teammate. I love being around him. I think he’s pretty much spoke on what he thought and what he believes, and I think that that’s impressive for him to be able to speak on it. I’ll leave it up to him.”
Week ahead
The Patriots will host the Steelers at Gillette Stadium for a 1 p.m. ET kickoff on Sunday. From there, they are in their typical regular season mode.
This means Mike Vrabel media availability on Monday, off-day on Tuesday, and three straight practices plus injury reports from Wednesday through Friday. The team will then hold a final walkthrough on Saturday before traveling to Jacksonville for a 1 p.m. ET game with the Jaguars.
