And just like that, we’re back in the win column.
The Patriots needed to bounce back after a rough season opener, and they were able to take care of business at home against the Steelers. It wasn’t the greatest win in team history, and losing Mike Onwenu really, really sucks. But 20-3 against a 2025 playoff team isn’t anything to laugh at.
- Opening the season on a Wednesday night made it feel like nine years had passed between Week 1 and Week 2 for this team. It also feels like an unfathomable amount of activity has transpired between then and now. But honestly, there really hasn’t been that much.
- What should be familiar, though — at least to those who have been around for a while — is the narrative surrounding a win like this one. Double digits, kept the opponent out of the end zone, plenty to be happy about, a strong bounceback, incredible defensive performance… and all the Boston media can talk about is what a disaster this team is.
- We used to get wins like this all the time during the Brady Era; the Patriots would beat the Ravens or the Bills or the Steelers by 14 or 23 points and Tom Brady would throw for 248 with a TD and a pick and all anyone could hear was how many points the team left on the field and how sluggish the offense looked. I’d be totally fine with New England racking up wins like this one for the rest of the season.
- That said… did Drake Maye look great out there? Not at all. That’s four interceptions in two games for him. And this New England offense hasn’t found its second gear yet. No Patriots receiver caught more than three passes all game and other than a few chunk plays, there weren’t a ton of offensive highlights. But that’s just fine with me. This was as close to a must-win game as you can get in Week 2, and the Patriots were in control from start to finish.
- Mostly because of the defense, which looked lights-out. If Pittsburgh had an offensive highlight, I certainly missed it. And this isn’t a terrible Steelers team. They aren’t great, but they aren’t trash either.
- If history is any indicator, Rhamondre Stevenson will fumble three more times over the next two weeks, and then he won’t have another one for the rest of the year.
- I’m trying to be as objective as possible on the heels of this win, as it’s easy to become a prisoner of the moment. It felt like New England had this one well in hand from the opening kickoff, and game-planned accordingly based on that confidence. I’m not overly concerned about Drake Maye, and I’m not sure whether or not I should be. I can’t figure out whether or not Romeo Doubs is any good. I don’t really know what this offense is supposed to look like sans A.J. Brown. I’m very concerned about the offensive line depth now that Onwenu is out with what seems to be a broken ankle. I’m happy with what I saw from the defense and feel like the offense doesn’t need to score 40 points a game if the D can remain consistent. But mostly, I’m just happy with the win.
- I apologize for the brevity of today’s Fan Notes; this was my annual game that I attended with my old man, bringing our streak up to 27 years now of going to at least one game per year. My plan was to jot some thoughts down on my phone as I was watching, but the degernates in Section 307 made that very difficult.
- I’m also still reeling from the price of beer at Gillette these days. Two aluminum bottles of Bud Light can run you damn near $40 if you’re not careful. If drinking alchohol didn’t have so many scientifically proven health benefits, I’d probably give it up due to lack of affordability.
- But I’m glad I got to see Aaron Rodgers play live at least once, even though he’s nowhere close to what he once was. I know he has said that it’s his last season a few times now, but I imagine that this really has to be it.
- The things I’m going to be paying attention to this week, besides how they’re going to reshuffle the offensive line:
- What will the backfield split look like? Henderson is clearly the big-play threat, but Stevenson is still a more consistent between-the-tackles runner when he actually hangs onto the ball.
- I don’t think there’s anything to be worried about in regards to the kicking game. But I also don’t trust how not worried I am about the kicking game.
- With two road games coming up against the Jaguars and Bills, I can’t see a duplicate of today’s performance leading to a 2-0 record over that stretch.
- I also think that the Patriots could very easily go 2-0 over that stretch. This might not be an overly exciting offense, but they have the pieces in place to win games. I’d love to see Drake Maye go all Chad Pennington on the NFL in 2026 and put together a series of 18-play, 48-yard drives that eat up nine minutes of play clock and end in points. That might be the formula going forward.
I think we’re going to know a lot more about this team by this time next week. The Jags looked like a completely different team yesterday than they did Week 1, and the Pats have a legit chance to build some momentum. I can also 100% see a scenario where they play like complete crap and close out the first quarter of the season at 1-3. But there are a lot of positives to build on here.
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