Mike Vrabel didn’t sugarcoat the mistake. After the Patriots’ 20-3 win over the Steelers on Sunday, the New England coach said he cost his team a shot at a shutout with an unusual late-first-half timeout sequence that led to a delay of game penalty.
The sequence started when Patriots cornerback Marcus Jones stayed down with an injury, triggering an automatic timeout for New England. Before the next snap, Vrabel called another timeout, and that second stoppage drew the penalty. The mistake helped the Steelers salvage their lone scoring drive of the day.
The key play came after Steelers tight end Pat Freiermuth appeared to be tackled inbounds at the Patriots’ 47-yard line. He was ruled out of bounds, though, and the penalty moved Pittsburgh to the 42. From there, a four-yard pass with 12 seconds left in the half set up Chris Boswell’s 56-yard field goal.
“I blew it,” Vrabel said Monday morning. “Injury timeout.
I was all caught up on the fact that they should’ve been winding that play, which again, I don’t understand. Clearly his shin came down in bounds, and so in my haste to try to correct the officials, the injury timeout under two goes on us, and then we were going to see what they ran and I called timeout.
“So yep, I blew it, and I was hoping to try to convince the official to run the clock, and then the injury stopped the clock. So, that went in as a team timeout under two minutes.”
The penalty would have been more damaging in a tighter game, but on Sunday it only took away New England’s chance to finish with a shutout. Even with that miscue, the Patriots’ defense controlled the game, blitzing Aaron Rodgers at nearly a 50% rate and coming away with four sacks and two turnovers.
“Our identity needs to be about affecting the quarterback. It needs to be about creating turnovers and being able to force teams into longer yardage situations,” Vrabel said.
“If that, each week, requires us to pressure, then I think that’s what we’ll try to do. If we feel like it doesn’t, I think we’re multiple enough to be able to do that based on what we feel like it is each week.
So, we know that you have to affect the quarterback, you have to be great in the red zone, and you have to be able to create some turnovers.”
In Other News...
Will Campbell Suddenly Faces A Huge Patriots Test Up Front
Michael Onwenus broken right ankle has turned a familiar part of the Patriots offensive front into an immediate concern, and it comes at a time when his future in New England already felt uncertain. The right guard is in the final year of his contract, so the injury does more than just shuffle the lineup against Pittsburgh. It also puts the spotlight on a spot the Patriots may need to solve beyond this season, not just for the next game.
For Will Campbell, the opening is as important as it is abrupt. New England is looking to its top draft pick to help cover the void and show he can be a real piece of the line moving forward, which raises the pressure on him quickly. The Patriots need stability up front, and this is the kind of test that can speed up a young linemans development whether hes ready for it or not. [Read more 🡒]
Patriots Still Have One Special Teams Question Hanging Over Them
Mitch Wishnowsky is back on the New England Patriots practice squad after serving as a standard elevation for the home opener against the Pittsburgh Steelers, a reminder that the teams special teams picture still has some sorting out to do. With Bryce Baringer on injured reserve, Wishnowsky has been the fill-in option and handled the job against Pittsburgh, punting four times while giving the Patriots a workable evening in the field-position battle.
Wishnowsky has now appeared in two games this season, and the move back to the practice squad leaves New England with a familiar question at a position that can quietly shape close games. The Patriots can keep cycling through options while Baringer remains unavailable, but the way they manage the punter spot in the coming weeks will say plenty about how stable they feel about the depth chart. [Read more 🡒]
Patriots Suddenly Have Another AFC East Threat To Worry About
The AFC East has already been a tougher neighborhood than it looked a year ago, with Buffalo still setting the pace and the Patriots trying to keep their own 2025 resurgence moving in the right direction. Now there is at least one more team in the mix to make the division race feel crowded again, and it comes from a familiar place for New England. The early signs out of New York have been encouraging enough to suggest the Patriots cannot simply assume the path to the top will run through Buffalo alone.
Through the first two games of 2026, the Jets are 1-1 and showing a more balanced profile than they had in recent seasons. Geno Smith has been a stabilizing force on offense, and the overall improvement on both sides of the ball has given New York a chance to hang around in a division where small gains can matter a lot. For the Patriots, that means the margin for error in their push for the division and a playoff spot just got a little thinner. [Read more 🡒]