The Patriots got the result they needed in Week 2, but nobody seems eager to hand out a parade just yet.
New England’s win over Pittsburgh came with plenty of caveats, and the reaction from around the league made that clear. Drake Maye is still drawing heat for what multiple evaluators described as a slump, with concerns about his accuracy and an offense that still looks disjointed and unfinished. Even so, the Patriots are 1-1, and there’s real value in banking a win while the early-season rough edges get smoothed out.
The defense did the heavy lifting against the Steelers. New England held Pittsburgh to three points, and several rankers treated that performance as the real story of the afternoon.
One even argued the defense should be collecting the offense’s paycheck. Another pointed out that the Patriots were leaning on the run game and defense early because A.J.
Brown’s injury has limited the passing game, and Mike Vrabel’s approach paid off against one of his former teams.
Still, the offense remains the sticking point. Maye’s numbers are not where they were last season, when he led the NFL with a 72% completion percentage in 2025.
Through two games this year, he’s at 67.3% with one touchdown pass and four interceptions. That’s come against two strong defenses in Seattle and Pittsburgh, and Maye himself isn’t brushing it off.
“It starts with me making good decisions, being in good plays,” he said.
The praise for New England’s defense was strong, but the offense kept the Patriots from climbing higher in the rankings. One outlet said Maye’s Week 1 struggles can be excused because Seattle’s defense is excellent, but the Steelers weren’t on that level and the Patriots still looked underwhelming.
Another noted that New England is still sorting out its receiver rotation without A.J. Brown, while also stressing that the passing game needs to offer more.
There was also some concern about the line after Mike Onwenu broke his ankle on Sunday. One ranking suggested the Patriots’ offensive line is only okay even before that injury, while another said Maye may need to settle in and play more from the pocket. The common thread was clear: the defense looks ready, but the offense still has work to do.
New England heads to Jacksonville in Week 3 as a 2.5-point underdog against a Jaguars team that is also 1-1. Jacksonville opened with a 34-10 home win over Cleveland in Week 1, then fell 20-13 at Denver after blowing a 13-3 third-quarter lead. Trevor Lawrence gives the Jaguars a very different challenge than Aaron Rodgers did, but the Patriots believe they can leave with a second straight win and come home 2-1.
Around the AFC East, Buffalo hosts the Chargers, the Jets visit the Lions, and Miami takes on Kansas City.
In the rankings, the Patriots landed seventh with Vinnie Iyer of Sporting News, Nate Davis of USA Today, and Ian Glendon of Full Press Coverage. They checked in 10th with NFL Nation, 11th with Frank Schwab of Yahoo! Sports and Ralph Vacchiano of FOX Sports, 14th with Pete Prisco of CBS Sports and Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk, 15th with Conor Orr of SI, and 18th with Nick Shook of NFL.com.
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 🡒]
Mike Vrabel Admitted One Patriots Mistake That Could Matter Later
For most of Sunday in Pittsburgh, the Patriots looked like the more organized team, and the scoreboard backed it up in a 20-3 win over the Steelers. The defense set the tone with four sacks and two turnovers, and it kept leaning on Aaron Rodgers with pressure from all angles, blitzing nearly half the time while helping New England control the game from start to finish.
Mike Vrabel still had one sequence he wished he could have back. He admitted the Patriots made a coaching mistake by using consecutive timeouts, which created a delay of game penalty and ended up helping set up Chris Boswell's 56-yard field goal. It did not change the outcome of the day, but it is the kind of detail a coach notices, especially in a game where New England was otherwise sharp enough to leave only a small opening for criticism. [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 🡒]