On the afternoon of September. 20, the New England Patriots delivered a gift to a packed crowd at Gillette Stadium, stifling the Pittsburgh Steelers to earn their first win of the 2026 season with a final score of 20 – 3. Despite some key players suffering injuries on or before Sunday, the game was mainly dictated by the defenses with only 13 total points being cumulatively scored by the offenses.
Though the weather wasn’t ideal, the overall team effort displayed on the field by the home team was a mixed bag. The Patriots’ defense led by ascending defensive coordinator Zak Kuhr did a fantastic job for the second week in a row, only allowing one field goal to the Aaron Rodgers-led offense and returning a fumble for six. Special teams had a solid day, with the only blemish being a missed 47-yard field goal by Andy Borregales—somewhat forgivable given the conditions. The offense was anemic, and much will be said on their play as the week progresses.
Two individual offensive players to note were quarterback Drake Maye and wide receiver Romeo Doubs, who were much maligned following the loss to Seattle in the season opener. Against the Steelers, both showed signs of improvement and some continuing issues from Week 1.
Quarterback Drake Maye
After a less-than-stellar opening to the season, Maye’s performance was better in Week 2 but not up to the standard he set in 2025. The box score is mediocre: he made 14 passes out of 22 attempts and gained 17 on the ground for a total of 208 yards but lost 17 on three sacks and threw an interception. He registered a passer rating of 75.6, a bit below the league average of around 90.
There were a couple of things that were troubling, especially when considering his first performance. At Seattle, a big critique of Maye’s playmaking was a combination of simply being too late in throwing the ball and not putting enough strength into some of his passes.
Those mistakes, at first glance, showed up again against the Steelers. During his interception in the third quarter, Maye undersold a lob to TE Hunter Henry, who was running a crossing route to the far sideline that should have been cleared of defenders due to routes run by receivers. If he threw the ball farther towards the sideline, a catch was probably the outcome of the play. Instead, it dropped short, right into the arms of a backpedaling Patrick Queen. Later in the quarter, Maye finds a wide-open Romeo Doubs for a 63-yard gain. Even though this was a great play, if Maye hit Doubs in stride, it likely would have been a touchdown. Instead, Doubs stopped to catch the ball, allowing a Steelers defender to force him out of bounds.
The biggest improvement Maye made was staying patient, something he noted he had to work on following the loss to Seattle. There weren’t any forced “big plays” by Maye in this game, which drastically reduces the number of major mistakes that could at least in part be caused by him. However, the interception and one of his sacks occurred in Steelers territory, which killed the momentum on those drives.
At the moment, these mistakes shouldn’t be too concerning. Maye and the offense as whole took a couple weeks to truly get going in 2025 (without a receiver like AJ Brown, like now), so it’s entirely possible the same occurs this season. On the other hand, Maye didn’t necessarily have these issues last year. To speculate, a reason for the sudden change could be that his shoulder injury from the playoffs is still lingering. His play will certainly be worth monitoring over the next couple of weeks.
Wide Receiver Romeo Doubs
Similar to Maye, Doubs got a lot of heat due to his extremely poor performance in the season opener. This week, he bounced back with an interesting stat line, generating 96 yards of offense with three catches on four targets.
Doubs was far from perfect, as he had another poor drop during the fourth quarter on a crucial third down. Four targets for a receiver of Doubs’s nature is also poor considering his usage at Green Bay, his former team.
Doubs’s biggest play, the aforementioned 63-yard bomb, may be more indicative of Josh McDaniel’s playcalling abilities and the Steelers defense than Doub’s talent as a receiver. According to Evan Lazar, the all-22 view of the play reveals that Steelers defender #22 takes wide receiver Demario Douglas’s intermediate route, leaving Doubs open behind him. Despite this, Doubs can’t be faulted for doing his job properly and taking advantage of McDaniel’s system and mistakes by the opposing team.
Earlier in the quarter, Doubs hauls in a 29-yard pass down the sideline, which looked like a great play by him. He seemingly was only supposed to be running a simple out to the near sideline, but after Maye escaped a four-man rush to his side of the field, Doubs leaked behind the defense up the sideline to get open. Then, Maye found him for the big gain.
The offense failed to capitalize on the positive plays Doubs managed to generate by only netting three points in the drives in which they occurred. However, both plays can be indicative of signs of improvement with Doubs. He could be slowly growing into McDaniel’s system and is in the process of building chemistry with his quarterback. It’s highly likely that the version of Doubs we see this early into the season is the worst version of him, and that his impact in the offense will positively grow as the season continues.