FOXBOROUGH, Mass. —The Pittsburgh Steelers defense forced five turnovers, and they needed every single one of them, helping an anemic offense to a 21-14 win over the New England Patriots on Sunday.
The Steelers forced four fumbles and Brandin Echols added an interception, with several of them taking seemingly sure points away from the Patriots offense. Echols intercepted Drake Maye just before the end of the first half.
Early in the second half, Cam Heyward forced a fumble of Rhamondre Stevenson just before he crossed the goal line. Heyward also tipped the pass that ended up in Echols' arms in the end zone and had a sack and six tackles on the day.
Jabrill Peppers , Nick Herbig and Cole Holcomb also forced fumbles, while Peppers, T.J. Watt , Darius Slay and Payton Wilson recovered.
The final fumble, was a sack by Herbig of Maye as the Patriots were driving into Pittsburgh territory in a tie game in the fourth quarter. The ensuing drive ended in a 17-yard Aaron Rodgers touchdown pass to Calvin Austin III to give Pittsburgh the lead for good.
On the final offensive drive for New England , Echols tackled DeMario Douglas short of the sticks on a fourth down, the Steelers' first fourth-down stop in five tries on the day.
While the Pittsburgh defense was prolific in its pilferage, it was also easily carved up outside of those takeaways by the New England offense. Maye finished 28 of 37 for 268 yards and two touchdowns, both wide open tosses to Hunter Henry . Henry finished with eight catches for 90 yards and Austin Hooper added two for 28 yards, with the Patriots tight ends giving Pittsburgh particular trouble.
Stevenson, Maye, TreVeyon Henderson and Antonio Gibson combined to rush 29 times for 119 yards.
The Steelers offense looked like it might join the Patriots in a track meet, scoring touchdowns on its first two possessions, with Kenneth Gainwell scoring on a 1-yard toss and Rodgers finding DK Metcalf for a 12-yard scoring strike.
But between those two scoring drives and the game-sealing one at the end, there was a mountain of ugliness for Arthur Smith's offense. The Steelers went three plays and out in four consecutive drives, outside of a kneel down to end the first half, and Rodgers threw an interception right to former Steelers linebacker Robert Spillane .
Rodgers finished 16 of 23 for 139 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. Warren was the team's most prolific rusher and passer, carrying the ball 18 times for 47 yards and making five receptions for 34 yards.
While the Steelers certainly won't be complaining about the win on the road over an upstart New England team, they'll certainly have plenty to work on as they move into Week 4, when they will host the Minnesota Vikings in Dublin, Ireland next Sunday.
This article originally appeared on Steelers Now : Stealers Win: Five Turnovers Power Pittsburgh over Patriots, 21-14
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