Steelers vs. Patriots Week 3 Preview: Keys To Victory & Score Prediction | Time To Get Right

Steelers vs. Patriots Week 3 Preview: Keys To Victory & Score Prediction | Time To Get Right

[Music] This week, the Pittsburgh Steelers travel to Foxboro, Massachusetts to take on Drake May and the New England Patriots in week three. What really feels like a mustwin for the Steelers in the in the sense of they need to get right. All right, the first two weeks, you know, very sloppy both sides of the football. um you know certain concerns are out there surrounding the Steelers not just on the offensive side of the ball where there was expected to be some hiccups but also on the defensive side of the ball where frankly it has just not look good through the first two weeks of the season. Um so hopefully the Steelers can turn things around here in week three. Uh but we’re going to be going live for this game. We’re going to be going live at 12:00 p.m. Eastern time this Sunday. uh an hour of pregame coverage followed by live playbyplay and then extensive postgame coverage uh for Steelers versus Patriots. Uh make sure you guys click that subscribe button if you haven’t already for all of our game previews here on Steelers Doc as you’re going to see throughout this video. We go pretty in-depth on these game previews. Uh we also go live for every single game with our watch parties and then we have postgame reactions for every single Steelers game as well. Uh for noon games, we actually have two postgame shows that go out after the game is over. So, make sure you click that subscribe button for the most extensive Steelers coverage you’re going to find here on the YouTube platform. All right, so now let’s get into this matchup here. Gillette Stadium on Sunday, the one-on-one matchup here between the Steelers and the New England Patriots. Uh Patriots beat the Miami Dolphins last week. Steelers beat the New York Jets in week one. Uh in terms of the losses, the Steelers lost to the Seahawks last week at Acusher Stadium and the Patriots lost week one to Gino Smith and the Las Vegas Raiders. Uh we’ll start here with the injuries for the Pittsburgh Steelers. The guys that we know are going to be out this week. Deshawn Elliot, the strong safety, still dealing with that knee injury. Alex Heismith, just suffered a high ankle sprain. He’ll be out a month or a month, a month and a half, uh, it sounds like. And then Isaiah Louderdermilk, similar timetable with the high ankle sprain himself, will also be out for this football game. Some injuries to watch this week. Derek Harmon, uh, there’s some conflicting reports about when he’s expected to be back. The Steelers did not put him on on IR, so there’s some whispers he could be back for this game, but we got to keep an eye on him with that knee injury. He suffered in the preseason. Joey Porter Jr. has been dealing with a hamstring issue. Um, he’s only played really a half a game versus the Jets and missed last week versus Seattle. And Christian Gonzalez missed a time last week with an injury. Uh, missed the game. And then you got Keon White uh, who missed the game with an illness for New England last week. So, you take a look at the coaching breakdown and the scheme breakdown for the New England Patriots. Mike Vrabel is back as a head coach in the National Football League here with the Patriots. And uh he’s got a very good coaching record, 55 and 46. Uh you know, led multiple teams to the playoffs. You know, he led the Tennessee Titans. Arthur Smith’s former head coach there in Tennessee to a uh to a number one seed over teams like Kansas City, over teams like Cincinnati, over teams like uh the Buffalo Bills with Ryan Tanahill as his quarterback. Right. So Rael very well known as a culture builder. It’s very much what he is. You’re going to get a fight from this New England Patriots team on Sunday, guys, no matter what the score is. The scheme for the offense, Josh McDaniels is their offensive play caller and coordinator. He runs an Airhard Perkins system. Puts a lot of onus on the quarterback to get in the right protections. Uh make make switches at the line of scrimmage. Very vast umbrella of audible checks uh for the quarterback as well. We’ll talk about later in the show. Then uh on defense, Terrell Williams is their defensive play caller and uh coordinator, but he missed last week uh with uh with an issue that the Patriots are not disclosing. Um so keep that in mind. It might not be him calling the plays, but they do run a multiple attacking front. Uh they get a lot of their stuff from the Bellich system with three four front uh with with cover one, cover three stuff, um you know, a vast array of stuff, lots of cover zero as well from this Patriots group. Uh so the results so far for the New England Patriots, they lost week one to the Las Vegas Raiders by a score of 20-13. Gino Smith had a hell of a day throwing the football that day and then they’ve won in week two versus the Miami Dolphins and kind of a a shootout there. 33-27 was the score uh for the Pats. So that is what they’ve done so far. And then we can take a look at the Patriots roster where you got Drake May as their starting quarterback. And their offensive line has certainly been in a tumultuous situation for many years and that has extended to this year. Will Campbell is their starting left tackle. He’s got really kind of tiny baby arms. All right. So you if you whoever your longest edge rusher is, whether that’s Alex Heismith, Nick Herbig, well, I guess Heismith can’t play, but Heis between Herbig and Watt, I would put whoever has the longest arms on him and try to take advantage of that because he’s got one of the shortest wingspans in NFL history for a starting offensive tackle. Uh, but very highly technically sound. So you’re going to have to win with length to make it a tough day on Campbell. But then Jared Wilson is their left guard, another rookie. Um, so definitely can take advantage of that. Garrett Bradberry, uh, decent run blocker, but not a good pass protector. So Wilson and Bradberry is really the weakness in terms of pass protection on that line that you can take advantage of. And then Mike onu, very good right guard. Uh, that’s one of the bright spots on this offensive line with Morgan Moses, former teammate of Aaron Rodgers, um, is playing right tackle for the New England Patriots right now. They got Stefon Diggs as their number one receiver. Kahan Boute has been a pretty decent weapon for Drake May. He’s got good chemistry with him. Um and then Deario Douglas, Pop Douglas as their slot wide receiver. Um you know, pretty decent trio of receivers there. It’s definitely not bad. All right, so Drake May does have some weapons to work with here. Raandre Stevenson is their number one running back with Hunter Henry as their tight end. But watch out for rookie Trayvon Henderson out of Ohio State. He’s also in the mix in this Patriots offense. But then you go to the defensive side of the ball. Keon White. Uh he dealt with an ill illness last week. We’ll see if he’s able to go, but he is one of their starting edge rushers. Uh then you got Harold Landry as another starting edge here in in New England. Milton Williams had a hell of a game against Miami last week. You got to really do a good job protecting him or protecting Aaron Rogers from him, I should say. And then Christian Barour, a little bit of a slow start to his season coming off a major injury. Uh but when he is on, he is one of the best defensive tackles in football. Uh, in terms of the offball backers, uh, Robert Spain, somebody Steelers fans should be very well aware of, very good tackler, very aggressive player, uh, played really well for the Las Vegas Raiders over the last several years before coming here to New England. Then Christian Ellis, a very athletic linebacker. Uh, so pretty decent linebacking group here for the New England Patriots. Then you get to the secondary where you got Christian Gonzalez, he will be questionable, it sounds like, this week. Uh, we’ll see if he’s able to go. Uh, and then Carlton Davis, another really good player on the outside. So, if both of these guys can go, it’s going to be tough to win on the outside. But Marcus Jones, another decent player in the slot. Uh, but then the safeties is really where the Patriots kind of falter. Jaylen Hawk, uh, Hawkins and Craig Woodson, two very young players, very raw players, um, that are getting some very, uh, you know, very big, uh, playing time minutes here for the New England Patriots. So, uh, you can definitely take advantage of that safety duo, um, if you can beat one of their corners. Uh, and if Christian Gonzalez can’t go, it looks like it will once again be Alex Austin who started last week versus Miami and just got absolutely toasted by Jaylen Warren or Wadd, I should say, Jaylen Wadd as well as Tyreek Hill. Uh, so, Alex Austin definitely somebody to keep your eye on here. If Christian Gonzalez can’t go, definitely got to take advantage of him. So, still to come here on Steelers Talk and our preview here for week three, keys to victory versus the Patriots, we’ve got my scouting report on Drake May, the starting quarterback for the Patriots and my week three score prediction coming up here in just a second. But if you guys want to get an Aaron Rogers Steelers jersey, now is a great time to do that while also helping out our channel. You can go chatports.com8. Uh that link is in the comments and description of today’s show. And if you click that link and you make a purchase, Fanatics, our sponsor today, uh, sends us part of the proceeds of that purchase. So, if you guys want a great price on an Aaron Rogers Steelers jersey, officially licensed by the NFL, by the way, you can go to chatports.com/8 to pick up your Aaron Rogers Steelers jersey today. So, first, key to victory. I got six of them this week. All right, kind of a shorter list than our first two previews, but I think that it’s pretty short and sweet. All right, first thing you got to do on defense is make life hard for Drake May. All right. And Drake is somebody that has played, I think, pretty darn well to this point in his career given the circumstances. I mean, the the the environment that he was thrown into last year with a bad head coach, bad offensive play caller, terrible O line, no weapons, and he put up the numbers that he did last year. And then the start that he’s had this year, it’s been pretty darn impressive, man. Over 70% completion percentage, over 250 yards passing per game with four touchdowns to just one interception. The interception was pretty ugly uh in week one, by the way. but he’s got a passer rating over 100. So, Drake May definitely a problem. He’s going to be a problem in this conference for a while. Um, but you know, I I something to keep in mind here though, guys, is that Las Vegas and Miami definitely don’t have the best of defenses. All right, the Raiders might have the worst secondary in the league. Uh, and then the Miami Dolphins might have the second worst secondary in the league. This is not, you know, two great defenses he’s been picking apart. It’s been a good start for him. Uh but he definitely hasn’t seen anything like like uh this the talent at least that the Steelers have on defense. Uh so hopefully Mike Tomlin and and the crew here uh can stop Drake May. But the scouting report here on May, I think he’s got terrific size uh great arm talent plus athleticism. So you got to keep an eye on him uh in terms of the rushing ability. Playmaking instincts out of structure are really good as well. This kid will make some throws that you just simply will not believe. He’s got great touch throwing the ball down the field and in an intermediate level of the field. But the cons, sometimes he’s got some inconsistent accuracy in decision-m. He’s still a work in progress. And both of those things, some of the accuracy issues do come from um a lack of footwork uh you know, refinement for him. So, I have him ranked currently going into the season as the 16th best quarterback in the National Football League. I think he really elevated that Patriots offense last year and he’s already off to a really good start here in 2025. But also keep in mind here guys that Mike Tomlin has been very successful versus young quarterbacks throughout his career. All right. Um like first and second year quarterbacks I I can’t exactly remember the record here, but Mike Tomlin like the record with first and second year quarterbacks, it’s really really good uh for his defenses and for his team. So, uh, just keep that in mind with a secondyear quarterback going up against the Steelers defense here this week that Mike Tomlin usually does a pretty darn good job facing quarterbacks for the first time they face one of his defenses. But then, you know, a big issue here and, you know, deservingly so that people are upset with with the Steelers right now is you got to stop the run. And this week is a is a great opportunity to stop the bleeding when it comes to the run defense because the offensive line in New England isn’t fantastic. Um, and you know, Raandre Stevenson’s all right, but like is he a fantastic like dynamic type of running back? Uh, like maybe Bree Hall is and Kenneth Walker when he’s when he’s healthy can be. Um, I’m not too sure. But the guy that’s kind of the slasher kind of prototype that is similar to Bree Hall that is similar to Kenneth Walker on this Patriots team is rookie Trayvon Henderson. And he had some moments where he looked super explosive in the preseason. Um, so you got to keep tabs on Trayvon Henderson. you got to do some good things um uh on in terms of the run defense. And there’s certain switches that I would make if I were the Steelers coaching staff uh to try and make this run defense the best it can possibly be. The first thing that I would do is I would move uh YA Black, the rookie out of Iowa to nose tackle. He’s over 330 lbs. He’s got long arms. He can handle uh you know the two gapping assignments. He can handle the double teams. He can handle holding up the line of scrimmage. uh that role that Keano Benton is currently asked to fill most of the time in this Steelers defensive scheme. It’s just not working out. So, you know, I think YA Black needs to step in there. You can put Keanu on the field in in more of like a disruptive type of role like in the five tech spot um or maybe even in the three tech spot, but like in the one tech spot at nose tackle, just not good enough, man. He’s getting driven backwards. That can’t be allowed to happen in the middle of your uh run defense structure. Um, and YA Black I think is the best suited to replace his spot in that role. Uh, showed some good things uh, in the first two weeks as a run defender that I want to see more of. And then also if Derrick Harmon can play in this game, he needs to impress right away, man. Like he’s a big boy over 310 lbs himself. Uh, he was known as a pretty darn good and disruptive run defender at Oregon. And, you know, he might need to be uh, that big- time impact player on the interior of the defensive line right away. uh coming off an injury for this Steelers defense if guys like Ya Black, Keano Benson um and others can’t uh pick up the slack in the run defense game. And then also another thing that I think the Steelers should do um and just needs to happen is Pton Wilson needs to tighten up big time if he wants to stay in this role as a as a three down starter at inside linebacker. I was super excited to see what he’s going to look like in this role. He’s got guys like Luke Keequley and Patrick Queen in his corner saying he looks unbelievable in training camp and stuff like that. And he just comes out and he’s just not good at all in run defense in the first two weeks. Uh taking poor pursuit angles. He’s out of position, abandoning his run fit. Uh it’s just not good enough through the first two weeks. Now, it certainly doesn’t help when your nose tackles getting pushed into your lap. I’m not saying that that makes it easy, but that certainly doesn’t excuse all the mistakes that we have seen from Pton Wilson in the run game to this point. if he can’t get it right, I would put Cole Hulkcom out there uh in early down run situations to replace him. Uh then we get to the offensive side of the ball. Talking about Jaylen Warren, feed this guy, man. I mean, goodness gracious. This guy had more than half of your offensive production in week two versus Seattle. He’s an awesome threat uh as a receiver. Like a legitimate receiving threat out of the backfield. Like he runs good routes. He catches the football and he’s awesome after the catch, man. Phenomenal contact balance. Some of the best in the league. really great cutting ability. He’s got phenomenal vision. Um, you know, whether it’s on the ground or whether it’s uh through the air, find ways to get the football in this guy’s hands because I think at this point he’s probably the best offensive player on the Steelers offensive roster right now. Then we get to uh the the idea of getting back to play action. I mean, all three of the non-touch pass touchdowns from Aaron Rogers in week one versus the Jets were on play action. There just wasn’t enough of that under center work from Rogers in week two in my opinion. There was a lot of uh shotgun and a lot of uh empty and all that stuff. And there’s a time and place for that stuff, but Arthur Smith and this offense’s uh bread and butter, I think, really needs to come from the playaction game. You want to establish that run with Jaylen Warren first, and you want to uh force these defenses to really bite on that playaction fake. There’s not a lot of quarterbacks in this league with as good of a playaction fake as Aaron Rogers does. um which creates some really big open lanes for Rogers to exploit. So if Rogers is looking for more open options, look towards the uh playaction game here and try to, you know, get that under center work going early and often and work the play action game off of that. Uh another thing that I would do if I’m the Steelers here this week is work the slot. And I don’t think the Steelers did this enough last week. Now, I think that uh the SE Seattle Seahawks did pretty decent job with their backup replacing Devon Witherspoon in the slot. Um, I think he did a pretty decent job uh last Sunday, but this week, man, you know, especially if Christian Gonzalez is out of there, like you guys can really take advantage of that slot position, whether it’s Calvin, whether it’s Roman, whether it’s Jonno in there, find creative ways to get people open from the slot position and find ways to get your tight ends involved in the passing game as well. Pat Frymouth, catch the damn ball. All right. Um, you know, Calvin Austin third, get open from that slot position. Roman Wilson, get involved, man. show us that, you know, you deserve to be a part of this offense. So, I think that that’s probably the area that the Steelers offense should work most towards, especially when they go man coverage. And then, uh, the final thing here, guys, is to avoid dumb mistakes. All right, this is what killed the Pittsburgh Steelers last week. All right. If you take away just the really outlier weird uh stuff that you’re not going to see every week type of mistakes from the Steelers, that third and 19 third and goal run from Kenneth Walker, um the weird uh touchdown given up by Caleb Johnson, and then of course the weird interception from Calvin Austin the third. I don’t expect those three kinds of mistakes to happen every single week. Um and if you take those away, the Steelers might win that football game versus the Seattle Seahawks for as bad as they played for certain stretches in that ball game. So, I think that this Steelers team extremely competitive and they are a good football team when they are playing the way that they can play. Um, and if you can avoid those mistakes in this game, I think you are uh more talented than the New England Patriots. And I think there’s no excuse for Pittsburgh to lose this game. Is Drake May an upand cominging really good quarterback? Absolutely. All right. But this offensive line, it’s not great. The Steelers pass rush, I mean, they’re getting paid what they’re getting paid uh for a reason here, guys. and they need to start proving that they are getting paid what they’re getting paid for a reason. All right, they got to be better um and in in run defense. They need to be better blitzing. They need to be better in in pass coverage on the back end. They needed to be better all around on defense this week. And this is an excellent opportunity to build some confidence, build some chemistry, fix some issues that have been there on the film the first two weeks and get right. And I’m going to pick the Steelers to do just that. I don’t think it’ll be a blowout. But I don’t think the Steelers are going to completely dominate this game, but I think that they will gut out a good victory here. 2721 is the score that I’m going to pick. I think Drake May will have multiple touchdowns in this game. I think that the run game, specifically Tayvon Henderson, will have some success at times, but I do think that we will continue to see uh improvement from the Steelers defense. And yes, the Steelers defense did improve from week two to week one. It might not feel like it because they lost the football game, but they did get a lot better. or maybe not a lot, but they did get better from week two to week one. Hopefully they take another step forward as a group here this week. Um hopefully, you know, guys like Derek Carman and Joey Porter Jr. can play uh to help that effort out, but I think that the offense will have a bounceback game. Um and I think that they will score 27 points. Obviously, I will go 2721. Steelers win for a big bounceback victory for the black and gold. So, it’s your turn. Let me know down there in the comments section. Predict the score of Steelers versus Patriots this week. Let me know what you guys think down there in the comments section. I got 2721 Steelers. Let me know your take down there in the comments section. And that’ll be it for today’s edition of Steelers Talk. Thank you guys so much for joining me here on today’s show. I will catch you guys next time. Until next time, guys. Here we go. Steelers. [Music]

The Pittsburgh Steelers are gearing up for a pivotal Week 3 matchup against the New England Patriots, and Jack Sperry has your full preview on Steelers Talk. From key Steelers injuries to watch, to how Mike Tomlin’s defense can rattle rookie QB Drake Maye, we break down all the keys to victory that Pittsburgh needs to get back on track. Plus, we dive into why Jaylen Warren and the play-action passing game could be the difference-makers on Sunday in Foxborough. Don’t miss the latest Steelers news, previews, and score predictions — hit that subscribe button now to join the fastest-growing Pittsburgh Steelers community on YouTube!

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Keys To Victory vs. Patriots:
– Make Life Hard For Drake Maye
– Stop The Run D’s Bleeding
– Feed Jaylen Warren
– Get Back To Play-Action
– Work The Slot
– Avoid Dumb Mistakes

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Pittsburgh Steelers Injury Report:
– DeShon Elliott (SS): Knee
– Alex Highsmith (EDGE): Ankle
– Isaiah Loudermilk (DT): Ankle
– Derrick Harmon (DT): Knee
– Joey Porter Jr. (CB): Hamstring
– Christian Gonzalez (CB): Hamstring
– Keion White (EDGE): Illness

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Predict the score of Steelers vs. Patriots this week!

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Drake Maye’s 2025 Stats:
– COMP%: 71.0
– YPG: 258.5
– TD/INT: 4/1
– RATE: 100.9

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– Steelers News: PIT Just Caught 2 LUCKY BREAKS + 2 Changes Tomlin Must Make To FIX PIT’s Run Defense – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWOGycLjoKU
– – Steelers OVERREACTION MONDAY After Week 2: Mike Tomlin On The Hot Seat? + Cut Kaleb Johnson? https://youtu.be/Nt-Jp7dXBGU
– MORE Steelers News After PIT’s Week 2 Loss To Seattle: Alex Highsmith Injury News + 4 BIG Concerns https://youtu.be/Kys5i2cTnEQ

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