Week 3 Preview: Patriots vs. Steelers

Week 3 Preview: Patriots vs. Steelers

Pittsburgh visiting New England on Sunday in week three action and we’ve got an interesting quarterback matchup. Aaron Rogers coming to Foxboro as a Steeler to take on the Patriots and their rising secondyear quarterback Drake May. And each QB might be licking their chops when they look at the respective opposing defense. Here are the Steelers and Patriots defensive ranks this season. Pittsburgh 29th in total D. Pats are 25th and against the run Steelers are 28th. Patriots actually a little bit better there. Third in the NFL. Past defense has not been a strength for either team. Pittsburgh is 23rd while the Patriots are dead last. As for points allowed, Steelers 29th, Patriots tied for 19th as far as that goes. All right, here on set, Tom Giles, Phil Perry, Mark Bertran, uh be I’ll start with you. Who’s got the advantage here? Is it the Patriots with Drake May and their offense or the Steelers with Aaron Rodgers and their offense? I would say at this moment in time, I have to give the nod to Aaron Rogers. Okay, I would. But I think the gap between the two is not as large as you would automatically assume it is when you hear a name like Aaron Rogers who’s been an MVP in this league and has played for all the years and has all the experience that he has. I just think that you would have to give it to him at this point in time because of because of all that ability that’s just innate, right? And and you talk about Tom Brady at the end of his career having all the answers to the test. Aaron Rogers has a lot of those answers to the tests in the NFL. There’s not a lot, if anything, that he is going to see on a week-to-eek basis that he can’t process quickly, understand quickly, know how to beat quickly. And Drake May is just not there. He’s he’s brand new. He’s basically a rookie still. So, I’m giving the nod to Darren Rogers, but I think that that gap could be closed in a short period of time because Rogers is getting older. He doesn’t move well like he used to. And so the breakdown has started for him, but he’s still a capable quarterback. I would say by the end of this season that the gap should be closed, and that’s the guy you would be picking is the guy who plays here in New England and Drake May. But I’m with Beetle for right now, I’ll go with Aaron Rogers, who hasn’t been bad this year. He’s not a very good quarterback anymore, but five touchdowns to two picks. He’s got a quarterback rating that’s hovering around 100. And even though if you could guarantee me a week two performance or performances like what Drake May showed in week two, week after week after week, Giles, I would take that. I just feel as though Aaron Rodgers and the backlog and the resume, you would feel more comfortable betting on Aaron Rogers being the more consistent guy right now even though he’s way past his prime. I I agree too. And I think by the end of the season, at some point like this honeymoon period with Aaron Rogers and the Steelers, bingo, that is that’s going to run out at some We’re talking in a vacuum when we’re talking about their ability, right? Because there is drama that will inevitably happen there in Pittsburgh with this player. It feels like he’s had an issue everywhere he’s been the last several years. So, I I think that, you know, rears its ugly head at some point this year, but so far it’s been decent results there in Pittsburgh for him. And that’s why if this was a more long-term question, if you were just asking who would you rather have for this season, I would go with Drake May. I think in large part because of the drama stuff. Yes, I think he’ll be better by season, Zen Giles in terms of the product on the field, but I would rather have the kid as my quarterback with upside as opposed to Aaron Rogers and everything he brings to the table. But you’re asking about this Sunday against this specific matchup. I’ll go with the old guy. Okay, let’s go with Aaron Rogers for this one. But on the other side though, this is the other part of this equation. The defensive numbers we just showed you, and these were two defenses, I think going into the season that were expected to be pretty good. Pittsburgh’s I think was expected to be one of the best in the NFL yet they’re somehow giving up 30 plus points to the Seattle Seahawks which is not necessarily an offense you would expect that from. Who’s got the advantage? Which defense do you maybe trust more to turn things around as you get into week three? I’m going to go New England because there are guys on that defense that I think can play better, will play better at some point. I think Christian Ellis and Robert Splain to me represent those two guys at the top of the list that I think are better than what they’ve given this team so far. And so I look at Pittsburgh, they’ve got injuries, they’ve got turnover there. I look at the Patriots defense as one that is more intact even without Gonzalez and has an opportunity to just go out and execute better and clean up some of the mistakes that they’ve made. Yeah, I think there’s more upside in terms of improvement with the Patriots defense. I look at the Steelers, they are really highly paid. They’ve got five players who against the cap, and I know the cap is fake money, but this is an indicator as to just how highly paid this group is. They have five players, Giles, who are making $17.5 million against the cap or more just on defense alone. That’s two more than any other team in the NFL. This should be a star-studded, ready to compete, ready to win right now kind of defense that carries you to victories. And they’ve been anything but. And this really goes back to last year. And and this is why Mike Tomlin, I think, has a lot of pressure on him right now. They’ve gone 10 straight games, again, dating back to last year, where they’ve given up 300 yards of offense. That’s most of any team in the NFL. JJ Watt, JJ, TJ Watt looks like retired JJ Watt right now because he hasn’t had a sack in six games. And so teams are trying to avoid him in the run and they’ve had some success doing that, but he hasn’t been the impactful player that he’s being paid to be right now. So, they are not living up to those price tags that they have on that side of the ball. Still a guy you got to account for. still a guy that you’re going to be uh probably keeping your eye on if you’re Drake May as you go into this weekend’s matchup. Let’s go back to the quarterback conversation. We’ll talk about Christian Gonzalez coming up later in the show as well. But the quarterback conversation of where all these guys fit together, the ranks and everything else because it’s kind of interesting. I know you’ve had this conversation on 985, the Sports Up Beetle, but you have Drake May right now listed at 18th on the athletics QB rankings for week three. Right now you have Aaron Rogers at 16th. The question here is, cuz it sounds like you guys kind of agree, Drake May has a good chance of leaping Aaron Rogers, but how many guys on this list can Drake May move ahead of? Where do we think he could end up by season 10? I think there’s a fair number, Beetle. I’m looking at Trevor Lawrence. I’d have him ahead of Trevor Lawrence right this minute. Agreed. Aaron Rogers is very close, but those are two players going in opposite directions, and they’re sort of meeting at the intersection right now. If you’re thinking of a line grab, Sam Darnold, he could surpass. Gino Smith, I think he could surpass CJ Stout eventually. that rookie year success is going to wear off cuz last year wasn’t good and this year hasn’t started great for him either. I think it’s realistic for Drake May to be in the top 12 conversation by the end of the season. I have nothing more to add to that. Phil Perry just put that perfectly. That’s it. We We are in lock step on this. He can get to 12. The question is also during and I think I think like there’s a really high probability he’s flirting with that that he that he’s there. He just has to show that he can be a consistent player. We saw what he could do last week in terms of just about everything. Managing pre- snap, taking what’s there for you, taking that profit, also making the explosive plays, creating with his legs, everything was there last week. Can he do it week to week to week to week because we just haven’t seen that part of his game yet. He’s he’s also done a good job of keeping himself out of harm’s way this season when it comes to taking care of the football and also not taking the big hits because that’s that’s interesting about a list that’ll be, you know, where we’re at at the end of the season. Saw Joe Burrow, he’s going to be out for a few months. Jane Daniels is dealing with something right now. There is a war of attrition when it comes to the quarterback position where that’s also going to give him, if he can stay healthy and stay out of harm’s way, the ability to rise. I will say this though, through the first two games, there have been a couple plays where I’m like, get out of bounds and do it faster than you’re doing it right now. I think that’s the one place where I get a little nervous at times with Drake May when he rolls out and he takes off and he’s along those sidelines. Maybe that’s PTSD because we’ve seen a Patriots quarterback have their New England career kind of come to a close along the sidelines, but I uh I I think he’s been better. I think you’re right. Yeah, I agree. And I that’s a part of his game that he needs to make sure is refined as well. That was one of the reasons why before that 2024 draft, I said I like Drake May as the best quarterback prospect in the draft. Draft Daniels and May I thought were sort of similar in terms of their physical talent. One guy is built one way. One guy’s built like somebody who can take some punishment. Drake May’s missed some time already obviously in his career, so he hasn’t been perfect there, but I think he’s got the better chance to be durable over the course of time. All right, and again, it’s the Steelers on Sunday taking on Aaron Rogers. And we’re going to get you ready starting at noon with pregame live. It’s presented by Gem Plumbing and Heating. 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Phil Perry, Marc Bertrand and Tom Giles discuss the Patriots upcoming Week 3 matchup with the Steelers