FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) — Aaron Rodgers doesn't think the Steelers did nearly enough with the chances they had with the ball against the Patriots.
Fortunately for Pittsburgh, it got lots of help from a New England team that had all kinds of trouble holding onto it.
Rodgers threw a go-ahead 17-yard touchdown pass to Calvin Austin III with 2:16 left, and the Steelers' defense forced five turnovers in Sunday's 21-14 win over the Patriots.
“It’s what we’re supposed to do,” Rodgers said of the nine-play, 62-yard fourth-quarter drive that produced the winning score. “We’ve got to make those plays so we’re not in those positions."
Rodgers passed for 139 yards and two touchdowns, and Kenneth Gainwell ran for a 1-yard TD to help Pittsburgh (2-1) win at New England for the first time since 2008. The Steelers had lost four since then in Foxborough, including the AFC championship game in the 2016 season.
Rodgers beat New England as a visiting player for the first time. He'd lost two previous tries with the Packers and Jets.
“(At) 14-0 we’re feeling pretty good about ourselves. We hadn’t been ahead by two scores yet,” Rodgers said. “I just didn’t play great. We just kind of lost our rhythm, had too many penalties, negative yardage plays and didn’t make them pay when we had opportunities.”
The Patriots (1-2) were driving with a chance to tie it and had fourth-and-1 at the Pittsburgh 28, but DeMario Douglas caught a pass from Drake Maye and was stopped for a 1-yard loss.
It was New England’s first five-turnover game since losing 33-10 at home to Pittsburgh on Nov. 30, 2008, when Tom Brady was out for the season with a knee injury.
“We don’t need to lose a football game to know that turnovers are very hard to overcome. They erase all the good things that you do,” Patriots coach Mike Vrabel said.
Maye finished 28 of 37 for 268 yards with two touchdowns, both to tight end Hunter Henry, but he also threw an interception and lost a fumble. Rhamondre Stevenson fumbled twice and Antonio Gibson also lost one.
“Just hurting ourselves,” Maye said. “It hurts. I think it’s one of those things that just kept piling on.”
Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said Stevenson's ball security issues — he had seven fumbles last season — was something that came up in game preparation.
“It was, but it is every week,” Tomlin said. “We identify opportunities and certainly he had some fumble history last year and so it was an agenda of ours.”
Two of the Patriots' turnovers came at the Steelers 2-yard line.
“We'll clearly address the ball security,” Vrabel said.
With the game tied at 14-all midway through the fourth quarter, New England was in position to score when Nick Herbig sacked Maye and popped the ball loose. T.J. Watt recovered on the Steelers 38.
Pittsburgh led 14-7 when New England linebacker Robert Spillane picked off Rodgers on the opening drive of the second half and returned it 37 yards to the Pittsburgh 11.
But with a second-and-goal on the 2, Stevenson fumbled as he crossed the goal line — his second of the game — and Payton Wilson recovered it for a touchback.
The Steelers went three-and-out, but the Patriots gave the ball right back on their ensuing series, when Antonio Gibson lost the ball as he was tackled by safety Jabrill Peppers, a former Patriot.
Another Pittsburgh punt pinned New England on its 12. The Patriots drove 88 yards and tied the game on an 18-yard pass from Maye to Henry early in the fourth quarter.
Steelers: CB Darius Slay was shaken up in the first quarter but walked off on his own power. He left again later in the first half with trainers looking at his right leg. ... Wilson visited the medical tent but quickly re-entered the game.
Patriots: Henry jogged off after taking a hit following a reception early in the third quarter. He returned to the field and finished with eight catches for 90 yards and the two TDs.
Rodgers now has 510 TD passes, alone in fourth place in NFL history. His 509th — a second-quarter TD pass to Metcalf — moved him out of a tie with former Green Bay teammate Brett Favre.
Steelers: Host Minnesota next Sunday.
Patriots: Host Carolina next Sunday.
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