Foxborough, MA – The Patriots bounced back to notch their first win of the season with a 20-3 victory over the Steelers in New England's home opener at Gillette Stadium on Sunday.

Although there's still work to be done, a win should settle down the masses after a long layoff following the Patriots fourth-quarter collapse 11 days ago in Seattle. New England was without star WR A.J. Brown and starting CB Carlton Davis III, then lost several players to injury during the game: RG Mike Onwenu (ankle), TE Eli Raridon (thigh), OLB Dre'Mont Jones (shoulder), S Dell Pettus (ankle), and S Craig Woodson (shoulder) all suffered injuries during Sunday's win.

As we head into next week, the Patriots growing list of injured players will be top of mind. For now, kudos go to New England's defense for a second straight rock-solid performance. The Pats defense forced two key turnovers, including a scoop-and-score touchdown, and held Aaron Rodgers and the Steelers to just 3.5 yards per play. Rodgers was under pressure 17 times, All-Pro CB Christian Gonzalez dominated his matchup vs. Steelers star WR DK Metcalf, and New England's blitz package continued to harass opposing quarterbacks with a 44.4% pressure rate when the Patriots blitzed on Sunday (flowers for Zak Kuhr).

"Well, that has to be the formula. You know what I mean? You have to affect the quarterback each and every week, and we have to do a better job and continue to do a good job of helping our quarterback be efficient, and he has a large part in that. But we know that that's the formula," head coach Mike Vrabel said after the win. "I'm proud of our defense, proud of everybody."

Offensively, it was good to see the big plays return with the Patriots hitting seven explosive plays. However, the sacks (three) and turnovers (two) remain too omnipresent for New England to finish drives with only 13 offensive points scored. Patriots QB Drake Maye threw his fourth interception of the season and RB Rhamondre Stevenson fumbled to end drives that were headed toward points in Steelers territory.

With roughly 10% of teams that start 0-2 making the playoffs historically, the Patriots avoid a week of hearing about how the odds are against them by taking care of business against the Steelers. As head coach Mike Vrabel, let's not let some early-season growing pains ruin a victory Sunday.

Here are eight takeaways as the Patriots improve to 1-1 with a win over the Steelers in Week 2.

1. Play of the Game I: Patriots Welcome Back TreVeyon Henderson With 39-yard TD Run

The Patriots welcomed back second-year RB TreVeyon Henderson with open arms in Sunday's win over the Steelers, with Henderson running the ball 16 times for 76 rushing yards and a touchdown.

In Week 1, New England ranked last in the NFL in rush EPA. Some of that was facing arguably the best run defense in football in Seattle, but the run game was an area that needed to improve with defenses playing out of two-high safety shells to limit Maye's deep ball. On Sunday, the Patriots showed signs of progress by adding +0.03 EPA per rush (76th percentile) with a 43% rushing success rate (68th percentile).

A big reason why the Patriots rushing efficiency skyrocketed was an increase in explosive runs, with Henderson scoring a touchdown on a 39-yard run and RB Rhamondre Stevenson also adding a 24-yard rush. Henderson's touchdown came against a light box (six or fewer defenders), which is the type of explosive run New England needs to break the two-high safety shell strategy defenses are using to cap their passing game.

​

On Henderson's long touchdown run, the Patriots are blocking tackle-power with Henderson next to Maye in the shotgun. RT Morgan Moses pulls from the backside to the play-side linebacker (Payton Wilson) while LG Alijah Vera-Tucker blocks down and C Jared Wilson climbs to the second level. The Pats block the play perfectly at the point of attack to get Henderson into the secondary, then he gets an excellent block on the safety from WR DeMario Douglas to spring him (wide receivers blocking downfield is a huge plus).

"It's always fun when you get your name called, and it's a play where you get to get out of space, show a little bit of athleticism, especially at my age," the 35-year-old Moses said. "It's always a good deal when you see the running back 20 yards ahead of you running into the end zone."

Although the Steelers still stuffed five runs, the Patriots were successful on 11 rush attempts with three 10-plus yard runs by Henderson and Stevenson. After struggling to run the ball in their season opener, New England's ground game contributed positively to a win on Sunday.

2. Play of the Game II: Christian Barmore, Elijah Ponder Combine on Fumble-Six to Put the Game Away in the Fourth Quarter

The exclamation point for the Patriots defense came on the Steelers first possession in the fourth quarter, which ended with a game-icing scoop-and-score by New England's defense.

Over the first two weeks of the season, there's been some reliance on blitzing for the Patriots defense to generate pressure. When the Patriots blitz, they've generated an impressive 46.7% pressure rate in their first two games, speaking to New England's ability to create pressure with scheme. However, the Pats four-man rushes are only producing a 31% pressure rate. On Sunday, there were signs of progress in this regard, with the Patriots producing a 34.6% pressure rate on Rodgers when they didn't blitz (23.1% in Week 1).

One four-man rush produced a strip-sack by DT Christian Barmore that edge rusher Elijah Ponder scooped and scored on to give the Patriots a 17-point lead. With the Steelers facing a 2nd-and-21, New England dropped into a standard cover-two zone with a four-man rush. Barmore gets the 1-on-1 vs. Steelers RG Spencer Anderson and uses his hump move to bull rush Anderson into the QB. Barmore then swipes at the ball to jar it loose and Ponder is there to run it back for a touchdown, Ponder's first TD in the NFL.

"He held me the first time. The second time, I went inside and I did the counter [rush] on my hump move. I was driving and I saw Rodgers. I didn't want to miss him, so I just went for the ball, punched it out. Coach T [Terrell Williams], Coach Clint [McMillan], and Coach Vrabel keep saying sacking the quarterback is great, but forcing the ball out makes it even better, so that was my focus," Barmore said. "Ponder did his thing today. Great guy, great player."

In all, the Patriots sacked Rodgers four times with a 38.6% pressure rate while blitzing him 21 times (47.7%). The high blitz frequency, combined with a better showing from their standard rushes, made for a highly impactful day for the Patriots pass rush against the 42-year-old Rodgers.

3. QB Drake Maye Says Offense is 'Not Where We Want to Be' Despite the Win

Although the Patriots got the win on Sunday, Maye and the offense remain a work in progress after only producing 13 points against the Steelers on Sunday afternoon.

From this perspective, Pittsburgh defense isn't quite on the level of the Seahawks. That said, the Steelers still have productive veterans like T.J. Watt (two sacks), Cameron Heyward and others who can wreck a game. As we mentioned, the explosive plays that were a huge part of Maye's MVP-caliber season a year ago returned. The Pats QB generated four chunk plays with gains of 63, 30, 29, and 29 yards. Overall, Maye was 14-of-22 for 208 passing yards with an interception, generating +0.07 expected points added on 27 drop-backs. Although it was more explosive, Maye threw a third-quarter interception and took some unnecessary sacks.

"Good to get some big plays and we had some big runs. We feel like the more plays that we can have and pick up first downs, the more the X plays will come. So, it is nice seeing that. At the same time, we cannot follow up those plays with negative ones," Maye told reporters, identifying a key issue for the offense, which wasn't finishing drives after generating a big play.

One of those big plays came on a 63-yarder to WR Romeo Doubs. New England dialed up a "dash" pass for a second straight week, a designed rollout where Maye takes a shotgun snap and rolls to his right as the routes develop downfield. Getting the Pats QB on the move makes life easier on the pass protection and highlights one of his strengths as a thrower on the move.

This time, the Pats ran a "sail" concept to the rollout side into the Steelers cover-six zone, where Doubs is clearing out for WR DeMario Douglas's corner route. The outside quarter player on the cover-four side of the field jumps Douglas's route, leaving Doubs wide open on a busted coverage for a huge play. Pittsburgh played cover six five times with Maye going 2-of-4 for 92 passing yards.

Although it was great to see Maye generate an explosive play vs. cover six, Maye's interception came after he hit Doubs for a 29-yard gain to get down to the PIT 33 – wiping out the impact of the explosive play.

Maye's interception came on the "Spear" concept, where WRs Romeo Doubs and Mack Hollins ran double post routes to clear out the coverage for TE Hunter Henry's backside crosser. With Henry working across the post-safety in cover-three, Maye thinks he has Henry winning on the route. However, the Steelers run a T/E stunt that gets home over the right side of the offensive line (Jack Sawyer) and Maye doesn't see LB Patrick Queen zone-dropping underneath Henry's route. Sawyer hits Maye as he throws and Queen intercepts the underthrown pass.

Again, it was encouraging to see big-play Maye return after the Seahawks limited the downfield passes in Week 1 (and the Super Bowl), but the negative plays are keeping New England out of the end zone.

4. CB Christian Gonzalez Shuts Down Steelers Star WR DK Metcalf in Matchup

Another highlight for the Patriots defense was All-Pro CB Christian Gonzalez winning his matchup against Steelers top wideout DK Metcalf. Gonzalez had 34 coverage matchups against Metcalf, holding the Steelers star to two catches for eight receiving yards on seven targets with a pass breakup. Metcalf had two drops, including dropping a shallow drag route that would've been enough for a third-down conversion, but Gonzalez won this matchup decisively.

With starting CB Carlton Davis III (neck) out, third-year CB Charles Woods was the next man up. Woods mostly covered Steelers third receiver Germie Bernard (23 routes) while NCB Marcus Jones covered slot WR Roman Wilson (24 routes). The Pats cornerbacks largely won across the board down a key starter, which contributed to the defense's big day on Sunday.

5. WR Romeo Doubs Bounces Back, Wide Receiver Snap Counts Without A.J. Brown

The Patriots are moving forward without star WR A.J. Brown (ankle) for the foreseeable future and mostly weathered that storm in their first week without Brown. Although they'll need to score more than 13 points, Doubs had a bounce-back performance with a team-high 96 receiving yards on three catches. Doubs had two explosives on his 63-yard catch (busted coverage) and a 29-yard reception on a scramble drill. He also separated on a slant route on a third-down play, but Maye's throw was off-target. Overall, it was a step in the right direction for Doubs. Here's how New England divided up its wide receiver snaps: Hollins (37), Doubs (35), Douglas (24), Williams (11), Chism (10) – about what you'd expect with Hollins, Doubs, and Douglas as the top three.

6. Patriots O-Line Losses Starting RG Mike Onwenu (Ankle) in First Quarter

According to reports, starting RG Mike Onwenu broke his ankle in Sunday's win. Onwenu has been one of the Pats best linemen, so those are big shoes to fill for veteran Greg Van Roten, who replaced Onwenu at right guard. Van Roten had to knock off some of the rest with two hurries allowed while C Jared Wilson also had some struggles in pass protection (three hurries) and RT Morgan Moses allowed a sack to Watt.

As for LT Will Campbell, he mostly saw Steelers pass-rusher Alex Highsmith (10 matchups) and only allowed one pressure to Highsmith. It's the second consecutive week that Campbell has played well against a front that gave him problems as a rookie. That said, the interior pressure, mainly passing off stunts with a new left and right guard from last year, remains a work in progress for the Patriots offensive line early in the season.

7. Patriots OC Josh McDaniels More Aggressive on First Down vs. Steelers

After a ton of chatter about McDaniels's approach to pound the rock vs. Seattle last week, the Patriots were more aggressive with 14 first-down passes to 10 runs in Week 2. On those first-down throws, the Patriots averaged 8.9 yards per play, so they mostly worked. However, the second guess this week was some 2nd-and-short runs that felt like missed opportunities.

For example, the Pats were driving in the third quarter following a 24-yard run and a 9-yard run by Stevenson. On 2nd-and-1 from the PIT 27, McDaniels dialed up another run that the Steelers stuffed for no gain. Pittsburgh then blew up a third-down screen and K Andy Borregales missed a 47-yard field goal. You expect Borregales to make anything inside 50 yards, but a play-action shot after two successful runs might've been the better call on second down.

8. K Andy Borregales Goes 2-for-3 on Field Goals (Misses from 47 yards)

As for the special teams, Borregales missed the 47-yarder wide right in the third quarter that would've given the Patriots a 10-point lead late in the third quarter. The Pats kicker bounced back with a make from 45 yards, but even that field goal attempt was a little iffy. On a positive note, P Mtich Wishnowsky did the job again with a 46.3-yard net (one I20) and Marcus Jones had a 19-yard return that set up the Patriots lone touchdown drive.

The focus now turns to monitoring the Patriots injured players after Sunday's win, with New England returning to the practice field on Wednesday to begin preparing for a trip to Jacksonville to face a very good Jaguars team in Week 3.

DISCLAIMER: The views and thoughts expressed in this article are those of the writer and don't necessarily reflect those of the organization. Read Full Disclaimer