HEAD COACH MIKE VRABEL

Postgame Press Conference
Sunday, September 21, 2025

Q: Obviously lesson learned here with the turnovers. You guys had lots --

MV: Obviously. We've known -- we don't need to learn a lesson. 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. They take away momentum. They take away points, give them field position. We didn't need to turn it over as many times as we did to learn a lesson. I think we knew that before. It was very unfortunate.

Q: To what do you attribute the turnovers, penalties --

MV: I mean, the penalties, we cleaned that up, but the penalties -- called a couple defensive holds they called on them. You'd have to tell me that that penalty on Carlton Davis is actually defensive pass interference. That's new for me. Again, I think that the turnovers are much more critical than the penalties, much more critical. You know, ball security comes down to technique. It comes down to other people protecting the guy with the ball, second guy in. Those are all things that we continue to talk about, have talked about, and will talk about. And decision making. Decision making when you have the football in your hand, whether that's a quarterback, whether that's a player that's reaching it, and it gets knocked out. We'll watch the tape and we'll clearly address the ball security. We've got to move on. Fix it and move on.

Q: Is this a game where you felt like you kind of beat yourselves and put yourselves in position to win but the turnovers obviously did away with that?

MV: You could just -- I'm not going to state the obvious. We just have to not give them so many chances with the turnovers, take care of those things. There's a lot to clean up. A lot of good in there, but unfortunately just not enough to get us to win, to get us to really have any sort of advantage in a football game. Every time I felt like we were going to take the momentum and be able to score and move forward in the game, and the defense did a great job there. Unfortunately it got to be one too many opportunities on their part.

Q: Just kind of a quick postgame feeling about Drake and what you saw today --

MV: A lot of good. A lot of good. And unfortunately some decisions that have to be better. I'm sure we'll have to protect him better. And just understanding that you don't have to win it all on one play. There's opportunities to move on and save the day the next play. You can't put the ball in harm's way at that position. But certainly Drake wasn't alone. But there's a lot of really good things in there, his ability to extend plays, scramble, pick up 1st downs for us, run multiple plays inside the pocket, outside the pocket. There's a lot of good things in there, just some decision making that we need to have be better for him and for himself.

Q: The sequence at the end of the second quarter, you're getting close. What was it about the Steelers' defense that made throwing the ball three straight times the right call?

MV: Just loaded up. Just loaded up and really just gapping you out, going with bigger personnel. Again, we liked some of them. We liked some of the plays. When they don't work and we don't execute them, there's certainly always room for second-guessing. Whether we run it in or throw it in, we have to execute and make great decisions, and we didn't. But that was something that we felt good about those plays. We just, again, weren't able to execute. Probably were able to slip a run in there on 4th down. We had time-outs, some opportunities to call it based on the look, and then let the quarterback make a decision. Some of those are two-way calls that go in when you're down there and trying to just get the best play.

Q: I'm just curious what you saw on that final 4th down conversion that was the only one to not work out today?

MV: Looked like they pressured us and Drake got the ball out, and again, probably have to just drop step and be able to knife. Know those are going to be bang-bang plays and try to split them and get the 1st down. It's hard to circle around some defenders. I didn't have the best view of it. I would say that the decision that Pop made wasn't the right one there just because we didn't get it. Got to try to either drop step or make them miss.

Q: You went for 4th down deep in your own territory at one point. Were you chasing momentum at that point, and did you feel this was a game that your team needed that to get going, given the way it was going?

MV: I just want to be aggressive, want to be decisive and aggressive and give these guys opportunities to win the game. Felt like those were good calls for us. The players executed it. We just weren't able to score off of some of them.

Q: You mentioned the turnovers erase all the good things that you do. You guys go down 14-0, but what did you think of your defense for most of the rest of the game?

MV: Resilient. We've got to be better in the red zone when they do get there. I think they settled down, really played the type of defense that we expect except for the last drive there. Again, wherever they put the ball down, you just keep reminding them to go play defense, and they did, and they got stops, and there was energy, and we've just got to keep trying to turn the ball over. You see how critical that is when we can do that, and finding opportunities to get it out of the quarterback's hand or when they do fumble it try to keep it in bounds or recover it. It's a game of inches, and we weren't able to recover the fumble and they were. Had plenty of chances.

Q: How do you handle Rhamondre Stevenson with two fumbles?

MV: Yeah, it's like you sit there, and we were so excited about him and everybody is excited about him, the fans are, and we know what his capabilities are, and we've got to get him back. We need him. We absolutely need him. You see what he was able to do for us last week, his ability to make some plays. Again, we'll just have to look at the technique and we'll have to look at the ball security, but we're going to need him. We need his ability, but we also need to take care of the football. It's a long answer to tell you that I'm not really sure 20 minutes after the game what we're going to do, but we need him because he helped us win the game last week, and it was a different story today.

Q: I understand you left points on the field, but you were also able to put together some long drives. How do you think this could help you to build your team's identity offensively?

MV: Yeah, I appreciate that question. I do. We have to score. You have to score in this league. You have to -- again, I'm great with the long drives. We're going to have to continue to use that and gain confidence, but we're going to have to find ways to create explosive plays. It's hard to drive the ball 19 plays. Impressive that we can do that. But it's also a reminder that you have to hit some X plays and you have to continue to score touchdowns when you get down there after 19 plays. I appreciate that.

QUARTERBACK DRAKE MAYE

Postgame Press Conference
Sunday, September 21, 2025

Q: How frustrating a day is this when you move the ball pretty well but guys keep turning the ball over?

DM: Yeah, just hurting ourselves. Yeah, it hurts. I think it's one of those things that, yeah, just kept piling on. I think Morgan Moses brought the team together, brought the offense together, and we went back and we scored, hit Hunt, and yeah, we got the ball back tied. Yeah, it cost us. It hurts. It's something to learn from. It's a long season. The defense played their butts off, and the guys in the locker room are playing hard and they're fighting hard. It's tough, and it stings just knowing we hurt ourselves, and that's what cost us.

Q: Specifically what happened on the second quarter interception right in the end zone there right before the half?

DM: Yeah, I had Boutte. I fired in there and I think 97 got a hand on it, and just kind of took it a different route. It was a good play by him, but yeah, I think I could have gave him a different ball flight, I think in the back corner of the end zone for a touchdown. Like I said, just one of those things that stings. I was thinking about it all halftime. Just got to move on.

Q: If I could follow up on that play, two plays prior to that you got hit pretty hard. The back of your helmet slammed against the turf. I just wanted to ask, were you surprised not to get evaluated? Did you have any thought of coming out? Were you in pain? Do you think it affected any decisions on the interception?

DM: No. Shoot, I felt good. I learned from last year, if you get banged up, you've got to get back up quick or they'll spot you. No, I felt fine. I feel good now. Shoot, just two good players that try and get after the quarterback, and that happens.

Q: On the last play on 4th down, there was a time-out. What are the conversations like on the sideline about the look you expect, and how did you see that play develop?

DM: Yeah, I was expecting pressure, expecting to get something out quick. I wish I would have told those guys, 4th and 1, just try to catch it and get up field. I wish I would have told them that in the huddle. Those little things go a long way. Yeah, nothing Pop did wrong. Just he was trying to make a play. I wish I would have -- we were expecting some type of blitz look. I think they played some blitz trap deal. Shoot, that's just the league. You've got the ball, tied up, and it cost us, and then we got the ball with the tie to send it to overtime. That's the NFL. It's tough, but it's a great experience.

Q: What can you say to Rhamondre after this game? I know he had two fumbles. He's had a little more time in the league than you. I know you're looked at as the team leader. What can you say to him to just assure him he's still an integral piece of this team?

DM: Yeah, he's one of our best players. I think there's nothing that I think he can do that would change my view of him as a player, as a teammate. He does everything the right way. He knows just as much as we know. Ball security is the No. 1 thing as a running back, and he's had a great season and a great last weekend. That's this league. One week you're heck of a game and he was on the right track this game, and that happens. He knows just as much as anybody else. I just pump him up, be there for him, and I know we need him throughout the season.

Q: Drake, I know you're disappointed in the fumble late. You also had a number of scrambles off schedule that were successful and got a lot of 1st downs. When you think about how to make that last play better moving forward, what do you see as your fix? Is it less off schedule, play making, holding the ball tighter? What do you think the lesson is from today?

DM: Yeah, just saw TreVeyon late and tried to do something stupid. Really I think it's just continue playing. Really my capability, feet outside the pocket makes it tough on them. They're a good front. I thought those guys up front blocked their butts off, but just be decisive, and if I have to take a sack, just take care of the football. That's the number one thing.

ADDITIONAL PATRIOTS PLAYERS

Robert Spillane, LB

(On Mike Vrabel's message to team after going down early in the game)

"Our identity is our identity and we just need to keep continuing to play to our identity. [We need to] make the plays when they matter most and we just fell a little bit short here today."

(On the how the team fights inconsistency)

"Continuing to believe in each other, trust the guys around you and get better at practice every day. It starts tomorrow morning. We'll be in here at 9 a.m. getting back to work.

(On his preparation personally leading up to this game)

"It was a week of focus for me. It was a chance to bounce back and be a better teammate. That's the only thing that matters to me, how can I be the best teammate? Again fell short today. We're going to continue to believe in each other, get back to work here on Monday, and continue to get 1% better every day. I know it sounds cliché and I know it's not what you want to hear, but this is a long season and continual improvement is the only thing that's going to get us to where we want to be."

(On going down early and getting back into the game)

"We need to figure out what's going on with that, how we can emulate that middle part of the game and how we've done so well in the second quarter. We just need to figure out how can we start the game that fast and get off the field early, and get the ball back to our offense. That will be what we focus on tomorrow. How can we start these games fast? How can we go three-and-out, get off the field and get the ball right back to our offense? That's our goal, no matter where we're put on the field to play defense, our job is to get the ball back for the offense."

Marcus Jones, CB

(On what happened after going down early)

"The main thing that [Mike Vrabel] was talking to us about, was to just settle down. We had some unforced errors that we didn't need to have in the first half. He was just like, play our style of football, so we eventually settled in and everything. We can't have slow starts like that in the National Football League because it's hard to come back from situations like that."

(On what the team did well and how disappointing it was to not be able to stop Aaron Rodgers on the last play)

"The main thing that we did was just play our style, make sure we had the right technique and things of that nature. Just trusting each other on the defensive end. On the last play, that's just me. Bad technique, things like that end up happening, especially at [defensive back]. That was just me, wrong technique and stuff like that. That's how you can you lose this game."

(On the team's offensive turnovers today)

"I'm not upset at all. When it comes down to turnovers, we're trying to get the ball back to the offense. I'm not mad about the turnovers and everything, we're just trying to get the ball back to the offense. We support them no matter if it's 10 turnovers in one game and everything like that, we got their back.

Milton Williams, DT

(On executing the game plan and keeping Aaron Rodgers contained)

"We were okay on defense. They did not really get too much going, then we let up a play at the end. Like I said, it was not good enough. We have to go back, watch the tape, correct your mistakes, and you're ready for next week."

(On the importance of Robert Spillane to the defense)

"Being a player we know he can be. Coming out, setting a tone for us, making the calls, make sure everybody was lined up right, and make plays when they come to him."

(On dealing with five turnovers in the game)

"Like Coach Vrabel just said, it is not one side of the ball, this and that, it is everybody. It just was not enough. We did not execute enough, and we did not do enough to win the game. Give the Pittsburgh Steelers credit, they came in here and beat us in our home, and that is what it is."

Morgan Moses, T

(On what the team has to do to turn the tide at home)

"I think number one is just looking yourself in the mirror, evaluating the tape yourself and seeing where you can be a little bit better at. And that's everybody. That's me, whether you're a first-year (player), second year, third year, it doesn't matter. You've got to figure out how I can be better at the point of attack and just for the team."

(On what the balance between urgency and patience is regarding turnovers)

"At the end of the day, you never want to turn the ball over, but like I said, things happen, and it's for us to get back and figure out how we can be better. It's all 11. How can we finish blocks better so guys won't jump on the pile and get that extra hit in? How can we be better at the point of attack? And things like that. And so, we all just have to look ourselves in the mirror and correct those things, and then we'll be all right. It's early in the season."

K'Lavon Chaisson, LB

(On how he can step up as a leader and help get things back on track )

"There are always things that I can do to improve. If I have any chance I can help the team and give nuggets to the defense, special teams or offense, I am willing to do so. Thankfully it is early in the season. I do think we need to capitalize on home games and win in front of our home crowd. We have another opportunity next week to play in front of our home crowd, so we have got to take advantage of it."

(On the message as the team was walking off the field)

"We just have to clean up some work. We are not far off. Just a few things we have to clean up, like I said earlier. Some self-inflicted wounds that we have got to take care of. Obviously as a defense, we have got to go find a way to get the ball more and more. Find a way to defend every blade of grass no matter where we start at. Keep that same aggressive mindset no matter what happens."

Rhamondre Stevenson, RB

(On his approach technically and mentally regarding fumbles)

"I got to do everything I need to do to hold the ball. So I'll be taking every approach that is needed."

(On what he can do moving forward)

"The same thing, just attack practice like I do each and every day. Just have ball security at the top of my mind right now."

DeMario Douglas, WR

(On losing after dominating the majority of the last three quarters)

"It hurts, you know. Nobody likes losing, especially the way we lost."

(On the play call on the fourth-and-2 from the Patriots on 15-yard line)

"It was a play. It wasn't designed for anything, it was just a play."

(On if he knew he was close to the first down marker)

"Yeah, I knew I was somewhere by it because we only had two yards."

TreVeyon Henderson, RB

(On the team bond)

"The biggest thing with times like this, is that it's easy to stick together when times are good, but when times are bad, that's when you learn about how tight the connections that we're making are. I think they're really strong. (inaudible) Coach Vrabel has done a great job of just bringing us together, so we're staying strong through all of this."

(On Coach Vrabel's message to the team after the game)

"The biggest thing is we got to embrace this. Things aren't always going to go our way, but we got to learn from this and learn from our mistakes but also move forward."