Editor’s Note: This Matchup was written by John Daigle, with input from Evan Silva.
Pittsburgh @ New England
Team Totals: Steelers 18, Patriots 23.5
The Patriots return home on a week and a half’s rest after traveling to Seattle for a Wednesday night opener. Week 2 presents an entirely different matchup for Drake Maye after he faced last year’s No. 9 defense in passing points allowed; the jury’s out on whether Pittsburgh is a threat since, to this point, they’ve only played against Cooper Rush. New Steelers DC Patrick Graham deployed zone coverage on 100% (!!) of the team’s Week 1 snaps, and Maye led the league in completing 74% of his passes for 8.7 yards per attempt (second) against zone last year. … With TreVeyon Henderson expected to play, note that Rhamondre Stevenson out-touched him 70 to 35 in the postseason — the most recent and relevant example of the two being active. Neither offers the same skill set as Bijan Robinson, but Pittsburgh allowed the most receiving yards to RBs in Week 1; Stevenson has ‘outs’ as an RB2 for it. You’re obviously not starting Henderson in his first game back, but New England’s lack of success on the ground — 50 of Stevenson’s 51 rushing yards came after contact — showed how much the team missed TreVeyon.
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