Week Two of the NFL Season is underway and the Pittsburgh Steelers hit the road for the first time. As they did last year, the Steelers head to New England to take on the Patriots. Here’s everything you need to know about this AFC clash.
What: Pittsburgh Steelers 1-0 at New England Patriots 0-1
Where: Gillette Stadium Foxborough, Massachusetts
When: Sunday September 20th, 2026 1pmET
Weather: 62 degrees with light rain. Winds to 7mph
Surface: Field Turf
Wagering Information: Patriots -5.5 O/U 41.5
Last Week: The Pats opened the season against the very team they lost to in the Super Bowl. They left Seattle with a 13-10 loss. The Steelers opened at home ad came away with a 20-13 win over Atlanta.
TV: CBS Jim Nantz (play-by-play), J.J. Watt (analysis), Tracy Wolfson (field reporter)
TV Coverage in Your Area (courtesy 506sports.com): Coverage for us in RED.
Radio: Steelers Audio Network Rob King (play-by-play), Max Starks (analysis), Missi Matthews (field reporter)
Sports USA Radio: Larry Kahn (play-by-play), Stephen Gostkowski (analysis)
Head Official: Carl Cheffers. He is a sales manager from Irvine, California. Cheffers is in his 19th season as a head official. His crew last officiated a Steelers game just before Christmas last season in Detroit which featured a controversial ending but they did the call correct. There were 15 penalties in that game. In week one of this year, Cheffers’ crew called 19 penalties in the DAL-NYG game. That second only to Brad Allen’s crew.
Game Status (courtesy steelers.com) PIT: No. 11 WR Michael Pittman Jr. (Foot) – OUT, No. 24 CB Joey Porter Jr. (NIR/Conditioning/Back) – Out, No. 76 OT Troy Fautanu (Ankle) – Questionable NE: No. 5 LB Dre’Mont Jones (Foot) – Questionable
No. 7 CB Carlton Davis III (Neck) – Questionable, No. 68 OT Dametrious Crownover (Knee) – Out, No. 77 OL Ben Brown (Knee) – Questionable
Injury Notes: It is what it is with Joey Porter, Jr at this point. I have no doubt that he isn’t in “football shape” but at some point something has to give. He’s under contract and at some point has to be made active. The back injury was first reported back on the first day of Training Camp. I’ll leave it at that… Keep an eye on Fautanu’s ankle. If he can’t go then Cook slides over and Max Iheanachor comes in on the right.
2026 NFL Ranks:
Total Offense: PIT 25th, NE 22nd
Passing Offense: PIT 13th, NE 25th
Rushing Offense: PIT 32nd, NE 17th
Total Defense: PIT 3rd, NE 13th
Passing Defense: PIT 2nd, NE 16th
Rushing Defense: PIT 18th, NE 12th
AFC North Standings:
Baltimore 1-0
Cincinnati 1-0
Pittsburgh 1-0
Cleveland 0-1
This Week in the AFC North: Cleveland at Tampa Bay 1pmET, New Orleans at Baltimore 1pmET, Cincinnati at Houston 1pmET
What You Need to Know: T.J. Watt is the second player in the NFL since 1982 with 100.0+ sacks and 10+ interceptions (Julius Peppers)… The Steelers now have 30 wins in one-score games dating back to 2022… The Pats are 3-2 against the Steelers all-time in the month of September… Cam Heyward, Aaron Rodgers and Carson Bruener were selected as the Week One captains last week. Coach McCarthy is selecting captains for each week this year… Travis Homer and Doneiko Slaughter have both been elevated from the Practice Squad for Sunday.
The McCarthy Minute: McCarthy’s 12 victories on Kickoff Weekend are tied for ninth-most in NFL
history… He has faced an opposing starting QB who was drafted No. 1 overall on 60 occasions in his 18-year head coaching career… McCarthy is 33-27 against number one overall pick QBs in his career…
New England Patriots Names to Know: QB Drake Maye, RB TreyVeon Henderson, RB Rhamondrae Stevenson, WR Romeo Doubs, WR DeMario Douglas, TE Hunter Henry, CB Christian Gonzalez, LB Robert Spillane, DL Christian Barrmore, PK Andre Borregales
What’s at Stake: For the Pats, they are looking to avoid an 0-2 start. For the Steelers, they are looking to start 2-0 AND get a crucial AFC win on the road.
All-Time Series: New England leads 19-17. The series is tied at 5-5 in New England.
Last Meeting: September 2025 in Foxborough. Steelers 21 Patriots 14
Steelers Regular Season Game Highs vs NE:
PASSING: 400 Ben Roethlisberger 11/03/2013
RUSHING: 142 Jaylen Samuels 12/16/2018
RECEIVING: 136 Mike Wallace 11/14/2010
SACKS: 3.0 Joey Porter 10/31/2014
INTERCEPTIONS: 2 Gary Jones 12/05/1993
Check out the latest SCB Steelers Podcast presented by DEK Roofing Inc for more on the Steelers.
Three Things We Need to See for a Steelers’ Victory:
–Contain Maye. Pats’ QB Drake Maye is a very good QB but he’s also a very good athlete. Maye can make plays with his legs when the play breaks down and the Steelers cannot let him become an extra running back so to speak. While I don’t think you’ll see Patrick Graham deploy a “spy” per se, there’s no doubt that he’s spent a lot of time talking about how to keep Maye in the pocket. If the edge guys get upfield and force him to step up in the pocket then Cam Heyward and company have to finish the job. Conversely, pressure up the middle means the outside guys have to keep contain.
–Get the Ground Game Going. I am not suggesting that the Steelers need to run for 150 yards but they do have to average much better than 2.6 yards per carry as they did last week. Aaron Rodgers seemed to dismiss the idea of the offense needing more balance but inside the locker room I don’t think he’s saying the same thing. The more teams shut down the Steelers’ rushing attack the more they will tee off on Rodgers. Jaylen Warren and Rico Dowdle need to find the gaps and go.
–Clean Up Special Teams. You may look back on the botched field goal from week one and say, “meh, it happens.” Actually, no it shouldn’t. You’ve got a kicker who will be in the Hall of Fame some day and when you take opportunities like that away from him that hurts the team. A seven-point win could have been a much more comfortable two score victory. Danny Crossman’s unit has to get that cleaned up. You cannot afford to take points off the board ever but especially in road games. This has to be clean this week.
The ‘X’ Factor: Each week I will select a player from each team who I believe will need to play above and beyond in order for his team to win.
X-Factor Steelers: Receivers. Let’s go ahead and assume that Christian Gonzalez takes away D.K. Metcalf for the most part. Michael Pittman, Jr has been on the injury report all week so he may not even play and certainly won’t be 100% if he does. That means Roman Wilson has to be a threat. The same can be said for the tight ends and perhaps even Germie Bernard who we hope will get more than three snaps on offense. Aaron Rodgers cannot be forced to dump the ball to running balls on the regular. The entire unit needs to step up.
X-Factor Patriots: Will Campbell. The former first round pick by the Patriots had a Super Bowl to forget as he was constantly beaten by Seattle pass rushers. This week he gets one of the best edge rushing groups in the NFL. He’s going to see three very different pass rushers in T.J. Watt, Alex Highsmith and Nick Herbig. I expect to see the Pats do some chipping to help him out at times but the Steelers have to make life miserable for him.
Prediction: The Steelers offense showed a lot last week. They used the middle of the field and they were willing to take more deep shots too which I love. The problem is that there were too many drops and very little running game. Ultimately, the offense scored just 13 points. Now the offense goes up against a much better defense in the Patriots. I couple that with a New England team that wants to avoid an 0-2 start with the rival Bills already 2-0.
Patriots 20 Steelers 16
Season Prediction Record: 1-0
