Patriots vs. Steelers: What We Learned About New England in 25-17 Loss

It started bad and ended worse for the New England Patriots. The first quarter was dominated by the Pittsburgh Steelers, who held a time of possession advantage of 13:36 to 1:24 over New England through 15 minutes of play.

As bad as it started, Tom Brady's fumble, which was punched by Troy Polamalu into the end zone for a safety, was a fitting end to the struggles that the Patriots fought through all day.

Third Down Defense Still Needs Improvement

Yup, I may have been a bit premature with this post.

The Steelers converted their first five third downs, all passing plays. The Patriots had allowed as many third down conversions via passing plays in the past two games as they had in the first quarter.

Things got better, with the Patriots getting a third-down sack in the red zone to force the Steelers to kick a field goal. On Pittsburgh's next third down, Roethlisberger threw an interception to Gary Guyton. The very next third down, though, was a touchdown pass, so needless to say, it was a mixed bag on third down.

In all, the Steelers went 10-of-16 on third down, with nine conversions coming via the pass.

To be fair, the Steelers are a much better third down offense than anything the Patriots had faced in the past two games. Pittsburgh has converted 48.89 percent of third downs this season and 62.5 percent of their third downs against New England's defense today.

Moves in the Secondary Stand out

Leigh Bodden was released and Ras-I Dowling placed on injured reserve in a span of under 36 hours. The feeling was that these moves would manifest themselves in some way, but no one could have anticipated it being as bad as it was against Pittsburgh's offense.

Roethlisberger went 36-for-50 for 365 yards, two touchdowns an an interception.

The focus has been and will remain on the secondary for the foreseeable future.

Coverage on Tight Ends Suffers a Big Blow Against Heath Miller

According to Christopher Price of WEEI, the Patriots had held opposing tight ends to just three receptions for 39 yards on average through their first six games. Heath Miller surpassed those totals on the first drive and finished the game with seven receptions for 85 yards.

This will be an area to watch in the coming weeks, as the Patriots face Giants tight end Jake Ballard (18.3 yards per reception) and Jets tight end Dustin Keller (a consistent headache for New England's defense) in the next two weeks.

Tom Brady Can't Beat You If He's Not on the Field

The talk all week long was that Tom Brady had been so dominant over Pittsburgh's defense in recent history that he had cracked the code like other quarterbacks had been unable to do.

Today, the Patriots were just 3-for-10 on third down, and had a hard time sustaining drives all afternoon. With a total time of possession of just 20:38 against Pittsburgh's 39:22, New England's defense was out on the field far too long and the offense not nearly long enough.

Also, according to Shalise Manza Young of The Boston Globe, the Patriots offense averaged 75 offensive plays per game before Sunday and totaled just 50 against the Steelers.

Offensive Line in Focus

After spending four weeks out of the game with injuries, Sebastian Vollmer had his first game back against Pittsburgh, and he had a tall order against LaMarr Woodley. The linebacker had his way with the tackle all day, netting two sacks and generating a lot of pressure to disrupt Brady's timing.

Logan Mankins also had two false start penalties that while they didn't kill drives on their own, were contributing factors to a slow start for New England as they scored no points in the first quarter.

There weren't a lot of bright spots for New England today, and although protection has been one of the bright spots for awhile, breakdowns in protection made for a long day for Brady.

Erik Frenz is the co-host of the PatsPropaganda and Frenz podcast. Follow Erik on Twitter @ErikFrenz.