The New England Patriots are going for their first home win of the season and a second straight victory overall on Sunday, when they welcome the Pittsburgh Steelers to Gillette Stadium for a Week 3 showdown.

Wins at home have been hard to come by for New England, and a win streak has been even more rare. The Patriots have won just three games in Foxboro in the last two seasons, and haven't won back-to-back games since 2022. 

But head coach Mike Vrabel doesn't care about what happened last season or 20 seasons before. He only cares if the Patriots improve on last week's win over the Dolphins in Miami.

"There's a lot of stats here that I'm not familiar with, nor am I concerned with. The focus is trying to build some consistency, which would then lead to confidence, and continue to build on what we did, improve the things that we have to fix and then continue to eliminate some of the things that we feel like could get you beat," Vrabel said Wednesday.

The Patriots beat the Dolphins last Sunday, but they also did a lot of stuff that could have gotten them beat. Are they ready to put together their best all-around game against the Steelers on Sunday? Here's what we'll be watching for when the Patriots and the Steelers kick off at Gillette Stadium.

Will Drake Maye, Patriots' offense have its way with the Steelers?

Drake Maye had his best day in the NFL last Sunday. He looked the part of an established quarterback and at no point looked in over his head or like he had too much on his plate. 

The Patriots employed a balanced attack on the ground and through the air and it all worked extremely well together. New England scored 30 points for the first time since the Bailey Zappe mini-era, and it would be smart for Josh McDaniels to deploy a similar offensive approach Sunday.

The Patriots' offense could really go off against a bad Pittsburgh defense. Outside of TJ Watt, the Steelers' defense has been abysmal over the first two weeks. The Jets and Seahawks both made it a point to go wherever Watt wasn't, and had a ton of success against the rest of Pittsburgh's D.

Pittsburgh sits 29th in the NFL in total defensive yards allowed at 394.5 yards per game. The Steelers have allowed 149.5 rushing yards per game, good for the fifth-most to start the season. They're getting beat through the air too, allowing 245 passing yards per game, which ranks eighth-most in the NFL. Former Patriots safety Jabrill Peppers will have revenge on his mind Sunday when he takes the field for the Steelers, but the Pittsburgh secondary will be shorthanded with Joey Porter Jr. out for a second straight week with a hamstring injury.

Opponents have put up 31.5 points per game against the Steelers, which is the fourth-most in the NFL. Pittsburgh has also missed 28 tackles this season, which will make Patriots fans feel a little bit better about their own defense.

All of that is to say the Steelers have a terrible defense and the Patriots should put up a lot of points on Sunday. Maye should be able to rack up a good amount of passing yards, and the Patriots should be able to burn Pittsburgh deep or with short passes. Rhamondre Stevenson should be able to build off his all-around game in Week 2, and maybe we'll see TreVeyon Henderson break out this weekend.

But it will be up to the New England defense to keep Week 3 from becoming a track meet at Gillette.

Will the Patriots play some defense? 

Not having Christian Gonzalez has played a big part of New England's defensive struggles. He's already been ruled out, so he won't be back to help in Week 3.

And the Patriots' secondary needs plenty of help. Through two weeks, opposing quarterbacks have completed 50 of their 66 pass attempts (75.9 percent, which is the third-highest completion percentage allowed this season) against New England for 677 passing yards -- the most in the NFL. The Patriots lead the league at 315 passing yards allowed per game.

Not exactly the kind of numbers you expect to give up to Geno Smith and Tua Tagovailoa from a supposed "Top 10" defense. Now the New England defense needs to stop Aaron Rodgers, who is no spring chicken anymore but can still light up a secondary. The Patriots will have to put some pressure on Rodgers, who at 41 years old will do everything he can to avoid contact.

But put too much pressure on Rodgers and he'll burn the Patriots for more big plays, which the defense needs to stop allowing. The Patriots have given up 13 pass plays of 20 or more yards, which is most in the NFL. At least the New England run defense has surrendered zero plays of 20 or more yards.

Not allowing any big runs so far is somewhat surprising, because the Patriots have also had issues with 25 missed tackles so far this season. Linebacker Robert Spillane leads all of the NFL with eight whiffs through two games, while fellow linebacker Christian Elliss has six missed tackles of his own. 

The Patriots had 10 missed tackles last week against Miami, including three on De'Von Achane's 29-yard catch-and-run touchdown. Dolphins running backs picked up 47 yards after contact and Miami receivers had 141 yards after catch in Week 2 against New England. 

The Steelers can really make the Patriots pay for such defensive miscues on Sunday. DK Metcalf and running back Jaylen Warren are monsters with the ball in their hands, and a big reason Pittsburgh is the only team in the NFL with over 300 yards after catch. 

"We'll have to tackle much better," Vrabel said earlier this week. "That will be a critical part of this game plan. Those guys are great with the ball in their hands. They run very hard, they're skilled, they're big and present a challenge."

Will the Patriots clean up the laundry?

The Patriots have been responsible for a lot of laundry hitting the field over the first two weeks. New England has been hit with 21 penalties so far this season, which is second only to the 23 penalties assessed to the Tennessee Titans. 

The Patriots were flagged for six false starts and one delay of game over the first two weeks, plus seven offensive holdings. There's a lot for the New England offensive line to clean up.

Rookie kicker Andy Borregales has also drawn two flags; one for sending a kickoff out of bounds in Week 1 and one for sending a kickoff short of the landing zone last week in Miami. The Patriots can't afford to be giving out free yards on special teams.

The New England defense has mostly stayed out of the laundry game, but will now face a quarterback in Rodgers who is a master at the snap count and can make a defense get antsy.

Opponents have been flagged 18 times against New England, so it's not just the Patriots getting flagged this season. But if the Steelers have done anything well, it's been avoiding penalties. Pittsburgh's six penalties through the first two weeks are tied for the lowest total along with the Seahawks.