It’s the same from peewee to the pros.

No matter what level of football you play at, the two things that will absolutely kill you are penalties and turnovers.

Exhibit A: Pittsburgh 21, New England 14.

“We don’t need to lose a football game to know that turnovers are very hard to overcome,” Patriots coach Mike Vrabel said after Sunday’s loss to the extremely fortunate Steelers. “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.”

Boy,was it ever. Three fumbles, two interceptions. Quarterback Drake Maye and running back Rhamondre Stevenson took a potential 21 points off the board in a game in which the Patriots outgained the Steelers 368-203. The needs say they should have won by three TDs. We say with five turnovers, it’s amazing the Steelers only won by just one.

Maye continues to make his mistakes but eyes are also going to be on Stevenson. He developed fumbleitis a year ago and hasn’t been able to find a cure. It tests Vrabel’s patience because he sees the talent.

“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,”Vrabel said. “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.”

You can probably bet that no one felt worse after the clock hit zero than Stevenson, who after his second costly miscues returned to the game only as a blocker. He slightly disagreed to his coach when told of Vrabel’s words.

“If I can’t hold on to the ball,” he said, “then they don’t need me.”

Give him credit for facing the media music, and also for telling the truth.

Now what? This will all now test Vrabel. Maye doesn’t seem to have any crisis of confidence,but his arguably top running back does.

“Yeah, he’s one of our best players,” Maye said. ” 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.”

Stevenson knows the drill. Everyone in the NFL is replaceable unless you’re,well,a guy named Brady. He knows TreVeyon Henderson,whom the Patriots cant seem to get into space so he can work his escape magic,was drafted for a reason.

Let’s hear what a man of wisdom Patriots lineman Morgan Moses has to say.

“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,” he said. “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.”

True. But for Stevenson and his coach, Sunday seemed like a long season in itself.