New England Patriots: 5 observations from a putrid loss in Pittsburgh
False starts, holding penalties and dropped balls…oh my.
Was this really a Bill Belichick team that was on the field Sunday afternoon at Heinz Field?
While the Pittsburgh Steelers tried their best to give the game to the New England Patriots, they did better by basically handing the game to the Steelers.
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It was bad, it was very bad. Every time the Patriots started to get something going on offense, there was an uncharacteristic pre-snap penalty or a dropped pass that could’ve moved the chains. The penalties were nauseating, but the drops by both Julian Edelman and Josh Gordon were cringe worthy.
Add the holding penalties and it was just an overall frustrating day for the New England Patriots offense.
Following the game, Edelman said the offense was to blame for the loss, especially since the defense held Pittsburgh to just 17 points.
"“Without a doubt,” Edelman said when asked if the offense led down the defense, as transcribed by WEEI. “They held a good team to 17. We hold ourselves to a high standard, but we got outplayed today. We put ourselves in situations that we couldn’t pull ourselves out of. We’ve got to start over – I don’t know about start over – but we’ve go to just turn the page and work hard and go out and have a good week of practice.”"
If the Patriots are to get things right, it will start with better execution on offense and fixing all the mental mistakes that have been notable on offense the last few weeks.