The New England Patriots took one on the chin in a 17-10 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers Sunday afternoon at Heinz Field.
Whelp, it was redemption Sunday for Mike Tomlin and the Pittsburgh Steelers and they finally got the upper hand on Tom Brady and the New England Patriots with a 17-10 victory late Sunday afternoon.
That doesn’t mean the Steelers didn’t try to give the game away to the Patriots. With Brady and the offense struggling and the defense again weak against the run, it was a game Pittsburgh should’ve really put away in the first half.
But, despite all the self-inflicted wounds with penalty after penalty and a key, costly turnover in the red area, Brady and the Patriots still had the ball in the final seconds of the game with a chance to at least tie it up.
And so…the struggles on the road continue. The more desperate team in the Pittsburgh Steelers came out victorious. They schemed defensively to finally make Brady uncomfortable in the pocket. They took Rob Gronkowski out of the game and did enough offensively to come out on top.
How much of that was the New England Patriots lack of execution offensively? Well, there will be an entire week of second-guessing the play calling of Josh McDaniels and pronouncing the decline of Tom Brady. As of the day following the game, just have to give the Pittsburgh Steelers credit.
Following another uncharacteristic loss on the road, Bill Belichick and his team are now the desperate team. With two home games remaining, they have to get it together on both sides of the ball and take care of business to wrap up the AFC East for the 10th consecutive season. They also need to win out in hopes of recapturing the No. 2 seed in the AFC.
Most importantly, this team has two more weeks to find a consistent identity if they hope to shock the world just one more time.
Now 9-5 on the season, here are five observations from the 17-10 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 15.
Another running back has a career game
When the New England Patriots lose a game, it is typically when the opposing team has success running the ball and controlling the clock.
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We saw it against the Jacksonville Jaguars, Detroit Lions, Tennessee Titans, Miami Dolphins and again Sunday against the Pittsburgh Steelers as rookie running back Jaylen Samuels ran wild on the Patriots defense for 142 yards on just 19 carries.
A concern coming into the game, the defensive line was simply manhandled by the Steelers offensive line. They were particularly carved up on cut-back, misdirection plays in which Samuels was able to find running lanes going towards the sidelines.
Part of the Patriots struggles seem to be from a lack of physicality along the defensive line and below average play from their linebackers, particularly Dont’a Hightower. They also haven’t found consistent play in the middle of the line besides Lawrence Guy. Both Malcom Brown and Danny Shelton have been disappointments this season.
If the New England Patriots are to advance in the playoffs, they have to get better against the ground game, particularly on the road. If they don’t get it together, it will be an early exit. They also have to get their own running game going to protect Tom Brady and open up the passing game.
Steelers still refuse to cover Hogan
The Pittsburgh Steelers won the game, but still struggled to recognize Chris Hogan on the field.
Reminiscent of his big game against the black & gold in the team’s 2016 playoff run, Hogan caught a 63-yard touchdown pass from Tom Brady with no Steelers’ defenders around him. Hogan only ended up with a total of two receptions for 68 yards in the game overall, but it was a reminder that he can still make contributions in the offense.
https://twitter.com/Patriots/status/1074420554147409920
At the time, the Patriots were down 7-0 and responded quickly with the Chris Hogan touchdown. It was the longest touchdown pass by Brady since he threw a 64-yard TD to Brandin Cooks last season.
While it hasn’t been the type of season fans expected out of Hogan, the team may need to look his way more now that opposing teams are starting to pay more attention to Josh Gordon. He could be an X-factor in the final games of the season and into the playoffs.
In all, Tom Brady and the New England Patriots have to find a way to utilize Chris Hogan more in the offense. We will see the next couple weeks against the Buffalo Bills and New York Jets.
Special teams get special
There wasn’t much to embrace for the New England Patriots in Sunday’s 17-10 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers.
But one special teams play may go down as one of the top highlights of the 2018 NFL season. With 8:17 left in the half and the Patriots trailing 14-7, Ryan Allen punted the ball from his own 47-yard line down to the 12. The ball then proceeded to bounced towards the end zone where Jonathan Jones started some acrobatics by leaping into the end zone and batting the ball up in the air with just one hand.
His effort was then mimicked by Rex Burkhead who leaped over the goal line to fling the football back to Ramon Humber. Both acrobatic efforts led to the Patriots downing the ball on the Steelers 1-yard line.
What seemed like a momentum shifter at the time led to the defense allowing the Steelers to drive the ball, but the play itself showed just how special the special teams unit has been the last couple weeks. Now if the offense and defensive line can find its flavor, this may not be a lost season for the 2018 New England Patriots.
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.
Just blame it on Brady
It all starts with Tom Brady.
When the New England Patriots offense if flowing, he gets credit, now that it’s not flowing, he has to take some of the blame as well.
Yes, in previous seasons Brady has carried the offense with minimal weapons at times. This season, he is making some head scratching plays that has Brady apologists wondering if he is injured and his haters having a field day at the thought of his demise.
On Sunday, despite how putrid the team played at times, the New England Patriots still have a couple of chances to win the game. The final few plays down near the red zone were frustrating enough, but on the drive prior, Tom Brady did something Tom Brady rarely does.
With the team driving for possibly a go-ahead score and at least a field goal that would’ve inched the closer within a point, Brady felt the Steelers pressure and just launched one up seemingly for grabs. Unfortunately, it was into the hands of Steelers cornerback Joe Haden for a very untimely and costly red zone turn over.
Following the game, Brady said he was just trying to throw the ball away. It obviously didn’t get where he was trying to throw it. Quite frankly, if the New England Patriots are to get somewhere this season, Tom Brady has to find some magic and keep the mental mistakes at a minimum.