Five takeaways from the Patriots’ win over the Steelers
COMMENTARY
The New England Patriots couldn’t have drawn up their first game of the season any better. A banner-raising ceremony before kickoff brought put the Foxborough faithful in a frenzy. For the most part, the game carried that momentum as the Patriots beat the Pittsburgh Steelers, 28-21.
If Tom Brady was at all distracted by Deflategate, he didn’t show it one bit. He completed 19 straight passes from the second to third quarter, and on the night, he went 25-of-32 passing for 288 yards and four touchdowns. Of course, he’s feasted on the Steelers for years, so none of this should come as a huge shock.
That being said, in the constant rain that soaked the field at Gillette Stadium on Thursday, his accuracy was remarkable.
Of course, Brady wasn’t the only one playing on Thursday, so here are a few more takeaways from the first game of the regular season.
1. The Patriots have a lot of confidence in Malcolm Butler: In 2014, Darrelle Revis spent almost the entire season trailing the opponent’s best receiver. Malcolm Butler may not get that privilege on a weekly basis, but the Patriots showed a lot of confidence in him by putting him on Steelers wide receiver Antonio Brown.
On the night, Butler yielded seven catches on eight targets for 121 yards and a touchdown when covering Brown man-to-man. Two of those catches, a 13-yarder and an 11-yarder for a TD, came in garbage time on the Steelers’ last drive of the game.
So it wasn’t exactly a shutdown performance from Butler, but Brown is widely regarded as one of the best receivers in the game. Butler should not hang his head after allowing a handful of completions. The only question now is whether the Patriots will keep putting him in those situations.
2. Dion Lewis might be the Patriots’ answer to losing Shane Vereen: In the first quarter, Lewis split out wide to run a curl pattern on back-to-back plays, and caught both passes for 25 yards. In the second quarter, he went in motion from the backfield to the boundary for a screen pass that he took seven yards. On the night, he caught four passes for 51 yards.
Lewis also showed some flashes as a runner from the backfield, juking and plowing his way to a 13-yard gain in the third quarter. He led the Patriots with 15 carries for 69 yards on the night.
For those of you adjusting your fantasy rosters, don’t expect this kind of production from Lewis every week. LeGarrette Blount was suspended for the Patriots’ season opener, and so he might be the team’s No. 1 back when he returns. That being said, Lewis’ role on passing downs could be much bigger than previously anticipated.
3. Patriots offensive line could be an issue, but not tonight: No Bryan Stork and no Ryan Wendell meant no carryover starters on the inside of the offensive line from 2014 in Week 1 of the 2015 season. Tre’ Jackson got the start at right guard, Josh Kline started at left guard, and rookie free-agent David Andrews got the start at center.
The Patriots had intermittent issues with both their pass protection and run-blocking. In the first half, the Patriots rushed 11 times for 28 yards. On the night, they gained 80 yards on 24 carries. But Tom Brady was sacked just once, and it was by an unblocked defender coming off the edge.
The offensive line will have a big test against the Buffalo Bills in Week 2, when they are on the road against one of the best defensive lines in football. Let’s see how they do against defensive tackles like Marcell Dareus and Kyle Williams before we say they’ll be just fine without two of their key interior linemen from last year.
4. Watch out for the Patriots’ two-tight end sets: The first four touchdown drives resulted in four red zone touchdown catches for the combination of Rob Gronkowski (three) and Scott Chandler (one).
For his first, Gronkowski bulldozed a couple Steelers defenders on his way to a 16-yard catch-and-run score. For his second, Gronkowski went over the top of two Steelers defenders in the back of the end zone. Chandler caught his touchdown in the flat, right in front of the end zone, and snuck the ball over the goal line for the score. Gronkowski then caught a goal-line fade in the corner of the end zone after splitting out to the far left side of the field.
No ifs, ands or maybes. This is going to be a trend all season. If it’s not, the Patriots simply aren’t doing it right.
5. Minimal impact from the new extra point rules: The 2015 season marks the dawn of a new era for extra points after touchdowns. No longer is it the beginning of a bathroom break; teams are now faced with a very real option of either kicking a 33-yard field goal or going for two points from the two-yard line.
The Patriots chose to kick the extra point on all four of their touchdowns, while the Steelers opted for the two-point conversion following their only end-zone trip of the evening.
Who knows if certain situations could alter the Patriots’ perspective on the extra point, but for now, their confidence in kicker Stephen Gostkowski is unalterted by the rule change.
Patriots-Steelers season-opening photos
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