New England Patriots

What the Steelers are saying about the Patriots this week

The Steelers will play host, but without their quarterback they are far from favored.

Le'Veon Bell is a dangerous runner and receiver out of the backfield. Getty/Mike Ehrmann

By Ryan Hathaway

2 minutes to read

The Patriots and Steelers have been the class of the AFC for years now. Here’s what this week’s opponent has to say about incoming New England.

 Head coach Mike Tomlin:

  • On Tom Brady: “Tom Brady is showing no ill effects of the time away. His accuracy is exceptional. His still vision is exceptional. One of the things that he is really doing well, and often gets overlooked, is his ability to extend plays when the ball doesn’t come out on rhythm. He moves around, he finds eligibles. He stretches the field both horizontally and vertically in those moments.”
  • On the receivers: “The running backs in that red area… obviously the wide receiver corps. They’ve got some usual suspects in [Julian] Edelman and [Danny] Amendola but they’ve got a new guy in [Chris] Hogan. It’s typical New England ball in that you better respect all of the eligibles and understand that they’re prepared to stretch the field both horizontal and vertically.”
  • On the Patriots:

Running back Le’Veon Bell:

  • On the defense: “They’ve got talented players up front. They trust a lot in their front seven. They play a lot of two-high safeties, so it allows their defensive line and their linebackers to kind of go out there and make plays. They try not to get beat over the top too much. They try to take away the big plays so I think we need to find a way to chip them down and take what they give us, because obviously, they’re a bend-but-don’t-break defense and they thrive off offensive mistakes.”
  • On former teammate LeGarrette Blount: “He’s doing a heck of a job running the football and he did a great job of protecting the football when Tom Brady wasn’t playing and really filling in and stepping up. He’s been doing a lot of good things so I’m looking forward to playing against him this week.”

Quarterback Landry Jones:

  • On the Patriots: “They’re a great, disciplined group. That’s kind of how [Bill] Belichick coaches them. He’s going to have guys who are going to go out there and do what they’re asked to do. We have a big challenge in front of us. They’re going to do what they do, but for each team there are little tweaks here and there. I’m sure they’ll have something different for us on Sunday and we’ll just have to get into the flow of the game.”