The Steelers and Patriots are destined to meet again this season
Sunday's game was a nice appetizer for a likely playoff showdown between the AFC powers.
COMMENTARY
See you in January, Pittsburgh.
Bring your quarterback next time.
With or without Ben Roethlisberger, it’s a fairly safe argument to suggest the Patriots faced their toughest competition of the 2016 season to date with the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday, a 27-16 victory that at times proved more difficult than it should have been against fill-in play caller Landry Jones.
The final score isn’t indicative of how things played out at the end of the first half, with the Patriots soaring out to a 14-0 lead, only to watch the Steelers score 13 unanswered points. Brandon Bolden and Julian Edelman added costly drops on the offensive side.
The Steelers couldn’t drop the hammer though.
Edelman also fumbled a kickoff return in the second half, and the Steelers pretty much refused to do anything with it, leading Pittsburgh head coach Mike Tomlin to ignore the 11-point deficit his team faced in order to try a 54-yard boot by Chris Boswell.
Nope.
It was only one of the handful of moments when Steeler fans had to be wondering how this game might have been different with Roethlisberger lining up behind center in lieu of Jones. A play here, a conversion there, and…maybe. Maybe the Steelers could have hung in. Maybe they could have come through.
More than likely, we’ll find out what the Roethlisberger addition will mean. During the postseason.
Until then, it’s easy to consider the Patriots the best team in the NFL at 6-1. The Minnesota Vikings (5-1) lost on Sunday, putting the undefeated season that nobody was talking about to bed. The Buffalo Bills (losers to the Miami Dolphins) are now two games back in the AFC East. The Green Bay Packers have a rash of offensive issues, the Seattle Seahawks have Pete Carroll. and the Denver Broncos, while still the most feared defensively, are still led by Trevor Siemian.
It didn’t take Roethlisberger’s presence to get a further feel for what the Patriots are, one week from the midpoint of their season.
“You get glimpses of what your team is all about,” Patriots quarterback Tom Brady (222 yards, two touchdown passes) said. “Our guys hung in there and fought hard, and our defense played well. It’s tough to win on the road in the NFL, especially against a good team. I know they were missing some players, but still, great to win.”
If the playoffs began today (which, they don’t), the Patriots would have the No. 1 seed and a first-round bye in the AFC, a situation that most should expect to remain the norm through the next 10 weeks of the regular season. The Oakland Raiders would have the No. 2 seed and a bye, a tentative scenario considering the Broncos and Steelers are waiting to pounce.
But as good as the Steelers might have proven to be with Roethlisberger at the helm, there’s a reason why Brady is receiving mention for the NFL MVP award despite missing the first four games of the year for some reason or another. While LeGarrette Blount got the running game in tune with one of his most impressive performances as a Patriot (127 yards rushing, two touchdowns) it was the return of Edelman, who was probably blushing over all the attention he was getting from pal Brady, that set the tone for New England in the first half.
Brady targeted Edelman nine times and found his man the same amount of times during a first half that saw only one pass go the way of Rob Gronkowski and Martellus Bennett. Edelman had 60 yards of consistent dependability before he dropped Brady’s 10th attempt his way, a presence that hadn’t yet been felt thus far this year.
“He hasn’t gotten a ton the last few weeks,” Brady said. “But today he had a lot of opportunities with the ball.”
It also led to a second-half flurry of activity between Brady and Gronkowski, who finished with 93 yards receiving and a touchdown, the 68th of his career that tied Stanley Morgan for the franchise record. You can imagine the kid’s glee when he was asked about potentially scoring the record-breaker next weekend in Buffalo, his hometown.
Yes, he went there. But he also understood the element that Edelman was able to add to his successful afternoon.
“It’s a team game,” Gronkowski said. “You take away the top of our offense running down the field, Julian does a great job underneath. Which is his game, which is his specialty and he does such a great job at it that you just can’t let that be.”
Meanwhile, Blount added to an offensive balance that gets more potent as the weeks move along. Not that Blount is a dependable, around-the-clock running back, but he has silenced any growing whispers about Dion Lewis outrightly taking the job back when he returns from injured reserve.
“It’s great when we get the run game going,” Gronkowski said. “It just helps out with everything. The balance of the offense running the ball, passing the ball is huge. To see him come in and run the ball super hard downhill is just awesome. They’ve got a great defense, the Steelers, great football atmosphere here and to see him come, ready to play the way he was rushing was awesome.”
Awesome.
It wasn’t the cleanest game, certainly in doubt as late as the third quarter before the offense got back into a groove, and a game that delivered some further question marks about the defense. Malcolm Butler came up with an interception of Jones in the first quarter, a pass intended for Antonio Brown, but then was burned by the backup shortly later on a 54-yard pickup by Jones. Logan Ryan and Eric Rowe shuffled shuffled in and out enough to suggest there’s a lot of fluidity in the secondary, while quarterback pressure was a nonexistent term for New England in Pittsburgh.
“They certainly made it tough on us,” Brady said. “Our execution, when it was good, we made a lot of good plays, and then I think, a lot of self-inflicted wounds. And that really hurt us.”
But could the Steelers have better taken advantage of the mistakes and wounds with a healthy Roethlisberger? Probably.
The Patriots will still take it.
“We’ve got a lot of veteran players that have been around for a long time, so we shouldn’t be messing too many things up at the end of the day,” Brady said. “We’ve practiced a lot together, played a lot of games together. We should take advantage of opportunities when we get them.”
Remember your hats and mittens, Steeler fans.
It gets cold in Foxborough come January.
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