Bill Belichick cites penalties and failed red-zone drives in loss to Steelers
With the loss, the Patriots finished the regular season with a 3-5 record on the road.
Patriots head coach Bill Belichick identified two major problems — penalties and performance in the red zone — in his team’s 17-10 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers Sunday evening at Heinz Field.
“It’s one of those typical tough football games against the Steelers,” he told reporters during his postgame press conference.
New England remained within striking distance for all but 13 seconds of the 60-minute contest, but quarterback Tom Brady bungled two fourth-quarter drives in the red zone, thwarting his team’s chances of a victory. Belichick acknowledged the Patriots “moved the ball” — they totaled 368 yards, just eight fewer than the Steelers — while honing in on the two factors that ultimately derailed their efforts.
“Penalties and the red area were pretty much the difference in the game,” he said.
Reminiscent of their post-Thanksgiving matchup against the Jets, the Patriots committed a season-high 14 penalties for 106 yards. Belichick didn’t have any explanation for the ugly number — the team’s highest since 2014 — and scoffed at the notion that crowd noise possibly contributed to the team’s five false starts and other pre-snap infractions.
“We’re not obviously trying to commit those penalties, but we got them,” he said. “We got to do a better job. We got to eliminate them. That’s too many.”
Four of New England’s penalties came in the fourth quarter, including three in the red zone. On 1st-and-goal at Pittsburgh’s five-yard line midway through the fourth, offensive tackle Marcus Cannon was whistled for holding, setting the Patriots back to Pittsburgh’s 16-yard line. Two plays later, Brady misfired for an interception — his first red-zone pick since December 2016.
“It was on the other side of the field,” Belichick said. “I didn’t see much.”
On the team’s very next drive — its final of the game — Brady advanced the ball 64 yards to put the Patriots on Pittsburgh’s 11-yard line with under a minute remaining. But another flag for offensive holding pushed them back to the 21-yard line, and Brady came up empty after overshooting the end zone on three consecutive throws. Wide receiver Josh Gordon was a notable absence for the final play of the game, though Belichick characteristically didn’t shed much light on the decision.
With the loss, the Patriots finished the regular season with a 3-5 record on the road. But Belichick, unsurprisingly, didn’t want to discuss the additional tally in the loss column, nor did he want to dissect the disparity in the team’s home-away splits.
“Getting ready for Buffalo this week,” he said.
