Patriots Cruise In Pittsburgh To Remain AFC’s Best

With Ben Roethlisberger out, this is clearly the Patriots game to lose.

The New England Patriots may have come away with the 27-16 win on Sunday afternoon, but it wasn’t all that pretty. Brandon Bolden and Julian Edelman added costly drops on the offensive side. In one of his more abbreviated postgame interview sessions, Tomlin made it clear the Steelers weren’t asking Jones to win the game. Jones, however, isn’t going to waste time getting caught up with the notion of trying to be Roethlisberger-lite.

What unfolded yesterday in Pittsburgh was more akin to a January playoff game than an October regular season tilt.

His holding call on Jamie Collins in the second quarter negated DHB’s second TD of the game and really changed the tide of the game as Chris Boswell missed the field goal two plays later.

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. But seven plays later, Chris Boswell pushed a 42-yard field goal attempt wide right (sound familiar?).

Said Williams: “We just had a game plan and that was the game plan and if they motioned over or whatever it was then it was my responsibility to guard him on that play”. And opposing quarterbacks have an 89.9 passer rating against the Patriots. Granted he certainly didn’t have it all his own way in the first half last week against the Bengals, whose secondary held up, whilst Sims, Dunlap and Jordan found ways to penetrate the passing pocket. Brandon Bolden had a ideal toss from Brady out of the right flat with no one near him on third and 8, but he whiffed on the catch. Meanwhile after Gronkowski’s touchdown, kicker Stephen Gostkowski missed the extra point.

A few years ago, LeGarrette Blount walked off Heinz Field and, soon after, re-joined the Patriots.

Pittsburgh also had 10 penalties for 85 yards in the defeat.

Thanks to Blount, the Pats can go from purveyors of aerial pyrotechnics, winning or losing on Brady’s arm, to classic groundhogs, depending on the opponent and the situation.

It took a while, but Rob Gronkowski finally started eating against the Steelers. Jones kept repositioning receivers on fourth down, but the play resulted in Jones throwing behind Heyward-Bey for an incompletion.

A week after allowing 204 yards to Dolphins running back Jay Ajayi, the Steelers gave up 127 yards to running back (and former Steeler) LeGarrette Blount and two touchdowns. Brady’s thrown 26 touchdowns against just three interceptions when facing the Steelers. Jones threw one frightful interception, lobbing a ball to the inside for Antonio Brown.

He finished with 81 rushing yards and also had 68 receiving yards, proving he continues to be a unsafe dual-threat. Utter foolishness. Bell is every bit as valuable to the Steelers as Brown, Heyward and, no kidding, Roethlisberger, so the team should have some serious discussions about ponying up the cash to keep him in Pittsburgh for the long-term future. They fell 16-27 to the Patriots, and it marked their second loss in a row. The play was analyzed thusly: “Tomlin playing the percentages here”. “We should take advantage of opportunities when we get them”. The Patriots are also 5-1 against the spread in their last six games overall and are 7-1-1 at the betting window in their last nine games after scoring more than 30 points in their previous game. Brady would have preferred to win today over Big Ben instead of Little Landry.