The New England Patriots went into Pittsburgh looking to extend their current string of dominance over the Steelers and laid a Halloween egg. Ok so it’s the wrong holiday for eggs but you get the idea.
The offense was as lame as the defense in what was the poorest effort of the season that resulted in a 25-17 loss at Heinz Field on Sunday afternoon.
The absolutely strange part was that for as little as New England had the ball, and for as much as the defense tried to give the game away, the Patriots actually had a legit chance pull the game out in the end. After a late Tom Brady TD pass to Aaron Hernandez cut the Steelers lead to six at 23-17 it looked like there might be some hope.
But a botched onside kick and shortly thereafter a strip sack of Brady that resulted in a safety with :08 remaining put the game on ice for Pittsburgh.
Pittsburgh dominated the game in every facet right from the onset. QB Ben Roethlisberger did a very good Brady imitation spreading the ball to several targets and using a short crisp passing game to move the ball at will and control the time of possession.
Pittsburgh had the ball for nearly 40-minutes of the 60-minute game during that clock domination they outgained the Patriots in total yards 427 to 213. They had a 62.5% 3rd down conversion rate (10 for 16) while New England was only at 30% (3 of 10) and Pittsburgh had 29 first downs compared to 19 for New England.
The Steelers were the better team on Sunday it was easy to see. The attacked on defense, playing more man-to-man than usual and challenging New England receivers all the way down the field with lots of contact.
New England, for whatever reason, didn’t look like it wanted to fight back and because of that they got their clock cleaned and dropped their second game of the season.
The Patriots return to action next Sunday with a home game against the New York Giants at 4:15 p.m.
Patriots at Steelers Gamebook. This includes the box score, all the stats, play by play, drive charts and more.
Patriots at Steelers Game Recap from Associated Press via patriots.com.
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Turning Point(s) of the Game
The missed 42-yard FGA by Stephen Gostkowski, it kept the Steelers lead at 20-10. Pittsburgh was able to add yet another field goal to increase their lead and for intents and purposes seal the win.
Offensive Player(s) of the Game
Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger was 36 of 50 for 365 passing yards 2 TD’s and 1 INT.
Defensive Player(s) of the Game
Steelers LB LaMarr Woodley had 2 tackles, both for loss, 3 quarterback hits and 2 sacks for 21 lost yards before leaving the game in the 4th quarter with an injury.
Game Notes
Starters for the Patriots were:
On Offense:
LT – Light
LG – Mankins
C – Connolly
RG – Waters
RT – Solder
TE – R. Gronkowski
TE – Hernandez
WR – Welker
WR – Branch
QB – Brady
RB – Faulk
On Defense:
DE – Ellis
DT – Wilfork
DT – Love
DE -Carter
OLB – Ninkovich
ILB – Guyton
OLB – Spikes
CB – McCourty
CB – Arrington
S – Chung
S – Ihedigbo
Inactives for the Game:
Patriots
1. LB Dane Fletcher (thumb)
2. S Josh Barrett (hamstring/thumb)
3. LB Jermaine Cunningham
4. G Donald Thomas
5. RB Shane Vereen
6. WR Julian Edelman
7. QB Ryan Mallett
Steelers
1. LB James Harrison (eye)
2. T Chris Hoke (neck)
3. G Doug Legursky (toe)
4. LB Jason Worilds (quad)
5. WR Hines Ward (ankle)
6. LB James Farrior (calf)
7. QB Dennis Dixon
The spread (Patriots minus 2 1/2) was not covered. The teams did not cover the over/under (52). I am now 4-2-1 vs. the spread and 5 of 7 calling the under/over.
Pro Bowl voting is open feel free to cast your votes for deserving players.
The Patriots are 8-11 as the road team in the series but are 4-2 at Heinz Field.
New England has won 7 of the last 11 meetings between the teams.
Since 2003 New England is 31-7 in October, they are 14-6 on the road.
Since 2000 the Patriots share the best road record in the NFL at 59-33 with the Indianapolis Colts.
The Steelers lead the overall series vs. the Patriots 15-11
Tom Brady is now 6-2 vs. Pittsburgh he is 51-24 on the road in his career in the regular season.
His 4 game win streak vs. Pittsburgh snapped on Sunday.
Brady’s 2 TD passes give him 279 in his career he is now 8th all-time.
New England is now plus 2 in turnover differential.
WR Wes Welker now has catches in 89 consecutive games including playoffs, 72 as a Patriot. The last time Welker did not have a catch in a game was 12/24/05 as a Dolphin.
On Tuesday the Patriots released CB Josh Victorian from the practice squad and re-signed 2011 draft pick CB Malcolm Williams from TCU to the practice squad. The 7th round pick originally signed a four-year contract before training camp.
On Friday they released Williams and re-signed Victorian to the practice squad.
Also on Friday the team released CB Leigh Bodden, he had been with the team since 2009.
On Saturday afternoon the team activated RB Kevin Faulk and DE Brandon Deaderick from the PUP list and placed CB Ras-I Dowling on the season ending IR.
Patriots DE Shaun Ellis suffered a rib injury in the first quarter and did not return.
Patriots had a team high five sacks of Roethlisberger today to increase their season total to 15.
The safety Pittsburgh got at the end of the game isn’t recorded as a turnover even though Brady fumbled. It goes as a fumble but not a fumble lost.
Pittsburgh is 60-22-1 at home including playoffs since 2002. 4 of those have come at the hands of New England.
Mike Carey was the game referee. The temp at kickoff was 40 and it was cloudy.
Attendance: 64,424 at Heinz Field; Pittsburgh PA – Sell Out
Post Game Interviews
Patriots head coach Bill Belichick and Patriots QB Tom Brady post game press conferences via patriots.com
This Week in the AFC East
Buffalo shut out Washington at the Rogers Center in Toronto, 23-0
NY Giants came back to beat Miami, 20-17
NY Jets were on their bye week
AFC East Standings
Patriots 5-2/2-1
Bills 5-2/1-0
Jets 4-3/1-1
Dolphins 0-7/0-2
Next Game
The Patriots host the New York Giants at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro MA on Sunday. Kick off is at 4:15 p.m. on FOX.
Follow Steve on Twitter @djstevem
Photo credit: Getty Images
