In a game that was just short of a must-win, but definitely a “would be really nice to have,” the Patriots did enough to win. It wasn’t pretty and there’s plenty to work on heading into next week against Lamar and the high-powered Ravens, but Sunday’s win in Pittsburgh was a solid victory and I won’t let anyone tell me differently.
Let’s take a deeper look at all three sides of the football. Offense, defense, and coaching. I’ll even hand out grades because that’s what bloggers do.
Offense: It’s amazing what a difference a few third down conversions can make, huh? The big difference between this week and last week, offensively, was their ability to make the “gotta have it” plays in Pittsburgh. Overall, they had a pretty good day amassing 376 yards (252 passing and 124 rushing) while scoring two touchdowns and committing one turnover. Unspectacular but solid.
Positives: The offensive line played a great game. Mac wasn’t sacked at all and his uniform was almost perfectly clean for his post-game interview with Evan Washburn. That in and of itself is a massive improvement. Beyond keeping the quarterback clean, they also played well in the running game. Damien Harris (71) and Rhamondre Stevenson (47) combined for 118 yards to the tune of 4.9 a carry while all-world athlete Mac Jones tacked on 6 yards of his own on 7 carries (kneel-downs included) including a huge third-and-2 conversion on the game-sealing drive. If the line can play like this for the rest of the season, the Patriots will stay in the Playoff hunt through Christmas.
Speaking of that game-sealing drive…wow. They got the ball back after the defense forced their second consecutive 4th quarter 3-and-out with 6:33 left and a 3-point lead. They never gave it back to Pittsburgh. 10 plays and two Pittsburgh timeouts later and the Patriots were in victory formation with Mac taking three kneel-downs to seal it. That was the kind of drive that good teams execute and bad teams let up.
The last offensive highlights were Nelson Aghalor and Jakobi Meyers. Meyers paced the receives in catches with 9 while Aghalor finally showed the skillset that landed him a $22M contract before last season. He’s always had a reputation as a streaky player, but we hadn’t seen that in his first 18 games with the Patriots. We saw it yesterday and it was great.
Negatives: The Offense was still plagued by too many penalties. False starts and holding stalled a few drives and made the job more difficult on drives they didn’t derail. That has to be cleaned up moving forward because 17 points won’t cut it against upper-tier teams. A few of the drives in the middle quarters were sabotaged by penalties and some ultra-conservative playcalling, but, again, 17 points in an NFL game in 2022 is not something to be proud of. The defense is good, although they’re not the 2000 Ravens, and was able to make 17 points hold up, but in a vaccume 17 points is not good.
Lastly, Mac’s decision-making was troubling at times. Just before the muffed punt by old friend, Gunnar, Mac threw a sure-fire interception that was dropped by the DB further cementing the ole adage “if DB’s could catch, they’d be receivers.”
Grade: B-
Defense: The Defense played their second strong game in as many weeks. They held Pittsburgh to 1 touchdown and two field goals which is a solid showing regardless of who is under center for the opposition.
Positives: The front 7 played great. They contained Najee Harris, for the most part (15 carries for 49 yards), and the Steelers as a team to 91 yards on 22 carries (3.3 yards a carry). Say what you want about the Steelers offense, but limiting a running back of Harris’ ability to just 49 yards is an accomplishment. I don’t recall any remarkable plays by any of their big fellers, but I also can’t think of a single misstep. Great game by the defensive line and linebackers.
The secondary kept everything in front of them. Mitch had a few completions underneath, but the one time he threw it more than 10 yards down the field, Jaylen Mills, who plays for the other team, caught the pass. It can be frustrating to watch a defense play off-coverage all day, effectively giving up the underneath crossing routes, but when you’re facing a donkey like Mitchie T, that’s exactly how you win.
Negatives. Not a whole lot to complain about here. Mitch seemed to have that up-and-out rout whenever he wanted it, but that’s part of the off coverage they played.
There is also a JC Jackson/Stephon Gilmore sized hole in the secondary. Jaylen Mills played well as #1 corner keeping Diontae Johnson mostly in check, but it’s clear he’s not in the same stratosphere as Jackson and Gilmore are. The Patriots were able to get away without a true #1 corner this week due to the poor quarterback they faced, but I’m not too confident they’ll have the same luck against upper-tier QB’s moving forward. Much like an elite quarterback, having a true shutdown corner opens up the playbook and lets you do so much more than you can purely on scheme. I can already feel another blog coming about just how important a true shutdown corner has been for the Patriots Dynasty, both Part I & Part II.
Grade: B+
Coaching: I thought the coaching was a mixed bag of mediocrity. No glaring mistakes, but plenty of questionable decisions, especially by the ugly elf, Patricia.
Positives: The defensive game plan was perfect. Stack the box to stop the run and give Mitch all the underneath throws he wants while daring him to push the ball down the field. I’m not a football genius but I laid out that exact game plan in my pregame blog.
I’m not sure if what we saw from the offense for the majority of the game was the plan coming in, or if things naturally became more conservative playing with the lead all day, but there was nothing interesting about the offensive game plan. I also can’t tell if Mac checked it down more than he would have liked to for the same reason. I won’t rip the coaching staff for their game planning, but I hope they left a few arrows in the quiver, though.
Negatives: The one thing that jumped off the TV, over my coffee table, and sat in my lap while I fed my daughter was that on the Steelers only touchdown drive, it SURE SEEMED like they were playing straight-up prevent defense. Devin McCourty’s shoes were wet because he lined up so deep he was in the Allegheny River. The corners played such soft coverage I half expect them to be in a Charmin commercial this week. There’s a saying in baseball that goes something like this “even if you throw 99 MPH, scrubs in the Big Leagues will hit it.” I’m inventing a saying here along the same lines, but for football and it goes like this: “Even if the opposing quarterback stinks out loud, he’s going to drive the length of the field with relative ease when you play an umbrella defense.” I hated that move.
I also thought the coaching staff left their balls at home yesterday. There were multiple times they had the ball in Steelers territory facing a 4th and short. I’m no Riverboat Ron Rivera, but I do think going for it on 4th down is a needed sometimes, ESPECIALLY with a team fighting for an identity. For instance, at the 10:58 mark of the 4th quarter, the Patriots had the ball on the Steelers 40 facing 4th and 5 after taking over on their own 28. They were on the fringe of field goal range facing a manageable 4th down and elected to punt. The very next drive, they faced a 4th and 2 at the Pittsburgh 42 and again punted, this time resulting in a touchback netting them a grand total of 22 yards. Given how they ran the ball down the Steelers throat on the next (and final) drive, I don’t understand not going for at least one of those, especially with how the defense was playing and who the opposing quarterback was.
Grade: C
Overall it was a solid win against a mediocer team. A step in the right direction, but by no means a final product.
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