By Ray Porter Jr. for Urban Media Today
FOXBOROUGH, MA–Around this time a year ago, the Pittsburgh Steelers travelled to Gillette Stadium to face the New England Patriots. They forced 5 turnovers and were able to engineer a game-winning drive to upset the Patriots 21-14 and their goal was to have a repeat performance as they were once again the away team vs. the defending AFC Champions.
But unlike the Legendary Yogi Berra’s famous quote, it wasn’t “déjà vu all over again” for the Steelers as they fell hard to the Patriots 20-3, evening their record at 1-1. With the win, the Patriots also evened their record.
“Offensively, clearly not good enough. That starts with me. Felt it in practice, frankly, coming off of last week,” said Steelers head coach Mike McCarthy. “As I stated, I felt we were real herky-jerky trying to get in the run and pass. The extra time that you put forth, what you’re expecting in a game, and you don’t deliver, it just tells you [that] you need to spend more time on it. What I’m referring to is we put a lot of time and energy into the protection component of how we felt today’s game was going to go. Expected pressure, got pressure. As an offensive coach, I always welcome the opportunity to play against pressure defense. I think it’s clearly an opportunity for big play potential. That was not the case today. We didn’t answer the bell.”
Despite the score, the Steelers had many opportunities to affect the outcome of this game as the defense forced 2 turnovers and 3 sacks after giving up a 2nd quarter TD. LB TJ Watt (1.5) and Alex Highsmith got full sacks and DT Derrick Harmon recorded a half sack, Inside LBs Patrick Queen got the interception and Peyton Wilson recovered a fumble but unfortunately, the offense wasn’t able to capitalize on those opportunities as they failed to score a touchdown for the first time since their 30-6 Wild Card Game loss to the Houston Texans last season.
“Our protections weren’t clean. We had opportunities, whether it was communication and breakdowns, clearly in the first half that took away some opportunities for big plays.” Said McCarthy. “The run game was a little bit herky-jerky. Don’t know what the numbers are. I haven’t looked at the stats yet. I’m sure it ended up similar to last. I know we were in the two-minute. A couple drives we were on the ball, no huddle, two minutes, so I’m sure it will push the numbers.”
In what was probably his worst performance as a Steeler, QB Aaron Rodgers (23/39, 187 yards, INT) wouldn’t get the offense in sync as he was sacked 4 times and was 2-12 on 3rd downs. The offensive line also had its struggles as they weren’t successful protecting Rodgers and had problems opening up holes for a running game that produced 19 yards rushing ( Led by Jaylen Warren’s 43 yards) WR DK Metcalf’s drops continued as he was targeted 9 times, but was only able to catch for 27 yards. Rookie Germie Bernard did show some promise as he caught 4 passes in the 3rd quarter, but the Steelers wouldn’t generate that production into points.
“I thought actually Aaron a few times got the ball down to the backs on the underneath throws. Detail is not there on offense.” Said McCarthy. “I thought the defense played well enough to win the game. You hold them to 13 points; I expect to win every game we line up in.”
K Chris Boswell was ½ in field goals and provided the only points of the game.
Patriots QB Drake Maye (14/22, 208 yards, TD, INT) did just enough to lead the offense as they scored their only TD on a 39-yarder by RB TreVeyon Henderson and 2 field goals by K Andy Borregales. But they sealed the game on a defensive TD by Elijah Ponder after recovering a Rodgers fumble.
“Good pressure plan.” Said McCarthy about the Patriots. “I think the biggest thing is the pressure and the challenging our routes man to man. We expected that this week. That’s the way we prepped to come into the game. We did not execute. So, you’ve got to give them credit.”
The Steelers must now lick their wounds and return to Pittsburgh to prepare to host 2-0 Cincinnati next Sunday. The season’s still young, but the Steelers know they have work to do if they’re serious about contending this season.
“You don’t win, I mean, (heck), we’d better be frustrated. We had a game we prepared for, had an opportunity to compete there till the fourth quarter and win. Yeah, I hope they’re frustrated.” Said McCarthy.
Please email Ray at rayporterjr72@gmail.com
Follow him @RP2872_JR on X