After weeks of struggling on offense, the New England Patriots will now head into their bye week after an emphatic performance, where they scored seven touchdowns on their way to a 55-31 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers. Tom Brady, who had entered the game with question marks surrounding his timing with the offense, had by far his best game of 2013, throwing for more than 400 yards and four touchdowns. Even though questions remain on the defense, and with the offensive line, the 7-2 Patriots continue to improve as the season progresses. (Check out all of the highlights from the Patriots 55-31 win over the Steelers).
The Patriots began the contest with Pittsburgh in a similar manner to their previous games this season: with a sputtering offense. Tom Brady was sacked on third down of the opening drive, though the defense continued their resurgence by forcing an early Ben Roethlisberger fumble. Yet following a drive where the Patriots were stopped on fourth and goal, things started to click for the New England offense (and were helped by a Devin McCourty interception inside Steeler’s territory).
Following the pick, Brady wasted no time in finding Danny Amendola for a 34-yard touchdown pass, giving New England a 7-0 lead. Remarkably (considering the final score), it was the only points for either team in the first quarter.
In the second quarter, Rob Gronkowski continued to showcase his return to the Patriots’ lineup. With seven catches for 119 yards and a touchdown in the first half (and his score coming in the second quarter to make it 14-0 Pats), Gronk proved once again that he’s an invaluable cog in the New England offense.
Near the end of the first half, both teams traded field goals and touchdowns, with Antonio Brown making a nice in-stride touchdown catch offset by Stevan Ridley capping an impressive Patriots drive to make the halftime score 24-10.
In the third quarter, the Steelers rallied, with two straight Jerricho Cotchery touchdown passes tying the score before Stephen Gostkowski’s 32-yard field goal handed the Patriots a 27-24 edge going into the fourth quarter.
Finally, in the fourth, New England’s offense became ruthless, steamrolling their way to 28 points. Aaron Dobson made three important catches, with two of them going for touchdowns for a combined 98 yards (including an 81-yard deep ball down the left sideline).
By the time it was over, the Patriots had a 55-31 win, and a moral-boosting performance to take into their bye-week.
Some milestones from the game:
– Tom Brady passed Warren Moon for 6th on the all-time completion list when he completed his 3,989th pass in the fourth quarter.
– Rob Gronkowski set a career record for number of receptions in a single game today with nine. He also tied Randy Moss for most career touchdowns caught from Tom Brady, with 39.
– The total amount of points that the Steelers have given up this season (208), is the most they’ve surrendered in their history through this many games in a single season. And the 55 points allowed today (coupled with 610 total yards) was the most they’ve ever allowed in a single game.
– New England’s 55 point total was the most points scored by any NFL team this season.
Rob Gronkowski is proving why it was smart not to rush back
Against Pittsburgh, Rob Gronkowski stormed to a career-best nine catches, totaling 143 yards and a touchdown. He also made four big catches on third downs. Whenever the Steelers were dumb enough to try and leave Gronk in single coverage, Brady found him IMMEDIATELY.
It already seems so long ago that Gronk’s decision to sit out for the first part of the season was being treated as if he was letting starving children die simply because he wouldn’t return for worthless critical week three games against the wallowing Bucs. It spawned a whole series.
Yet now that he’s back, and playing so well, it’s time to absolve Rob Gronkowski of all of the “he’s just sitting out for money” talk. The fact is, Gronk really was waiting until he was fully confident in his health. He wasn’t going to have a repeat of last year, where he rushed back and promptly got hurt again instantly.
Tom Brady clearly isn’t done, though reactions should be tempered a little
Before the game, and for the last few weeks, the struggling Patriots offense has caused utterances of what was once considered unthinkable: questioning Tom Brady. As a living legend, Brady has (rightfully) enjoyed an almost untouchable status. In the last week or so, this has changed, with healthy receivers not equating to improved offense. The “is he old?” chorus slowly increased in volume.
His performance today (23-33, 432 yards passing, four touchdowns and no interceptions) silences that talk. Not only that, but he found Amendola, Dobson and Gronk all on downfield passes to prove that he can still throw the deep ball.
That said, Brady achieved this against a fading Steeler defense. Pittsburgh has looked a shell of the defense that terrorized quarterbacks over the last decade (and really the last half-century). No Steeler defense has allowed more points through this many games in their history. And even with this defense, Pittsburgh still managed to sack Brady three times.
So while it was a quality win for the Patriots, keep in mind that this wasn’t the 2008 Steelers.
The defense has question marks
The final point of the game: even though they continue to generate turnovers, the Patriots defense will have question marks surrounding it until two things happen.
The first is that Aqib Talib comes back and proves that he’s healthy and playing like he was before the injury. Without Talib, not only does that impact the Patriots coverage of an opposing team’s top receiver, but it also effects their coverage of everyone else. For example, Pittsburgh’s Jerricho Cotchery had three touchdowns, taking advantage of favorable matchups against either Marquise Cole or some of the other lower-depth chart defensive backs, and also against linebackers. With Talib healthy, Cotchery would have to face a much more capable slot-cover cornerback in Kyle Arrington.
The second question mark will be the ability to contain and beat a primetime quarterback. Though they’ve now defeated quarterbacks like Drew Brees and now Roethlisberger, the defense collectively surrendered 58 points to both of the former Super Bowl champs.
Against the Steelers, who were 23rd in the league in yards on offense, New England allowed a disturbingly hight total of 479 total yards. Fixing this will be a critical component of the team as they head into the latter half of the season, and straightening out the defensive lapses in the bye-week will be a top priority.
Until then, Patriots fans will savor the win, their teams’ 7-2 start and will most likely…
Image via imgur
Images via therepublic.com
