They simply expected to do more than that.
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The Steelers blitzed Tom Brady once (3.4 percent of his dropbacks) during Sunday’s 27-16 Patriots win, according to ESPN Stats & Information, the lowest the department has recorded for an National Football League team in its dataset in 2016. Legarrette Blount led in rushing with 50 yards and a touchdown in 13 carries while James White had 19 yards in seven attempts. Didn’t make enough plays, didn’t come off blocks.
New England remained ideal since Brady returned from his four-game “Deflategate” suspension, emphatically responding to a push by the Steelers with a pair of second-half touchdowns.
On the first, Gronkowski beat man coverage by safety Robert Golden – with no bump at the line to re-route his release – and ran the seam for an easy 36-yard touchdown. Offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels makes opponents gameplan for Tom Brady and the high-flying passing offense, but then he’ll come out and pound the ball 25 times with Blount, and vice versa. I can’t wait to see what Gronk does and says after he scores his 69th touchdown. They were giving him the ball a lot in the second half. Then after another field goal made it 20-16, Blount’s number was called again, and he responded with an 11-yard run and ultimately, a 5-yard burst into the end zone.
The Steelers knew that without quarterback Ben Roethlisberger yesterday, other parts of the roster were going to have to play better. But the big Brown catch led directly to Darrius Heyward-Bey’s touchdown to cut the Patriots’ lead to 14-7 so, reluctantly, the Steelers get the check-mark here.
“We’re looking like garbage right now”, Shazier said, via Chris Adamski of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
The Pittsburgh Steelers were certainly not the favorites in their Week 6 match up against the New England Patriots. “When you’ve got Brady back there running around, that’s a good sign but we’ve got to get him on the ground”. “There’s a small margin of error against a team like that”. “That’s why you play football”.
“The offensive line played great”, said Blount.
“We need to play more than one defense against these guys”, Butler said.
Bell ran 21 times for 81 yards and caught 10 passes for 68 yards.
Pittsburgh also had 10 penalties for 85 yards in the defeat.
“(Third-down defense was) something that we looked to improve on”, defensive end Jabaal Sheard told reporters. “It was going to be about the challenge that was presented to us in the manner in which we needed to play collectively in an effort to overcome that challenge”. They know he’ll be Jones’ primary dumpoff option and they’ll know how important it is to force the Steelers to try and throw it to secondary options.
It was the second straight game where an opposing running back finished with at least 120 yards against Pittsburgh.
NOTES: Patriots RB Brandon Bolden experienced a tough first half. Patriots K Stephen Gostkowski missed a point-after attempt for the second time this season.
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Gilbert missed the previous three weeks with an ankle injury. It’s uncertain when Roethlisberger may return, though Pittsburgh is hopeful to have defensive end Cam Heyward (hamstring) and right tackle Marcus Gilbert (ankle) back when it visits Baltimore on November 6. The interception took three points off the board for the Steelers which could’ve changed the course of the game. Patriots coach Bill Belichick wasn’t seen viewing his balky tablet, a week after saying he wouldn’t use the device any longer to review formations.
