Steelers Week 7 Recap: Patriots Top Steelers

The Steelers lost to the Patriots today. It was a closer game than many expected with Roethlisberger on the sidelines. But when the clock showed zeroes the Steelers had lost.

The Steelers went down early and then started performing very well. About halfway through the 3rd quarter it seemed almost as if Pittsburgh remembered they were supposed to lose, and they did just that. They rallied a bit by the 4th quarter but not enough.

Landry Jones had a pretty good game. It was certainly better than what some might have felt was possible. Bell and Brown had strong games too. The defense gave up too much on the ground for the second week but kept pressure on Brady all game holding him to just 222 yards.

So let’s dive in and see what happened.

1st Quarter

The Steelers started off on offense. It was a slow start and they went three and out. But the Patriots started off slow too. They fumbled immediately. Jarvis Jones both caused and recovered the fumble.

Landry Jones threw a 20 yard pass to Antonio Brown. Then Pittsburgh got the first of several offsides penalties. Regardless, they still got to the redzone but a pass to Antonio Brown was intercepted in the endzone.

The Patriots marched up the field with a combination of runs from Blount and short passes, the longest of which was a 13 yarder to White. They capped it off with a 19 yard touchdown pass. Patriots up 7-0.

The Steelers went three and out again, but this time it took them six plays to do so. There was an offensive pass interference play. Jordan Berry kicked it 50 yards, then he had to punt again after a 5 yard penalty and punted it 55 yards.

2nd Quarter

Then LeGarrette Blount, as he did all game, ran the Steelers over until the Patriots got to the redzone. There was a pair of 13 yard passes too, one of them extended by a 15 yard unnecessary roughness penalty on Artie Burns. Blount punched it in for seven. Patriots up 14-0.

Landry Jones started to hit his stride on the next drive though. He threw a 51 yard pass to Antonio Brown. The drive was capped off by a well thrown endzone pass to Darrius Heyward-Bey. Patriots still up 14-7.

Pittsburgh did a good job of pressuring Brady and the Patriots went three and out. The Steelers were given some help with an unnecessary roughness penalty on a pass to Le’Veon Bell. Then Bell ran for 12 yards. Another touchdown was was called back due to holding and the Steelers settled for a field goal, except they missed it.

The Patriots managed to get a first down out of the next drive but the Steelers kept the pressure on Brady and it didn’t last much beyond that. After the punt, Pittsburgh moved about 55 yards through Le’Veon Bell, either running or catching, with a 9 yard assist from Heyward-Bey. Jesse James added another 10 yards but time was not on their side and they kicked a field goal. Pittsburgh down 14-10

3rd Quarter

The Patriots started out with the ball and the Steelers were still keeping that pressure on Brady. The Pats went three and out. Bell ran for 7, then Brown on a reverse for 13. Then Bell got two more 1st downs. Pittsburgh stalled out a bit and kicked a field goal making it 14-13.

At this point the Steelers had to be feeling pretty good. But then they remembered they were supposed to lose and kind of fell apart on both sides of the ball. Blount tore through the Steelers on a couple plays and then Gronkowski caught a 36 yard pass for a touchdown. Pittsburgh down 20-13.

The Steelers chipped away on their next drive but did have a pair of big pass plays from Cobi Hamilton for 15 and 17 yards. Brown was having some sort of injury troubles at this point. They again settled for a field goal making it 20-16.

4th Quarter

After the Steelers field goal Brady used Edelman and Blount to move down the field and capped it off with another giant huge throw to Gronkowski for 37 yards. Blount took it to the endzone making it 27-16.

Pittsburgh went three and out but the football Gods gave them a hand via Steve Johnson who forced Edelman to fumble and Greg Warren recovered it. The Steelers went three and out again though and for some reason played it conservatively, particularly for Tomlin, and kicked a field goal, which was missed far right.

The Steelers defense woke back up and sacked Brady leading shortly after to a punt. But Pittsburgh went three and out. Then the Patriots went three and out.

The Steelers, with three minutes to go, marched down the field on the arm of Landry Jones but just into New England territory failed to convert on 4th down. New England knelt and the game was over.

Next: The life of a Steelers fan in New England

At the post-game press conference Tomlin explained, “I’m going to be real specific about why we came up short…we left some redzone possessions out there offensively.” And that’s ultimately what made the difference. They gave up 127 yards and 2 touchdowns to Blount but what decided the game was the Pats were 3/3 in the redzone, the Steelers only 1/4.

All stats via NFL.com

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