The good, the bad and the ugly from the Steelers loss against the Patriots
By Eric Hassel
The Steelers suffered an embarrassing and perhaps a season-defining loss in the season opener against the Patriots. Here are the details.
The Steelers opened the 2019 regular season with an embarrassing loss to the New England Patriots on Sunday night. The score of the game was a non-competitive one. We lost 3-33. In other words, the Steelers lost by 30 points. We are going to embark on a discussion of the good, the bad and the ugly from the loss.
Honestly, I am inclined to say that there was not one good facet of the game, but I think that would be an emotional reaction to a poor performance both offensively and defensively. Realistically, win, lose or draw, there are always good, bad and ugly elements of any game.
Let’s take a look, albeit a brief one, at the good aspects of the loss against the Patriots. All statistics courtesy of NFL.com. Considering Ben Roethlisberger attempted 47 passes, the offensive line held up admirably, despite surrendering 1 sack.
Once the Steelers became a one-dimensional offense, the Patriots defense knew we had to throw the ball. The damage could have been worse for Ben, but since we have one of the best offensive lines in the NFL, in my opinion, he emerged from the game relatively unscathed.
Another good facet of the game came in the form of the only sack registered by the defense. The player who registered said sack was Bud Dupree.
Let’s face it, there were not very many laudable moments on the defensive side of the ball, but the fact that the only sack of the game was generated by Dupree is hopefully a sign of good things to come.
Let’s move on to the plethora of bad elements of the game.