All I have to say about that game is: wow. Just a big, fat, wow. I honestly don’t even know where to begin. Multiple people have requested that I blog about the Patriots’ performance against the Steelers. I’m a woman of the people, so that’s what I’m gonna do. Provide some form of content for you lovely people. It may not be my best work, but I do have multiple grievances to air that I need the world to hear.
As I’m assuming most Patriots fans were, I was pretty livid after last night’s game. I chucked my phone across the room after that horrendous fourth down throw by Brady and pouted on the couch for about twenty-some-odd minutes. I managed to get myself up and off the couch to shower and as I was about to get in, I audibly said: “I hope I slip and die”. God or whoever is up there in the clouds apparently heard me because I slipped getting into the shower. It wasn’t a skull-cracking, fatal slip, but enough to wake me up. That’s about how my night went in summary.
I had to get that off of my chest before I dive into the actual football part of my anger. I think the biggest reason why I’m pissed off about that loss wasn’t because of the loss itself. Yeah, it sucks, but I’m extremely upset about the penalties/officiating towards New England. If you watched that game from start to finish and can look me in the eyes and tell me that the refs didn’t screw the Patriots last night, you’re lying. At the same time, the Patriots screwed themselves. They shot themselves in the foot more times than I’d like to admit, as far as penalties go. New England was flagged a total of 15 times (one was declined), which is an ABSURD number for any team, let alone the New England Patriots.
The most bullshit penalty of the night by far was a DPI call on Jonathan Jones when he was covering Smith-Schuster late in the game. Jones had one hand on the receiver’s shoulder and by the time the ball was halfway through the air, Jones lost contact with his man anyways and fell behind. The most egregious part of the flag was that it was thrown nearly SEVEN SECONDS LATE. It felt like an eternity before there was any sort of reaction from either the refs or the Steelers. I mean, just watch this:
Unreal, man. That just about sums up the game, sadly. This is about as basic/simple as coverage gets. If that’s defensive pass interference, then I think about 99 percent of cornerbacks in the NFL cover illegally on passing plays in any given week. There were a handful of flat-out ridiculous calls made against the Patriots in this game, but I think that one was the worst. That was the only one that made me stand up and scream. Brady after the game even said that the officiating crew admitted to “tighter” officiating throughout the game. It blows my mind how the refs protect Pittsburgh whenever they get the opportunity. I also don’t understand how people can say that the refs go out of their way to protect the Patriots. The league does everything in their power to keep New England from gaining any sort of advantage via penalties. Pittsburgh benefitted from home-field officiating and I’ll fight any one of you to the death that denies it.
Here’s a full list of every penalty the Patriots committed against the Steelers:
Defensive offside (Trey Flowers)
Delay of game on PAT (special teams)
Defensive pass interference (Jonathan Jones)
Declined: defensive holding (Stephon Gilmore)
Offensive holding (Trent Brown)
False start (offense – Marcus Cannon)
Ineligible man on downfield punt (Kyle Van Noy)
False start (offense- Julian Edelman)
Illegal formation (Edelman)
False start (special teams – Ryan Allen)
False start (offense – Trent Brown)
Offensive holding (Cannon)
Defensive holding (Malcolm Brown)
False start (offense – Joe Thuney)
Offensive holding (Shaq Mason)
14 penalties for 106 yards. SIX pre-snap penalties. Four of New England’s five offensive linemen commit penalties (sans David Andrews). That’s unheard of with any team, again, let alone the Patriots. That’s the most undisciplined I’ve collectively seen the Patriots in quite some time.
Also, defensive holding? WTF? I don’t think I’ve ever seen or heard of that before. Weird.
Now that the officiating/undisciplined play from the Patriots is off of my chest for the most part, let’s move on to the offense in general. I’m not going to say that the refs lost the Patriots the game. That’s a lame excuse, especially when you look at how Brady and company performed, or more appropriately didn’t perform against the Steelers’ mediocre defense.
First of all, Tom Brady. His costly interception in the red zone on a pass he was supposedly trying to throw out of bounds was absolutely horrendous. It was embarrassing, and probably one of the worst passes of his entire career. New England was driving down the field with about 8 minutes left in the fourth quarter, still down by only four points, at about the Steelers’ 17-yard line when Brady tried to flick the ball out of bounds and avoid the sack but instead threw the ball right to cornerback Joe Haden’s breadbasket. Like Brady said postgame, it “just shouldn’t happen”.
His final three passes of the game were very strange, too. Everything about them was questionable and awkward. He didn’t seem comfortable in a spot where he usually thrives and embarrasses opposing defenses.
Brady taking points off the board for his own team with red zone interceptions in two consecutive weeks is BEYOND uncharacteristic. Brady is still Brady, don’t get me wrong. He’s still making Brady-esque throws and is visibly moving better in recent weeks. Nonetheless, something is off. In two straight weeks, he has made terrible decisions in key moments. Like, game-deciding moments. For the majority of the game, he honestly looked pretty good, as well as last week against Miami, until it came down to the wire in the waning minutes in the fourth quarter. It simply doesn’t make any sense and I have no idea what’s going on.
Brady is the easy one to blame here on offense, but he absolutely should receive at least partial blame. I think Josh McDaniels deserves some, as well. What in the name of God was up with refusing to utilize Gronkowski and Gordon? I refuse to believe that Gronk is healthy based on the utter limit of snaps he’s been receiving this year. That’s my only explanation. I recall one throw Brady made to Gronk against Pittsburgh, and it was a phenomenal first down. I’m pretty sure that was the only catch by Gronkowski in this game. I have no idea why McDaniels didn’t continue letting Brady feed him after that first down pass. As far as Gordon goes, I’m not too sure what to say, either. I recall one catch he made that I believe was also a first down, and I recall him being triple-teamed on Chris Hogan’s 63-yard touchdown reception. I feel like McDaniels saw him heavily covered and just took him out of the gameplan completely, not giving him other chances to get open. I have a sneaking suspicion that the Steelers would have covered oh, I don’t know, Gronkowski and/or Edelman heavily over Gordon if New England actually tried to switch personnel up. Gronkowski and Gordon only combined for three catches on seven targets for 40 yards. That is inexcusable. I think the single-most infuriating moment out of MANY infuriating moments in this game was not having Gordon on the field on the final play of the game on fourth down, rather Cordarrelle Patterson. Egregious. Flat out disgusting. That will haunt me for months to come, methinks.
The lack of usage of James White and Sony Michel was questionable by McDaniels, as well. Don’t get me wrong, I love Rex Burkhead. That phenomenal special teams play by him to keep the ball from reaching the end zone cemented my love for that bald, goateed man. Regardless, the lack of snaps White is getting in recent weeks and the avoidance of Michel this past game is very odd. White averaged 13.4 touches in the first nine weeks of the season and since then, he has averaged just 8.8 and only had two on Sunday. Michel was obviously utilized more than White, but I would have preferred to see a bit more of him given how White has essentially been benched. Blaming the coaching staff is my least favorite thing to do as a sports fan, but it’s hard not to bring it up considering how Brady’s weapons have been used this season. Also, the 2nd and 10 run plays could go away any time now. Just throwing that out there.
As far as the drops go (two by Edelman, one by White, one by Gordon), they didn’t really phase me that much. Yes, they were very frustrating, but it isn’t why I’m pissed about this loss. They didn’t exactly change the outcome of the game, while Brady’s play and the play calling offensively did just that.
If I see anyone blaming New England’s defense for this loss, I will, again, not hesitate to fight you. My only defensive complaint from this game is the run defense. They allowed 142 yards on 19 carries to running back Jaylen Samuels (actually listed as a fullback…this was comparable to, like, allowing James Develin to run for 140 yards). That was…not good. The middle of the defense on running plays is a guaranteed, total open hole every time without fail. Once the back gets past the line of scrimmage, the rest of the defense cannot wrap up tackles for the life of them. It is so painful to watch.
I’m extremely curious about why defensive tackle Danny Shelton hasn’t been active since Week 12 against the Jets. It isn’t a health issue, from what I’ve seen. This defense needs him on the line to stop the run. Ever since he has been benched, the defense has noticeably been unable to stop the run. After all, Shelton was signed because he is a large, run-stopper of a man. The Patriots have allowed 7.64 yards per carry over the last three games, the worst three-game mark in the history of the Patriots. Not good, actually bad! The Patriots basically dared the Steelers to run the ball this game, focusing an odd amount on stopping their passing game. A good idea in theory, but it cost them on the ground.
I think those are the main reasons why I’ve been so miserable today. A combination of poor execution and poor playcalling led me to mope around all day even more than usual. I think it’s time to lighten up the mood a little bit.
The brightest spot of this game on the Patriots side was their defense. Stephon Gilmore in particular, limiting Antonio Brown to just four catches for 49 yards and one touchdown, made me not want to bury myself alive in my backyard in 25-degree, snowy and rainy weather. Gilmore even got into it with Brown at one point, after what he called a “super dirty” play by the wide receiver. You almost never see him get into dustups. JC Jackson locked down Juju Smith-Schuster as well, limiting him to just four catches for 40 yards. The corners in this game (besides Jason McCourty) looked simply phenomenal and are the reason why the score was kept so close all game long. He shadowed Smith-Schuster on 30 of his 35 routes and it sure as hell paid off. Jackson has yet to allow a touchdown this season and is honestly probably the team’s second-best defensive back at this point. I’m not mad about it.
Duron Harmon’s two interceptions were notable, as well. He seems to be in the right place at the right time on any given passing play. For the record, Roethlisberger commits some of the ugliest picks I have ever seen while Harmon’s interceptions are some of the coolest I’ve ever seen.
That special teams play was absolutely incredible. You know exactly what I’m talking about, too. The concentration by Jonathan Jones and Rex Burkhead was simply spectacular. For some reason, the moment Ryan Allen booted that ball, I had a feeling the guys downfield would keep it out of the end zone. Not to that degree, but nonetheless, it brought a gigantic smile to my face. Here it is again:
B E A U T I F U L. Beautiful. Special teams porn.
Honestly, that about sums up the positives I took out of this game. You’re a lying, biased Patriots fan if you say you have confidence in this team. I don’t care how many championships the Patriots have won and I don’t care how many times they’ve been to the playoffs. I’m well aware of how dominant they have been in my lifetime. You cannot tell me with a straight face that this team is like the rest of them. I haven’t watched a Patriots team and not believed in them since 2009. They are MUCH more similar to that ‘09 team than any of the rest. You may recall, Belichick said to Brady on the sidelines that year: “I just can’t seem to get these guys to do what I want these guys to do”. That’s pretty much what this current team feels like to me. It’s mid-December and they still haven’t clinched the AFC East. They’ve lost five games. They went 3-5 on the road. Brady hasn’t looked like vintage Brady in two-minute drills in ages. Things just aren’t Patriots-esque and it’s concerning. In the words of Dave Portnoy: “I’m worried!”
Look, the defense held the Steelers to 17 points. That’s fantastic. That should be more than enough to win you the game then, though. I cannot believe that the Steelers scored less than twenty points and New England lost. It just doesn’t make any sense. Gronkowski, White and Gordon combined for a mere two catches for 25 yards. That’ll do the trick.
The Patriots could be looking at their first wildcard game since, you guessed it, 2009. I can’t help but draw similarities between the ‘09 team and this current team. Neither have identities and neither show that they have much heart. Both are easily the most dysfunctional teams of the Brady/Belichick era. At the same time, if the Houston Texans lose to the Eagles on Sunday, they’ll get a first-round bye. That’s their only real hope at getting a bye. Not home-field, but a bye, which they could certainly use. New England hasn’t won a road playoff game since they played the San Diego Chargers in 2006; they’re 0-3 with a loss in Indianapolis and two losses in Denver since then. Again, they’ve gone 3-5 on the road this season. Not ideal.
I’m not giving up on this team, but I’m certainly not hopeful for what’s to come in January. Sorry, but even if they do win these remaining games at home against division teams, it’s not going to boost my confidence. They’re going to play the Bills and Jets at home. They’re going to win them, but it’s not going to make me feel any better heading into the postseason. Let’s just hope and pray for the best at this point, I guess. Maybe they’ll shock us in January, maybe they’ll go one and done. I’m not looking forward to the process of either of those outcomes and the number of times I’ll need to utilize my breathing techniques.
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