Brady, Patriots Dominate Steelers 39-26
Monday, November 15, 2010
The moral of the story is: never bet against Belichick, Brady and the Patriots after a loss.
Not so fast! Since the start of the 2003 season, the New England Patriots were 24-2 following a loss heading into last night’s game. Make that 25-2 after last night’s thrashing of the Steelers!
It wasn’t surprising that New England played much better than they did the week before in Cleveland. That was expected. What wasn’t expected was the way that the Patriots absolutely man-handled the Steelers in the trenches. The Patriots controlled the line of scrimmage on both sides of the football and were clearly the more physical team. Steelers’ fans aren’t used to seeing that at Heinz Field.
I can list for you all of the statistics from last night’s game which were dominated by the Patriots until garbage time. Instead, I’ll detail what really mattered.
The fact that the Patriots physically dominated the Steelers at the line of scrimmage was clearly the biggest plus last night. But there were other things to be very happy about if you are a New England fan.
Tom Brady demonstrated an in-game passion and a fire that has been lacking for a couple of years now. I’d like to think that he has read my articles and has taken my criticism to heart, but that would be giving me way too much credit. I really don’t care why Brady decided to be a fiery leader once again. I’m just happy that he was that guy last night. This is what Brady was earlier in his career. Let’s hope that it continues.
It was also nice to see Wes Welker heavily involved in the offense. Coincidentally or not, Welker’s production has dropped off dramatically since Randy Moss was traded away following week 4. Last night Welker’s production was more in line with what we have come to expect from him. A number of his receptions also went for first downs.
The Patriots offensive game plan was very clear: pass the ball to beat the Steelers defense. New England did that instead of trying to establish the run early against a defense that was #1 in the NFL against the run giving up a measly 2.6 yards per carry.
The Pats put on an offensive clinic with Brady throwing the 3 touchdowns to his rookie TE Rob Gronkowski. Brady and the Patriots precision aerial attack opened things up for New England to run the ball which they did very effectively against the Steelers defense. The Pats rushed for 100 yards averaging 4.3 yards per carry. That average came down from 5.0 yards per carry late in the 4th when it was clear that New England was going to run the ball and the clock to protect their lead.
On the defensive side of the football, New England also did very well despite the fact that Pittsburgh inflated their numbers in the 4th quarter when the game was pretty much out of hand.
The Pats pressured Ben Roethlisberger all night long sacking him 5 times and hitting him 5 more times. New England may have had even more sacks and hits on Roethlisberger were it not for a number of holding calls missed by the men in striped shirts. Then again, holding could be called on almost every play in the NFL. It’s the nature of the beast.
So while we all questioned this team last week after they laid an egg in Cleveland, we now look at them in a completely different light after last night’s win. Last night, they looked like one of the best teams in the National Football League winning on the road for the third time this season.
What a difference a week makes.
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