2015 Week One Post-Game Thread - Patriots 28, Steelers 21

[Bobsyouruncle]

Brady 19 straight completions. Franchise record.

 

[Ozymandias]

The defensive performance while concerning is somewhat expected in the grand scheme of things from a contextual standpoint. The Steelers have, in my mind, a top-3 offense, and the fact that the Patriots could hold them to 14 points until garbage time is something to hang your hat on.

The other guys get paid too.

 

[50-yard-line]

Yes, played entire game and did well.

That's awesome - really rooting for the guy. Love his attitude. If he's for real, then how great is their OL depth IF 9maybe big IF) Stork can come back strong?

 

[Bobsyouruncle]

Steelers blew some assignments for big plays.

 

[fnordcircle]

tomlin angry about the headsets. i hope someone clears that its not the pats. bet this becomes a big story tomrrow.

It won't ****ing matter, dude. The media is gonna try to make a story of it not try to find the truth of the matter.

 

[mosi's man]

I make the prediction now. Lewis will be better than Vereen. What a find. Amazing.

 

[hovis]

Say what you will about Butler being Tyree 2.0, it's not showing on the field. For essentially a redshirt rookie facing one of the best receivers in the league, he played well and kept fighting. The kid is beyond mentally tough. He's gonna develop.

 

[Fencer]

Some half-time comments that got buried in the game thread, and which I'll repeat here:

• I hope Easley isn't the next Dowling.
• Missing a long FG isn't just 3 points; there's also some field position.
• Between the FGs and the botched TD catch, the Steelers could easily have 13 points, and the Patriots might have fewer.
• Gostkowsi's second extra point jerked oddly to the right. Some kind of wind?
• Michaels misdescribed the botched TD, in terms of which was the offending foot. The problem is that the left foot was barely out of bounds, along with the right foot that was well out.
• Even successful plays can be somewhat inaccurate throws. I'm thinking of Brady's throw behind Edelman for the first down, Brady's rainbow to Amendola that could have gone longer if it was perfectly in stride, and one of Roethlisberger's rainbows down the right sideline similarly.
• Rough start for Solder.
• I love Gronk's celebrations -- not just the spikes, but the group hugs with 3+ broad-shouldered guys in his very widely outstretched arms.
• Both teams had some scripted plays that worked well early. So be it.
• Other than the inside LB sack, I'm not seeing much pressure on Roethlisberger.
• Happily, I'm not seeing that much pressure on Brady either.
• Collinsworth thinks it's obvious that Jones is one the Patriots' best players. Reminds me of a thread we had a few days ago.
  

I'll add:

• Like everybody in his role except Woodhead, Lewis is pretty ineffective between the tackles.
• 2 penalties on the punting unit? Good thing that didn't turn into any second-try punts with huge runbacks after they were gassed from the first one, like the AFCC Troy Brown TD against, yes, Pittsburgh.
• Pretty clean on penalties other than punting unit and Solder.
• Fourth quarter no-TD streak is over. Boo hoo who cares.
• Butler got toasted by Brown in single coverage. OK. More worrisome is that the rest of the secondary w/ better odds against inferior receivers didn't hold up so well. Of course, a big reason for that might be ...
• ... lack of pass rush.
• Gronk is a big stud.
• Edelman is a littler stud.
• Amendola is a good football player.
• 4 TDs. All on passes to TEs. No part of that is greatly surprising
• Death stare from Brady to Lewis after that failed screen pass late in Q4 was pretty funny.
• That play, the fumble, and the lack of success between the tackles notwithstanding, I'm happy with what we saw from Lewis.
• Shaq Mason as jumbo FB. Kudos to those who called it first.
• Less good -- negative first-down rushing plays at the goal line, presumably with Shaq Mason as jumbo FB. But then, the Pats have often been weak at conventional short-yardage rushing plays. In particular, they don't have an RB on the roster who can be presumed to excel at them (even Blount after he is allowed to suit up). QB sneaks and various short passes are what they are great at in short-yardage situations.

 

[SVN]

Some guy is peppering again and again about the radio sets..that this is serious and what not...

 

[SVN]

Greg A. Bedard ‏@GregABedard 2m2 minutes ago
Tomlin obviously not happy the headsets had the Patriots radio broadcast. Indicated not first time problem here

 

[The Gr8est]

Brady just moved ahead of Favre too, with most wins with the same franchise, in NFL history, at 161.

 

[robbomango]

Antonio Brown 33 games with 5+ catches and 50+ yards, no one can really cover the guy.

 

[Fencer]

Is Roger gonna try fining Brady $25K for not doing the interview?

Let's put it this way -- does he want Brady thinking "I don't want to be giving this interview, but since Commissioner Goodell insisted I speak, I guess I will after all ..." ??

 

[manxman2601]

The Great

• Brady
• Gronk
• Edelman
• McDaniels (Pittsburgh D on blackfoot all game)

The Good

• The secondary outside of Butler
• The interior OL. Pre-season forgotten already. Mason, Andrews, Jackson and Kline all did well.
• Hightower. I love watching him attack the A gap. Thought the Steelers did a good job of blocking the A gap blitz though.
• I love Harmon interceptions.

The Less Good

• Interior DL needs some work but I think @Sciz is right that we were playing an EDGE player inside quite a bit.
• Butler didn't have a great game, but his coverage wasn't awful. He just went up against one of the best in the game and a terrific Rothlisberger. He won't see such a perfect storm much more in the regular season.
• Poor first by Solder but really stepped it up in the second.
• Jamie Collins didn't play badly but he was fairly quiet.

That was as good as could have been hoped for. Terrific performance overall.

 

[SVN]

Scott Hanson ‏@ScottHanson 4m4 minutes ago
Tomlin just said "that always happens here" when talking about coaches' radio / headset problems.

 

[moejr]

Brady 19 straight completions. Franchise record.

Not bad for a guy the Media thought was done for week 4 of last year.

 

[A man named Brady]

Offensive line was great.

Chandler jones MIA again

 

[Fencer]

Brady just moved ahead of Favre too, with most wins with the same franchise, in NFL history, at 161.

I saw that. What's the starting QB win record overall, and who holds it? Montana? It can't be that much higher than the single-season one.

 

[PatriotSpy]

Greg A. Bedard ‏@GregABedard 2m2 minutes ago
Tomlin obviously not happy the headsets had the Patriots radio broadcast. Indicated not first time problem here

awe he's a victim. that's the reason why they looked like sh.it. poor baby.

 

[Fencer]

Two very similarly situated teams (Dangerous offenses, injuries, major DB issues). The Patriots had the better of it tonight.

Yep. The Steelers missed two FGs, blew a TD reception into a FG, and turned first-and-goal from the 1 into a FG.

And the final margin was only 7 points.. Even though that was artificially narrowed by the game situation, the fact remains that they left 14 points on the board that they really should have gotten.