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Sorry about last week. I'll explain at the end, but this was a great game to watch (FINALLY) with an ending that was totally unexpected. Harmon is getting all the initial kudo's for his last second pick, but it was ROWE who made the big play. Harmon was just the guy who was in the right spot. So lets get started and try and finish this by midnight. I really need a good night's sleep. 
1. General Game thoughts
a. FINALLY we get to see a great game to watch, regardless of the outcome. We had two very good teams who both played very good football. It was a joy to watch (except for the Shuster catch and run at the end. )
b. I thought the first half was Ben Rothlessburger's finest half of football that I've ever seen him play. He was extremely accurate with his passes and got the ball to the right man time and time again, even against tight coverage. He constantly put the ball into a spot only HIS receiver could get to.
c. This might also have been the best game planning the Steelers coaching staff put together for the Pats in recent memory. On offense they FINALLY got Ben to stop going deep on 3rd and short (except for the first series) and take the short yardage plays and keep the sticks moving, and he did it very well to the tune of 21 first downs and a big advantage in time of possession.
On defense they dumped the zone blitz defense they had relied on for decades, and went into a tight man coverage that, was fairly effective at at slowing down the Pats receivers. With the exception of Gronk, the rest of the Pats RB's and WR's did very little.
d. So in a game where the Steelers were on fire for most of the game getting good games from their QB, RB's and receiver's ( IIRC the only thing close to a drop was the play AB got hurt), and the Pats were far from perfect in their execution I found it telling that the Pats were NEVER more than a score down and always "in the game".
It clearly felt like the Steelers were in control of this game, yet they couldn't shed the Pats. In this case the Pats were like a little brother who won't leave you alone, or better yet, a piece of sh!t on the sole of your shoe that you can't get off. What does that say about this so called "rivalry"? Even at their best, and at HOME, they can't beat the Pats.
e. I was nervous about Corrente and his crew. Prior to this game they seemed to be flag happy. So even though Gronk was probably held on every play he went out on, over all there were only 8 accepted penalties during this game where only the most egregious penalties were called, on both sides AND boy tempo of the game was much better for it.
BTW- the fact the Pat only had 2 of those 8 penalties was a big reason for the end result. That's a fantastic job of discipline by the Pats (especially the offense) in a tough and hostile environment.
f. Real good to see Ryan Shazier up and about. And for that matter it's good to hear that AB might be back for the playoffs. He's such a good player that he's a pleasure to watch, even when he plays against your team. But that being said, I'll never fear losing to the Steelers at home. Ben is now a different QB on the road.
g. I loved that wheel route and back that the Steelers ran against Flowers a couple of times. While he was in decent position if he'd kept running, he was totally out of his depth to recover on the come back. But then you have to ask the question, why the F*ck would you put your best pass rusher in coverage against the RB who leads the league in catches.
At any rate I thought it was kind of an interesting route that I wouldn't mind seeing the Pats use in some upcoming game.
2. OFFENSE -
a General comments - Everyone seemed to know that the Steelers were FINALLY going to try something different this week, yet I felt the Pats should have been doing more motion, bunch formations, and/or pick plays in order to free up more of our WRs.
b. What we saw tonight, added to what Miami did last week is the latest "Blueprint" on how to defend the Patriots offense - A 4 man rush trying to create inside pressure, with a tight man coverage trying to shut down the mini Pats receiver and their mini RB's. I can't image we will see something different for the rest of the season.
c. Brandon Cooks is averaging 17 ypc. He has 6 TD's and almost a 1000 yds with 2 games to go in the regular season. If the season ended now, it would be considered a very good season for his first season with the Pats. BUT, the more I see of him the more I believe he will be worth every cent we will be paying him the next 2 years, but NOT a guy who you want to be your #1 WR and pay $11-14MM/yr as an elite receiver going past 2018. He just isn't a guy who can create separation against good physical man coverage. Right now he isn't strong enough IMHO/
In a sense he's the offensive Melvin Butler, who is a very GOOD player, but one that doesn't quite play up to the level you want to play a guy as an elite CB. In the same way, Cooks is good, perhaps very good, but NOT Antonio Brown (who is an freak at his size), or a Julio Jones. I'd gladly extend him in the $8-10MM range, but let him walk after 2018 if he wants more
Of course, with a full season under his belt and another year with Brady, his game MIGHT expand, as well as his impact on the offense, and I would , of course, feel free to change my mind.
d. Gronk had 9 catches for 168, and a game so impactful that he get's the honor to have this post named for him. And as I watched this dominant performance, you have to wonder that if the Pats really wanted to target this guy 10-14 targets a game, he could duplicate this performance EVERY single week.
Granted if they did do that, it is also likely that he wouldn't last the season, but its good to know that at any point you can "unleash" him and there doesn't seem to be much the opponent can do about it.
HOWEVER, that being said, they WILL try and do something about and it will be up to the rest of the receiving corps to step up and create more offense than we've seen the last 2 weeks from anyone not named Gronkowski. Does anyone not think that Gronk will be double and tripled by the Bills. They will be doing everything in their power to take Gronk out of the game next week, and not just for revenge. Believe me that you can devise a defensive scheme that will limit a player's impact no matter how great he is. We've seen BB do it to almost every team we play for the last 17 years. So I wouldn't be surprised to see Gronk less impactful next week.
e. QB- I thought Brady had another good "workman-like" game. Some good throws and some not so good. Some great decisions and some he's going to cringe at when he sees the film. Lately I'm getting the feeling that he's predetermining his receiver before the snap, and when he's not open, he's either throwing the ball anyway, or he's not picking out his secondary receivers as well as I've seen him lately.
One play comes to mind was a long throw to a well covered Cooks, when it was clear before the snap that Amendola was going to be wide open for anything in the 8-12 yd range. Anyone else see that play. Romo even commented on it. Now this is a bit of nitpicking, of course, but Brady has set the bar high, and I don't feel uncomfortable demanding he reach it every single game. Funny but for some reason that play bothered me even more than the interception, which was a total brain fart and pretty much inexcusable.
But Bottom line, when the game was on the line and the Pats needed a come from behind drive, AND the 2 point conversion, Brady came through like he has 50 times before. Still the GOAT.
BTW- one interesting thing about Brady, I've noticed a several times that explained his longevity a bit more. When Brady knows his about to be hit, he almost NEVER stands into the hit. There were at least 2 occasions in this game when it was clear the almost at the moment of impact Brady was falling AWAY from the hit, completely minimizing the impact. We have heard a lot about Brady's workouts including "how to fall" exercises for a while. Watching it in action is kind of impressive to see. Look for it.
f. OL - I'd say it was a really good day for the OL - The Pats ran only 54 plays because of the Steelers ball control, and only 35 drop backs. There were 2 sacks, one was a coverage sack, and only about 4 or 5 hits IRRC. I think that's a good night against a good team. The run game was particularly effective tonight and a lot has to do with the run blocking averaging close to 5ypc for the night, but on only 17 rushes.
Special Kudo's to both Nate Solder and Cam Flemming who, from the couch, looked like they shut out whoever the Steelers had rushing. Joe Thuney had some issues with Cam Heywood, but most guard do. But in the end Heywood made a few plays, but never had a huge impact on the game.
I'd like to think that it would be much better to see us go back to running the ball 25-30 times a game. And it could be that the Mike Gilleslee era is about to reemerge next week.
g. RB's- A mixed night for the RB's. Leveon Bell might have had the big number's but it was Dion Lewis who had a higher ypc average at over 5 ypc (Bell was a very respectable 4.7 more on that later) On the other hand Burkhead's injury and White's continued decline back to anonymity were negatives on the group. Also the sure handed Devlin dropped a pass that helped kill a drive
White has been pretty much written out of the offense over the last month, much like Gillislee. I wonder what has happened that caused this. In fact it seems to me that the entire RB group has seen their role in the passing game diminished lately. Is it by design? or something else. Good talking point.
h. Receivers - outside of Gronk they were all pretty much afterthoughts in the game. Again, I didn't think Josh did enough to help them get open against such strong man to man coverage. The fact is that we really don't have any guys to have the skills to get open against tight man coverage. They NEED to get some help by either formation, route design, or motion.
Kenny Britt got a catch in the first quarter and I don't think I saw him again, though it would be too much to ask for more. In his post game interview his did his best "is this heaven? No its the Patriots" interview, which I thought was entertaining.
But his signing, despite his checkered past, makes one wonder about 2 things. One, the real health of Chris Hogan, or could his signing be a concession to the fact they need a guy who, because of his size, can be open even when he's covered or other wised known as Michael Floydd II. Clearly its not going to be Dwayne Allen.
BTW- perhaps Gronk's most impressive catch was the low ball Brady threw him that he somehow kept from hitting the ground. his ability to lift that ball up, while his entire momentum was going in the opposite direction was just freakishly athletic.
1. General Game thoughts
a. FINALLY we get to see a great game to watch, regardless of the outcome. We had two very good teams who both played very good football. It was a joy to watch (except for the Shuster catch and run at the end.
) b. I thought the first half was Ben Rothlessburger's finest half of football that I've ever seen him play. He was extremely accurate with his passes and got the ball to the right man time and time again, even against tight coverage. He constantly put the ball into a spot only HIS receiver could get to.
c. This might also have been the best game planning the Steelers coaching staff put together for the Pats in recent memory. On offense they FINALLY got Ben to stop going deep on 3rd and short (except for the first series) and take the short yardage plays and keep the sticks moving, and he did it very well to the tune of 21 first downs and a big advantage in time of possession.
On defense they dumped the zone blitz defense they had relied on for decades, and went into a tight man coverage that, was fairly effective at at slowing down the Pats receivers. With the exception of Gronk, the rest of the Pats RB's and WR's did very little.
d. So in a game where the Steelers were on fire for most of the game getting good games from their QB, RB's and receiver's ( IIRC the only thing close to a drop was the play AB got hurt), and the Pats were far from perfect in their execution I found it telling that the Pats were NEVER more than a score down and always "in the game".
It clearly felt like the Steelers were in control of this game, yet they couldn't shed the Pats. In this case the Pats were like a little brother who won't leave you alone, or better yet, a piece of sh!t on the sole of your shoe that you can't get off.
What does that say about this so called "rivalry"? Even at their best, and at HOME, they can't beat the Pats. e. I was nervous about Corrente and his crew. Prior to this game they seemed to be flag happy. So even though Gronk was probably held on every play he went out on, over all there were only 8 accepted penalties during this game where only the most egregious penalties were called, on both sides AND boy tempo of the game was much better for it.
BTW- the fact the Pat only had 2 of those 8 penalties was a big reason for the end result. That's a fantastic job of discipline by the Pats (especially the offense) in a tough and hostile environment.
f. Real good to see Ryan Shazier up and about. And for that matter it's good to hear that AB might be back for the playoffs. He's such a good player that he's a pleasure to watch, even when he plays against your team. But that being said, I'll never fear losing to the Steelers at home. Ben is now a different QB on the road.
g. I loved that wheel route and back that the Steelers ran against Flowers a couple of times. While he was in decent position if he'd kept running, he was totally out of his depth to recover on the come back. But then you have to ask the question, why the F*ck would you put your best pass rusher in coverage against the RB who leads the league in catches.
At any rate I thought it was kind of an interesting route that I wouldn't mind seeing the Pats use in some upcoming game.
2. OFFENSE -
a General comments - Everyone seemed to know that the Steelers were FINALLY going to try something different this week, yet I felt the Pats should have been doing more motion, bunch formations, and/or pick plays in order to free up more of our WRs.
b. What we saw tonight, added to what Miami did last week is the latest "Blueprint" on how to defend the Patriots offense - A 4 man rush trying to create inside pressure, with a tight man coverage trying to shut down the mini Pats receiver and their mini RB's. I can't image we will see something different for the rest of the season.
c. Brandon Cooks is averaging 17 ypc. He has 6 TD's and almost a 1000 yds with 2 games to go in the regular season. If the season ended now, it would be considered a very good season for his first season with the Pats. BUT, the more I see of him the more I believe he will be worth every cent we will be paying him the next 2 years, but NOT a guy who you want to be your #1 WR and pay $11-14MM/yr as an elite receiver going past 2018. He just isn't a guy who can create separation against good physical man coverage. Right now he isn't strong enough IMHO/
In a sense he's the offensive Melvin Butler, who is a very GOOD player, but one that doesn't quite play up to the level you want to play a guy as an elite CB. In the same way, Cooks is good, perhaps very good, but NOT Antonio Brown (who is an freak at his size), or a Julio Jones. I'd gladly extend him in the $8-10MM range, but let him walk after 2018 if he wants more
Of course, with a full season under his belt and another year with Brady, his game MIGHT expand, as well as his impact on the offense, and I would , of course, feel free to change my mind.
d. Gronk had 9 catches for 168, and a game so impactful that he get's the honor to have this post named for him.
And as I watched this dominant performance, you have to wonder that if the Pats really wanted to target this guy 10-14 targets a game, he could duplicate this performance EVERY single week.Granted if they did do that, it is also likely that he wouldn't last the season, but its good to know that at any point you can "unleash" him and there doesn't seem to be much the opponent can do about it.
HOWEVER, that being said, they WILL try and do something about and it will be up to the rest of the receiving corps to step up and create more offense than we've seen the last 2 weeks from anyone not named Gronkowski. Does anyone not think that Gronk will be double and tripled by the Bills. They will be doing everything in their power to take Gronk out of the game next week, and not just for revenge. Believe me that you can devise a defensive scheme that will limit a player's impact no matter how great he is. We've seen BB do it to almost every team we play for the last 17 years. So I wouldn't be surprised to see Gronk less impactful next week.
e. QB- I thought Brady had another good "workman-like" game. Some good throws and some not so good. Some great decisions and some he's going to cringe at when he sees the film. Lately I'm getting the feeling that he's predetermining his receiver before the snap, and when he's not open, he's either throwing the ball anyway, or he's not picking out his secondary receivers as well as I've seen him lately.
One play comes to mind was a long throw to a well covered Cooks, when it was clear before the snap that Amendola was going to be wide open for anything in the 8-12 yd range. Anyone else see that play. Romo even commented on it. Now this is a bit of nitpicking, of course, but Brady has set the bar high, and I don't feel uncomfortable demanding he reach it every single game. Funny but for some reason that play bothered me even more than the interception, which was a total brain fart and pretty much inexcusable.
But Bottom line, when the game was on the line and the Pats needed a come from behind drive, AND the 2 point conversion, Brady came through like he has 50 times before. Still the GOAT.
BTW- one interesting thing about Brady, I've noticed a several times that explained his longevity a bit more. When Brady knows his about to be hit, he almost NEVER stands into the hit. There were at least 2 occasions in this game when it was clear the almost at the moment of impact Brady was falling AWAY from the hit, completely minimizing the impact. We have heard a lot about Brady's workouts including "how to fall" exercises for a while. Watching it in action is kind of impressive to see. Look for it.
f. OL - I'd say it was a really good day for the OL - The Pats ran only 54 plays because of the Steelers ball control, and only 35 drop backs. There were 2 sacks, one was a coverage sack, and only about 4 or 5 hits IRRC. I think that's a good night against a good team. The run game was particularly effective tonight and a lot has to do with the run blocking averaging close to 5ypc for the night, but on only 17 rushes.
Special Kudo's to both Nate Solder and Cam Flemming who, from the couch, looked like they shut out whoever the Steelers had rushing. Joe Thuney had some issues with Cam Heywood, but most guard do. But in the end Heywood made a few plays, but never had a huge impact on the game.
I'd like to think that it would be much better to see us go back to running the ball 25-30 times a game. And it could be that the Mike Gilleslee era is about to reemerge next week.
g. RB's- A mixed night for the RB's. Leveon Bell might have had the big number's but it was Dion Lewis who had a higher ypc average at over 5 ypc (Bell was a very respectable 4.7 more on that later) On the other hand Burkhead's injury and White's continued decline back to anonymity were negatives on the group. Also the sure handed Devlin dropped a pass that helped kill a drive
White has been pretty much written out of the offense over the last month, much like Gillislee. I wonder what has happened that caused this. In fact it seems to me that the entire RB group has seen their role in the passing game diminished lately. Is it by design? or something else. Good talking point.
h. Receivers - outside of Gronk they were all pretty much afterthoughts in the game. Again, I didn't think Josh did enough to help them get open against such strong man to man coverage. The fact is that we really don't have any guys to have the skills to get open against tight man coverage. They NEED to get some help by either formation, route design, or motion.
Kenny Britt got a catch in the first quarter and I don't think I saw him again, though it would be too much to ask for more. In his post game interview his did his best "is this heaven? No its the Patriots" interview, which I thought was entertaining.
But his signing, despite his checkered past, makes one wonder about 2 things. One, the real health of Chris Hogan, or could his signing be a concession to the fact they need a guy who, because of his size, can be open even when he's covered or other wised known as Michael Floydd II. Clearly its not going to be Dwayne Allen.
BTW- perhaps Gronk's most impressive catch was the low ball Brady threw him that he somehow kept from hitting the ground. his ability to lift that ball up, while his entire momentum was going in the opposite direction was just freakishly athletic.
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