FOXBOROUGH \u2013 Never mind the banner. The buzz around Foxborough is all about Antonio\nBrown, the newest Patriot reclamation project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A comment was made on the NBC broadcast of Sunday night\u2019s\nseason opener between the Super Bowl Champion Patriots and the Pittsburgh\nSteelers. Cris Collinsworth mentioned\nthat Brown \u201cis probably at home watching the game on TV\u201d, thinking to himself, \u201clook\nwhat they\u2019re doing without me\u201d, and that \u201cI guess I\u2019d better try and fit in\naround here!\u201d Even if that turns out to\nbe true, one thing is for sure. The\nPatriots do not, absolutely, do not need Brown to be a championship team this\nyear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because they throttled Brown\u2019s former team, 33-3, without\nhim.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The evening began with a ceremony that the Vegas Golden\nKnights would have been proud of, unveiling the sixth championship banner with\nas much drama and ceremony as was all over the 2018 Stanley Cup Finals. It ended with the Patriots looking better\nthan when we last saw them in February, and their suffocation of the Los Angeles\nRams in the Super Bowl. For the second\ngame in a row that meant something, the Patriots held their opponent to just a\nfield goal, and the offense looks just terrific even minus the power running\ngame which evolved at the end of last season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tom Brady, all of 42 years old now, finished 24 of 36\npassing for 341 yards, three touchdowns and a 124.9 passer rating. He threw two touchdown passes to Philip\nDorsett and one to the most recent reclamation project, Josh Gordon. Brady looks like anything but a 42-year old,\nand remains arguably the single most intriguing professional athlete on the\nplanet. He did it without much help at\nall from the rushing attack, especially Sony Michel, and looked totally\nunflappable all evening long against a team he usually does well against,\nespecially at home in Foxborough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Meanwhile, the defense allowed just the one field goal\nand surrendered only 308 total yards. \nBen Roethlisberger was 27 of 47 passing for 276 yards and a 65.6 passer\nrating. He did complete passes to eight\ndifferent receivers, but the Patriots did not allow any of them to dominate the\ngame. With Brown now a Patriot, JuJu\nSmith-Schuster is now the top passing target for Roethlisberger, and despite\nleading the team with six catches and 78 yards, he never got into a rhythm with\nhis quarterback and was generally covered well by Stephon Gilmore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dorsett led the Patriots with 95 receiving yards. His first touchdown came in the second quarter,\na 25-yarder on a simple post pattern in the right seam. Brady laid in a perfect toss, and Dorsett got\ntwo steps on his defender, Mike Hilton. \nThe throw was not a laser, but more of a touch pass that hit Dorsett\nright in the fingertips. His second\ntouchdown reception came in the third quarter and was the product of busted\ncoverage by the Steeler secondary. Brady\ntook a shotgun snap and then lobbed a deep pass over the middle. Steeler safety Kameron Kelly let Dorsett go,\nbut there was nobody back there to pick him up. \nDorsett was completely wide open when he hauled in the 58-yard scoring\ntoss.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gordon got the Patriots on the board in the first quarter. After the Patriots pulled off a nifty double\npass with James White catching a 32-yard pass from Julian Edelman, Gordon lined\nup in the left slot at the Steeler 20. \nHe ran a crossing pattern left across the formation, caught the pass\nfrom Brady wide open, then took off to the corner of the end zone. At about the 5-yard line he put a neat juke\non Terrell Edmunds and shot into the end zone. \nGordon finished with three catches for 73 yards, but for all of Patriot\nNation, seeing Gordon out there and contributing positively is perhaps better\nnews than the Brown signing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Saying that the Patriots had a limited rushing attack seems\nmisleading given that the Patriots still managed 99 total yards rushing and\naveraged 3.4 yards a carry. Rex Burkhead\nhad 44 yards on eight carries, while White had 26 yards on four carries. Only Michel found rough goings, with only 14\nyards on 15 carries. With the Patriots\nseemingly converting to a run-first offense, especially given the retirement of\nRob Gronkowski, the fact that Brady carried the night against the Steelers is\nespecially pleasing for all Patriot Nation to see.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Patriots put the total clamps on the Steeler rushing\nattack, putting the game totally on Roethlisberger\u2019s broad shoulders. James Conner, the very capable replacement\nfor LeVeon Bell, was held to 21 yards on 10 carries. The Steelers only had 32 yards rushing as a\nteam.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Perhaps the most telling moment as to how well the Patriot defense was playing came in the third quarter. The Steelers took the second-half kickoff and drove all the way to the Patriot one-yard line, helped greatly by a 45-yard completion from Roethlisberger to James Washington. On third and goal at the one, Roethlisberger tried to hit Donte Moncrief in the left corner of the end zone on a fade route, but overthrew him badly. Steeler coach Mike Tomlin elected to not go for it on fourth down and settled for a 19-yard field goal by Chris Boswell. The fact that Tomlin, trailing 20-0 at the time, wouldn\u2019t go for it just one yard away from the end zone, speaks volumes over the mindset of the Steelers at that time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Brady has never lost to the Steelers at home in his career. Sunday night was certainly no exception, but\none has to wonder if Tomlin was spooked due to his past failures at Gillette\nStadium. It behooved the Steelers to\ncome away with a touchdown on the always critical first drive of the second\nhalf, and his settling for a field goal on fourth and goal at the one has to be\nvery unsettling for Steeler fans on opening night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The win pleased Bill Belichick very much. At his postgame press conference, he was\nunusually effusive in his praise for his team, and gave kinder answers to the\nquestions asked of him. The only\nquestions he flatly refused to answer were any questions related to Brown. Otherwise, he looked upbeat and actually\nhappy to address the media. Even in victory,\nBelichick can sometimes be gruff and give either one-word answers or simply\nnon-answers. On Sunday night, even though\nhe conceded that the Patriots do poorly in Miami (their next game) and that\nthey have an important week ahead, the coach seemed to be content with Week\nOne.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The fans celebrated Banner Number Six, then left for home\nearly still very happy with the final score no longer in doubt. The Patriots get a Dolphin squad next week\ndown in hot and humid Miami, a Dolphin team with a new head coach named Brian\nFlores, but who got throttled by Baltimore on Sunday afternoon, 59-10. Miami may be playing for a high draft pick\nfor next year already, as was suggested on a local Boston sports program. Belichick will have none of that, as he has\nalready stated that the Patriots have trouble winning in Miami, and it\u2019s even\nworse early in the year when it\u2019s oppressive weather in Florida.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Super Bowl champs are at least good on Week One. Looking every bit like a championship team,\ncelebrating like one, it was all there on Sunday night. If they are to repeat this year, the Patriots\nare at least off to a great start.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
For the second game in a row that meant something, the Patriots held their opponent to just a field goal, and the offense looks just terrific even minus the power running game which evolved at the end of last season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":24718,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2120,11,10],"tags":[2126,44,201],"class_list":["post-24715","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-2019-patriots-regular-season","category-patriots-commentary","category-patriots-news","tag-2019-patriots-season","tag-new-england-patriots","tag-pittsburgh-steelers"],"yoast_head":"\n