1)Good news \u2026 my wife didn\u2019t throw up watching the Patriots play this week!\u00a0 I admit that I lost my s*** when I thought the Patriots had jumped offsides on a Punt Return.\u00a0 I shut off the TV and paced the room.\u00a0 I remembered that I didn\u2019t tape the game, so I turned it back on to find the officials made the call on the Pittsburgh Long Snapper.\u00a0 In review I think the Officials made the wrong call.<\/p>\n
2) My keys to the game were the turnover battle (even) but Patriots scored off the turnover and the Steelers got nothing.\u00a0 Special Teams (PIT) as the Patriots tried to give the game away.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t like the stupid penalty by Brenden Schooler for pushing a Steeler in the face after the play was over (BTW that should have been a Yellow Card to PIT RB Godwin Igwebuike for bad acting).<\/p>\n
3) The Patriots Special Teamers tried to give this game to Pittsburgh.\u00a0 The blocked punt after the defensive stop on 4th<\/sup> down, was due to Ty Montgomery whiffing on a block and personal protector Cody Davis going up field before securing the punt got off.\u00a0 Bryce Baringer needs to get his punts off quicker too.\u00a0 I have notice over the last few games that he was slow getting his kicks off.\u00a0 \u00a0Baringer had 8 punts for a 43.9 average with 2 Touchbacks and 3 inside the 20.<\/p>\n 4) I loved the Opening drive of 8 plays and 75 yards.\u00a0 JuJu Smith-Schuster made a big catch on an underthrown ball.\u00a0 That was the 1st<\/sup> time this season the Patriots took their opening drive down the field for a TD.\u00a0 I liked Bailey Zappe\u2019s command of the huddle and his ability to move around the pocket and step up on his throws even when he had a defender in his face.<\/p>\n 5) Zappe had a very good game except for two plays.\u00a0 He was 19 of 28, for 240 yards and 3 TDs.\u00a0 The Interception was at a very bad time.\u00a0 The Defense bailed him out by holding the Steelers on 4th down at the 7-yard line.\u00a0 On the INT, Zappe had Elliott wide open for a checkdown and 1st down.\u00a0 Unfortunately, Smith-Schuster was cutting across the field and in the same area as Elliott.\u00a0 Bad play design by Bill O\u2019Brien or poor execution by the players.\u00a0 If Zappe had just waited for Smith-Schuster to clear the middle and lead him toward the sideline he would have had the completion for a 1st down.\u00a0 Later he threw on the run and tossed it to the sideline behind the receiver again.\u00a0 It went right through the arms of the Steelers defender and if he had caught it, he would have been ruled in bounds.<\/p>\n 6) Best game by JuJu Smith-Schuster in front of his former team.\u00a0 He had 4 catches on 6 targets for 90 yards.\u00a0 I wished they had looked for him more in the 2nd<\/sup> half to get him over the century mark.\u00a0 \u00a0No receiver or RB has had a 100-yard game this year for the Patriots.\u00a0 later in the game Smith-Schuster and Bailey Zappe recognized the blitz by the Steelers.\u00a0 Smith-Schuster as a hot receiver did a slant and Zappe fired it in there for a 17-yard 1st down.<\/p>\n 7) Ezekiel Elliott had a big game.\u00a0 He rushed 22 times for 68 yards and had 7 catches for 72 yards and a TD.\u00a0 His biggest play may have been his hustle to get back downfield and make the tackle on the INT return.\u00a0 The defense held on 4th<\/sup> down and there was no change in the score.\u00a0\u00a0 Elliott\u2019s 140 yards total was the largest amount by a Patriots player this season.\u00a0 He was a workhorse in this game.<\/p>\n 8) That was the Hunter Henry we expected to see when we signed him as a big time Free Agent signee.\u00a0 The Birthday Boy had 2 TDs, and both were excellent catches.\u00a0 The 2nd<\/sup> was a fake of a screen pass and go.\u00a0 The pass was fired on a line and just over the defenders.\u00a0 Henry reached up with both hands and snatched it out of the air \u2026 TD.<\/p>\n 9) The Defense played well but had some problems with missed tackles.\u00a0 JC Jackson had a rough game and got called for Pass Interference, which wiped out his INT and was called for another PI in the endzone. Later, he got beaten cleanly by Dionte Johnson for a TD.<\/p>\n 10) The Steelers had more 1st<\/sup> downs (18-14) and held the Time of Possession 32:19 to 27:41 battle. However, the Patriots held the Steelers to 3-14 on third down and 1-3 on 4th<\/sup> down.<\/p>\n 11) The Patriots can\u2019t run the Tush Push.\u00a0 Neither Zappe nor Jones are big QBs and runners.\u00a0 If you\u2019re going to run that play, bring in Cunningham.\u00a0 Everybody knows what you are going to do.<\/p>\n 12) Tomlin and the Steelers blew two timeouts in the second half, leaving them just one down the stretch. \u00a0Also, the call to throw a fade down the sideline on 4th<\/sup> and 2 was stupid.\u00a0 Good coverage by Jonathan Jones.<\/p>\n 13) This was perhaps Anfernee Jennings\u2019 finest game as a Patriot.\u00a0 He was force with 4 solo tackles and 3 of them Tackles for Loss.\u00a0 \u00a0Jahlani Tavai had 15 tackles, 8 of them solo.\u00a0 However, it was Tavai that jumped offside on the punt return that got bailed out by a bad call by the Officials.<\/p>\n 14) Sidy Sow had two big, missed blocks.\u00a0 The first was a game by Elandon Roberts.\u00a0 Roberts lined up over the Left Guard.\u00a0 The two players to his left slanted right and Robert looped around both and through a huge hole in the line to sack Zappe.\u00a0 Sow was late in recognizing this and gave up the sack.\u00a0 He has missed this type of play all season and hasn\u2019t learned or been taught any better by the Offensive Line coach.\u00a0 Late in the game he was to pull down the line to his left and pick up the end that would crash down the line.\u00a0 The end was TJ Watt and went right around Sow to trip up Elliott on a key play late in the game.\u00a0 I thought that delayed handoff, where the QB turns his back to the line takes too long to develop.\u00a0 The Patriots are asking for trouble with this play.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Zappe had a very good game except for two plays.\u00a0 He was 19 of 28, for 240 yards and 3 TDs.\u00a0 The Interception was at a very bad time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":50004,"comment_status":"open","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":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-49997","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-patriots-news"],"yoast_head":"\n