Patriots knock off Landry-led Steelers
Patriots running back LeGarrette Blount gets past Steelers linebacker Vince Williams into the end zone during the second half Sunday at Heinz Field.
Steelers running back Le’Veon Bell is tackled by Patriots strong safety Patrick Chung during the second half Sunday at Heinz Field.
PITTSBURGH – Sunday’s game between the Steelers and New England Patriots at Heinz Field was billed until last week as a possible showdown between two of the AFC’s best teams, a potential conference championship preview.
When Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger suffered a knee injury in last week’s loss at Miami, the shine came off this game.
The Patriots moved from slight favorites to being favored by as many as nine points.
New England wound up a good bet, but it wasn’t easy.
LeGarrette Blount, cast off by the Steelers two seasons ago after walking off the field in a game at Tennessee, walked off the field Sunday as a major reason why the Patriots beat the Steelers, 27-16.
With the Steelers focused on slowing Pro Bowl tight ends Rob Gronkowski and Martellus Bennett, Blount rushed for 127 yards and two touchdowns on 24 carries as New England (6-1) sent the Steelers into their bye week at 4-3 and with two consecutive losses.
“They tried to play some nickel defense against Rob and Martellus Bennett and we were able to get some good runs with Blount,” said New England head coach Bill Belichick. “That kind of offset some of the defenses they were playing.”
The Steelers knew they needed to play a near-perfect game at home to beat the Patriots. That didn’t happen.
“We were real specific in terms of what needed to happen prior to the game,” said Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin. “We realized that our margin for error was minimal. We left some red-zone possessions out there. Offensively, we threw an interception when we were down there. We missed a field goal. You can’t do that against good people.
“On the other side, we didn’t come off some blocks and make enough tackles in the run game. The back fell forward.”
As Tomlin said earlier in the week, with Roethlisberger sidelined, the Steelers didn’t want this game to turn into a shootout. And they limited New England quarterback Tom Brady to 222 yards on 19 of 26 completions.
After holding Gronkowski and Bennett to just one catch for 13 yards in the first half, Gronkowski, in particular, hurt the Steelers in the second half, catching three passes for 80 yards.
His first big reception was a 36-yard touchdown down the seam on third down midway through the third quarter after the Steelers had gotten a 46-yard field goal from Chris Boswell that trimmed New England’s lead to 14-13.
“It looked like they lost track of him a little bit,” said Brady. “He made a great catch. It was a big score for us.”
Safety Robert Golden was matched against Gronkowski on the play and fellow safety Sean Davis, who was deep, drifted to his right to help on the outside receivers, leaving Golden on his own.
Golden was again victimized on Gronkowski’s next big play, a 37-yard catch that set up a 5-yard TD run by Blount in the fourth quarter after the Steelers had kicked another field goal to make it 20-16.
This time, he drove Golden hard to the inside, then broke outside, where Brady found him for an easy catch.
“It’s up to New England when they want to target Gronk,” said Golden, who played with Gronkowski in college at Arizona. “It’s a 60-minute game and we didn’t finish the game. That’s all that matters.”
Jones, making just his third career start, jump-started Pittsburgh’s offense after a slow start.
Pittsburgh outside linebacker Jarvis Jones forced and recovered a fumble on New England’s first play from scrimmage, but Landry Jones was intercepted on third-and-6 from the Patriots 16 in the end zone by Malcolm Butler on a pass intended for Antonio Brown.
“I threw a crappy ball,” said Jones.
The Patriots responded with a 13-play touchdown drive capped by a Brady TD pass to running back James White on a screen pass.
New England then grabbed a 14-0 lead on its next possession as Blount scored on a 3-yard run with just over 11 minutes remaining in the second quarter.
But Jones threw a 51-yard completion to Brown, who had 7 catches for 106 yards, to set up a 14-yard TD pass to Darrius Heyward-Bey to make it 14-7.
After a three-and-out by New England, Jones threw a second 14-yard TD pass to Heyward-Bey, but it was nullified by a holding penalty on right tackle Chris Hubbard.
Boswell then missed a 42-yard field goal attempt to keep the lead at 14-7. The Steelers later added a 32-yard Boswell field goal before the half to make it 14-10.
The Steelers appeared to get another break in the fourth quarter when linebacker Steven Johnson forced a Julian Edelman fumble on a punt return and teammate Greg Warren recovered at the New England 43 and the Steelers trailing, 27-16.
On fourth-and-3 from the New England 36, Tomlin elected to have Boswell try another field goal, this one from 54 yards, in an attempt to close the Steelers to within a touchdown.
He missed it.
“We were down there, we had an opportunity to make it a one-score game, I took a chance,” said Tomlin.
Odds and end zones
Brown briefly left at the end of the third quarter after taking an elbow to his left quad. He later returned. … Steelers running back Le’Veon Bell had 81 yards rushing on 21 attempts and a career-high 10 catches for 68 yards. … Edelman led the Patriots with nine catches for 60 yards. … Linebacker Lawrence Timmons led the Steelers with 11 tackles, while Jarvis Jones had seven tackles and the forced fumble and recovery. … Neither team recorded a sack. … Warren’s fumble recovery was the first of his 12-year career.