Pats Preview: Week 2 at Pittsburgh Steelers

Well, week one didn’t go according to plan for the Pats. They fell straight on their faces in Miami taking a 20-7 loss to the Dolphins. It just didn’t seem like New England could do much of anything right on offense. None of the receivers could get open for Mac Jones. The offensive line hung Jones out to dry. The duo of Damien Harris and Rhamondre Stevenson were constantly met in the backfield. There just wasn’t any room for the Patriots to do any damage and the Dolphins cruised to a victory.

The Pats look to get it right this week at the formerly known as Heinz Field in Pittsburgh versus the 1-0 Steelers. They’re coming off an impressive win versus the defending AFC champion Cincinnati Bengals. Picking off Joe Burrow four times. Though it wasn’t a dominating victory by any means for Pittsburgh. After taking a 17-3 lead, they allowed Cincinnati to fight back and take the game to overtime. If it wasn’t for some bad snaps and missed kicks, they very well could have lost that matchup. But the Steelers catch a break, and they’re carrying momentum into their matchup against New England.

This is another measuring stick game for the Patriots. They have a brutal schedule to start the year. After losing in Miami and facing Pittsburgh on Sunday, the Pats can look forward to seeing Baltimore in Foxboro next week, and a trip to Lambeau to meet Aaron Rodgers and the Packers after that. This might be their best chance at a win in the first four weeks of the year. Can they make the most of it? If they do, here are some of the things they’ll have to do. Set it up, Bailey! Let’s get this game underway…

Three Keys to The Game

#1: Stuff Najee Harris

This Steelers offense is dependent on their ground game. There’s a reason they drafted Najee Harris in the first round of the 2021 Draft. He’s a great combination of size, power, and speed at the running back position. As a rookie, he rushed for 1,200 yards and 7 scores. He’s the workhorse of this backfield, and the Pats could create a lot of issues if they can bring him down. They lost a lot of size on defense this off-season in favor of speed. We’ll see if that was a wise decision as they take on one of the NFL’s best power backs.

#2: Keep Mac Jones Clean

Is it just me, or did Mac Jones get hit a LOT last week? It just seemed like across the offensive line there was confusion and miscommunication. The receivers just refusing to get some separation from the Dolphins’ defensive backs didn’t help either. Forcing Jones to hold onto the ball a little bit longer than he should’ve. Maybe getting Kendrick Bourne more involved will help remedy that issue. Once he gets out of the Belichick/Patricia doghouse.

 Not to say that the second-year quarterback did himself a whole lot of favors. There were a few times he didn’t check a blitz and he got hammered. Including one early in the game where he got strip-sacked by a corner. There just needs to be a cleaner game all around offensively. Seven points just won’t do it against Pittsburgh. And you don’t get more than one touchdown with sloppy performances as we saw in week one. The Pats caught a break with the injury to T.J. Watt last week, and Cameron Heyward was banged up all week. The pass rush might not be as fierce as usual. But in the NFL, you can’t underestimate anybody.

#3: Make Mitchell Trubisky Beat You

So obviously this ties into the first key to the game. But I think there needs to be more emphasis on daring the Steelers to push their limits with Trubisky. There’s no way that Mike Tomlin and the offensive coaching staff will open the playbook to the maximum to let Trubisky rip the pigskin like they would for Ben Roethlisberger. Though if they stuff the run game enough and slow down the short pass game, the Steelers won’t have much of a choice.

X-Factor: Ja’Whaun Bentley

As mentioned before, the Patriots lost a lot of size at the linebacker position this off-season. They let guys like Dont’a Hightower, Jamie Collins, and Kyle Van Noy walk this off-season. In favor of Raekwon McMillan, Mack Wilson, and Josh Uche. Though, the Pats do have a bit of a thumper still hanging around in Ja’Whaun Bentley. He’s probably the only guy on this defense that can be trusted to go 1v1 with Najee Harris and make the tackle. I expect him to be involved early and often this Sunday. If he can’t bring Harris down, this defensive unit is in for a long day.

Closing Thoughts and Predictions

This will be the first matchup between the Pittsburgh Steelers and New England Patriots that doesn’t feature Tom Brady or Ben Roethlisberger in over 20 years. It’s a new era of football for both teams. The Patriots believe they’ve found their heir to the throne in Mac Jones. While Pittsburgh drafted hometown hero Kenny Pickett in the first round of this past NFL Draft. Both squads are in a transitional period and will probably be competing for the final wild-card spot in the AFC playoff picture at the end of the year.

As for the game at hand, this is probably the Patriots’ best chance at a win this month. As we said it doesn’t get any easier after this. All that being said, I’ll be optimistic and say the Patriots get it done. There’ll still be some issues to iron out, but you can only go up from that miserable showing in South Beach last week. I fully expect this to be a low-scoring, defensive chess match that’ll come down to who makes the least mistakes. Both teams are well-coached and smart. There’s a reason that Draft Kings has this game so close with the Patriots a -2 favorite. Expect a dog fight in Pittsburgh on Sunday.

Final Score: 20-17, Patriots win (1-1 on the year)

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