The Steelers’ Sunday night showdown with the Patriots quickly devolved into a clunker.
The passing attack, sans new Patriot Antonio Brown, was limited to quick-hit passes. Receivers outside of JuJu Smith-Schuster and James Washington were either drop-prone or were dropped to the turf right after the catch. The run game, a catalyst in last December’s 17-10 triumph against New England, was nonexistent. And a seemingly turbo charged defense — speedier linebackers, a deeper assortment of corners — was eviscerated by a Patriots squad no longer employing Rob Gronkowski, while starting a safety from the now-defunct Alliance of American Football.
Hey, at least Chris Boswell connected on a field goal.
The game, to put it mildly, was an abject disaster. But just where does the Steelers’ 33-3 setback to kick off the 2019 season rank in terms of their historical struggles with Bill Belichick, Tom Brady and the unkillable Patriots? Let’s take a closer and look.
The Steelers have squared off with Belichick 16 times (regular season and playoffs combined) since the Darth Hoodie took over as the Patriots’ head coach in 2000. Pittsburgh is 4-12 in those games, while getting outscored by a combined 338 to 454 (-116 point differential). So, it hasn’t gone well. But even by those standards, the Steelers’ 2019 beatdown at the hands of the Patriots was notable. Consider:
• The Steelers allowed 472 total yards to the Patriots, which is the second-most that they have surrendered against New England during the Belichick era (per Pro Football Reference). The only time that Pittsburgh has given up more yardage versus the Patriots since 2000 came on Nov. 3, 2013, when they coughed up 610 total yards in a 55-31 loss.
• Conversely, Pittsburgh gained a mere 308 yards against the Patriots. That’s the fourth-lowest total of the Belichick era. The only times the offense struggled this badly came in 2005 (269 total yards on Sept. 25 in a 23-20 loss), 2002 (283 on Sept. 9 in a 30-14 loss) and 2002 (306 on Jan. 27, in a 27-14 defeat for the AFC title).
• Brady has largely owned the Steelers over the years, as evidenced by a career 111.1 passer rating in the regular season and a 118.6 mark in the playoffs. His latest showing, a 124.9 rating, bests even that ridiculous standard. He threw for 341 yards (above his 312 career average versus the Steelers in the regular season, and and 235 average in the postseason), and his average yards per attempt (9.5) was well above his overall rate both in the regular season (8.3) and playoffs (8.7). Tom was even more terrific than usual.
• Sunday night was, by a healthy margin, the most lopsided Steelers-Patriots matchup of the Belichick era:
This wasn’t just the biggest beatdown for the Steelers during the Belichick era — it also was one of their worst defeats of the post-merger era (1970-present) against any team. The only other times that the Steelers have been outplayed so thoroughly came in 1989 (51-point loss to Cleveland), 1983 (-42 to Detroit), 1988 (-35 to Cincinnati), 1986 (-34 to New England), 1989 (-31 to Cincinnati), 2016 (-31 to Philadelphia), 1986 (-30 to Seattle) and 1997 (-30 to Dallas).
One loss, apocalyptic as it seemed, does not wipe away the Steelers’ hopes for the 2019 season. But Sunday night offered a stark, sullen reminder of just how good the Patriots remain two decades into the Brady-Belichick era. It’s one thing to lose to the defending Super Bowl champs. It’s quite another to look like one of Mike Tyson‘s knockout first-round KO victims in the late ’80s while doing so.
MORE STEELERS
• Debut dud: Free agent wide receiver Donte Moncrief generated plenty of hype during the offseason. Catching passes from Roethlisberger rather than the Blake Bortles and Jacoby Brissetts of the world, Moncrief seemed poised for a breakthrough 2019 season. That could still happen — but Moncrief may have been the most disappointing Steeler during an awful night in New England. Moncrief was targeted 10 times on Sunday night, yet he managed to haul in just three passes for 7 yards. He dropped four balls (most among NFL receivers in Week 1, and nearly as many as he had in all of 2018), including what would have been a touchdown when the Steelers at least had a prayer of forging a comeback. Moncrief had the third-lowest grade among all NFL receivers in Week 1, according to Pro Football Focus’ 0-100 scale. His grade was 42.3. There’s nowhere to go but up from here, right?
• Airing it out: Perhaps the biggest difference between the dysfunctional Steelers offense and the humming Patriots attack on Sunday night came on medium and deep-range balls. On passes thrown at least 10 yards past the line of scrimmage, Roethlisberger was a combined 4 of 15 for 109 yards and one interception, according to NFL Next Gen Stats. He averaged 7.3 yards per pass attempt in that range. Brady, meanwhile, was 6 of 10 for 182 yards and two touchdowns (18.2 yards per pass attempt). Roethlisberger didn’t get much help from his receivers, but the Steelers couldn’t get anything going other than shallow, dink-and-dunk passes.
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