Stopping Patriots starts, ends with Brady
MEMORABLE SERIES MOMENT
Patriots 30, Steelers 14
Sept. 9, 2002 at Gillette Stadium
Tonight’s game will be the third banner-raising season opener for the Patriots that involves the Steelers. The first, in 2002, was a rematch of the previous season’s AFC Conference Championship Game won by the Patriots. The Patriots led 10-7 at halftime, and at the start of the second half, according to Patriots fullback Marc Edwards, Tom Brady entered the huddle and said, “We have their signs.” Four plays later, the Patriots led 17-7 on their way to a blowout win. The Patriots scored on four of their first five second-half possessions while the Steelers could only tack on a touchdown with four seconds remaining.
TALE OF THE TAPE
“I’m interested in seeing their power-running game, because a lot of what they do comes out of ‘regular people’聽— you know tight end, fullback, tailback, two wide receivers聽— and they’ll run the lead iso, a trap off it, they’ll use Develin to wham on the nose tackle, a number of things. It really boils down to James Develin. He’s not a linebacker-eviscerating fullback like we remember from the ’80s and ’90s. He squats and searches from the squat rather than search-and-destroy. He’ll make a linebacker declare which gap and then he’ll turn the gap and it really is very effective. But it’s not like the banging you expect, so I’ll be interested in watching Vince Williams. That’s one of the keys Sunday: How is Vince going to handle it when he goes one-on-one with Develin and if he can get the downhill bang and meet Develin on his side of the line of scrimmage rather than sitting and waiting on him, because Develin has the ability to shield you. He’s 6-3, 255, so he’s a big guy.”聽— Steelers Radio analyst Craig Wolfley.
TOP QUESTION
Can the Steelers stop Rob Gronkowski?
Oh, wait. My machine autocorrected. Gronkowski’s retired. Mike Tomlin was asked about him, but Tomlin didn’t sigh in relief. “I think any discussions regarding the Patriots offense starts with Tom Brady and always has,” Tomlin said. “He’s going to hit you with known weapons. He’s going to hit you with lesser known weapons. You better focus your energies on him and work out from there.”
The Steelers know that better than anyone. The 42-year-old is 11-3 (inc. playoffs) against the Steelers with a passer rating of 111.3. But the Steelers defended him better last year in a 17-10 win. The defensive backs credited improved disguising, but coordinator Keith Butler almost hit the panic button this week when asked if his defense had confused Brady. “I’m never going to say on tape that we confused Brady,” Butler said. “We did a good job of tackling and we did a good job of playing situational football against them.”
They stopped Tom Brady. Tonight they have to do it again.
THREE QUESTIONS: With RG DAVID DECASTRO
Q: Last year at this time this locker room was pretty chaotic, wasn’t it?
DD: “You mean with Le’Veon? Was that last year? It feels like five years ago. It feels so long ago. It really does.”
Q: What’s the difference now with the team? Is there a difference?
DD: “I’m not talking about last year or the year before that, but it feels like a really good team atmosphere with guys all on the same page. They care, and mainly I think they’re looking forward to going out and playing. At the end of the day we have to win, though. All this talk about how much fun it is here is great but unless you put W’s on the scoreboard questions will arise.”
Q: You all seem more focused this year. Would you agree?
DD: “It’s just something about this team. Maybe we’re getting older. Maybe we’re a little more veteran. Maybe we all have chips on our shoulders and want to prove something. I think we all want to gather around and prove we can win and give (James) Conner a good year. Same thing with a guy like 84. You want to prove you can win without him.”
GAME BREAKDOWN
What to look for from the Steelers at 8:20 tonight in Foxboro:
ON OFFENSE:
Ben Roethlisberger has thrown nine interceptions in 10 regular-season games against the Patriots, and five聽— FIVE!聽— have been to reserve safety Duron Harmon, who intercepted Roethlisberger twice last year. The only other active Patriots with an interception of Roethlisberger is starting safety Devin McCourty. Roethlisberger will of course be without his top-targeted receiver the last six seasons. Figure JuJu Smith-Schuster to be one receiver the Patriots double. Roethlisberger said the key is finding the other, possibly starting split end Donte Moncrief. A strong group of tertiary receivers include James Washington, Ryan Switzer and rookie Diontae Johnson. The Steelers of course will run James Conner at an strong run-stopping unit anchored by tackles Lawrence Guy (315 pounds) and Danny Shelton (345 lbs.).
ON DEFENSE:
The Patriots allowed only 21 sacks last season, but left tackle Trent Brown left in free agency and center Doug Andrews just went on IR. Isaiah Wynn will start at LT in is first career game. He was their 2018 first-rounder who missed last season with a torn Achilles. Ted Karras, who’s started five games in three seasons, replaces Andrews at center, and taht won’t help their vaunted running game. If the Patriots do utilize a fullback with star runner Sony Michel, the Steelers will counter with Javon Hargrave at NT and Vince Williams at ILB. If the Patriots don’t use that “21” personnel, they’ll utilize rookie Devin Bush and newcomer Mark Barron at ILB and cover Brady’s running backs. The Steelers will likely be without FS Sean Davis, who would be replaced by 6-2 Kameron Kelly and also slot corner Mike Hilton. Cam Sutton will play more slot corner with Julian Edelman his primary focus.
PREDICTION
Defending champions usually run away with these emotional lid-lifters, but the Patriots do this so often that their emotion has to be dulled a bit. The Patriots have several question marks on offense. The line was discussed above. At tight end, Matt LaCosse (27 career receptions) is questionable with an ankle injury and two others are suspended. That leaves fullback James Develin and last year’s seventh-round pick, Ryan Izzo (0 games played), at the position. Edelman came out of his only preseason appearance after re-injuring his broken thumb. He said he’s fine. WR Demaryius Thomas (hamstring) is also questionable and first-round pick WR N’Keal Harry is on IR. Just too many questions against a hungry team with something to prove and plenty of experience playing Brady at Foxboro. … Steelers, 23-16.
BY THE NUMBERS
12: Consecutive non-losing seasons to begin a head coaching career by Tomlin ranks third in NFL history. Marty Schottenheimer is first with 14; Don Shula is second with 13.
18: Consecutive non-losing seasons by the Patriots ranks first in the NFL. The Steelers are second with 15 consecutive non-losing seasons. They’re also the two winningest NFL teams in the free agency era.
115: Regular-season wins by the coach-QB combo of Tomlin and Roethlisberger. Their next win will tie Shula-Dan Marino for third place behind. The No. 1 combo is Bill Belichick-Brady with 207.
216: Regular-season games played by Roethlisberger with the Steelers; one behind Hines Ward, four behind franchise leader Mike Webster.
499: Edelman’s career reception total. He needs one to become the fifth Patriot with 500 receptions. And 82 receiving yards will move him into sixth all-time in franchise history.
.840: Patriots win percentage at home since 2001 is the NFL’s best.
DOWNLOADS
—聽The Steelers promoted WR Johnny Holton off the practice squad and waived fan favorite Tuzar Skipper, who led the NFL with five preseason sacks. Holton gives the Steelers a deep threat outside, a kickoff returner and a punt gunner. The Steelers will no doubt attempt to re-sign Skipper next week.
—聽The Patriots are 4-1 in openers following championship seasons. Their average margin of victory in these games is 4.2 points. They lost their last one to Kansas City, 42-27, in 2017.
—聽The Patriots are also without their best pass-rusher from last year, 26-year-old Trey Flowers, who signed with Detroit in free agency. Flowers had 26.5 sacks (incl. playoffs) the last three seasons. He was replaced by 33-year-old Michael Bennett (who also has 25.5 sacks the last three seasons) and rookie third-rounder Chase Winovich of nearby Jefferson Hills.
—聽Steelers assistant coaches in the press box: (offense) Randy Fichtner, James Daniel, Matt Symmes; (defense) Teryl Austin, Jerry Olsavsky, David Johnson.
—聽The Steelers intercepted eight passes last season, tying their all-time franchise low. They had only 15 takeaways, better than only two NFL teams. Creating turnovers has been the team’s primary objective of training camp. “Lot of ball searching at practice,” said Kelly. “Coach Tomlin stays on us, making sure we’re trying to pick the ball off, strip it. Anytime it’s an incomplete pass we’re picking or scooping the ball up like it’s a fumble. You know, defensive players, we do get work with the ball but not like offensive players, so we have to go the extra mile every single snap and make sure we’re ball-searching.”
PARTING SHOT
“We know they’re going to use pace. If I was on offense I’d do the same thing with any defense. We’ve got to make sure we line up correctly, line up onsides, understand short-yardage situations (because) they want to pace us, get us off-balance. If we do that we’ll be fine.”聽— DT Cameron Heyward