The Good, Bad and Ugly from Steelers victory over the New England Patriots
Welcome to a new format for our Good, Bad, and Ugly series. Our newly revamped weekly feature will highlight three instances that were “good”, “bad”, and “ugly” in the Steelers most recent game.
Good: Steelers defense shuts down the Patriots
If I told you before the game that Rob Gronkowski would be held to two receptions for 21 yards and no scores, and that newly minted superstar Josh Gordon would catch a single pass for 19 yards, you’d likely have called me crazy.
If I had said the Steelers would hold the Patriots to ten points total, you’d have me committed.
And if I had said the Steelers defense would force a turnover, no less a Tom Brady interception, I’d be locked away in a padded room for good!
Yet, the Steelers defense did all of those things… and more.
Aside from a few shortcomings, including a touchdown given up on a perfectly executed misdirection play by the Patriots and one crucial (and controversial) pass interference call on Joe Haden, the Steelers defense played a nearly flawless game… something no one saw coming after losses to the Broncos and Raiders in two of the last three weeks!
Kudos to the defense for stepping up in crunch time, especially on the Patriots final offensive player, where S Morgan Burnett bats a pass away on fourth down to seal the Steelers victory.
Bad: Chris Boswell with another miss
There wasn’t much that was bad about Sunday’s victory. Sure, the offense sputtered at times, but they still kept the ball away from the Patriots by not going three-and-out the entire game.
That leads me to Chris Boswell.
Last year’s Pro Bowl selection as the kicker for the AFC has struggled mightily all season long, to the point where the organization held tryouts last week with his job on the line. When the decision was made to stick by a former “Killer B”, the Steelers brought in former kicker Shaun Suisham to help tutor Boz during practice over the final days of the week.
It appeared at first that the Steelers made a bad decision sticking with Boswell, who misses what could have been a critical 32-yard field goal.
The miscue brought out the boo birds at Heinz Field, however, Boswell redeemed himself later in the game with an even more crucial 48-yard kick.
Ugly: Pass interference call on Joe Haden
Was there anything truly ugly on the Steelers end of things? I mean, there was some bad stuff, but the only ugly thing I could think of from the viewpoint of the entire game is one controversial split-second and late flag on Steelers CB Joe Haden.
The flag occurred on a 3rd-and-16 from the Patriots own 29-yard line. Haden appeared to time Tom Brady’s pass perfectly, however, one of the officials thought otherwise and gifted the Patriots a second lease on life.
The drive would continue and eventually end in a Stephen Gostkowski field goal, which kept the Patriots in the game.
