A get-right opportunity hangs in the balance for the visiting New England Patriots on Sunday against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
After getting pounded in the opener by the Miami Dolphins, the Patriots have had an entire week to reflect on self-inflicted wounds, while also preparing to face an old out-of-division rival coming off a huge victory over the Cincinnati Bengals.
There’s a sudden rush to bury the Patriots in Week 2, but they still have enough life to go into Acrisure Stadium and stun the Steelers on the road. They’re the favorites heading into this matchup for a reason, and we’re going to break down why in this piece.
Here are three reasons why the Patriots are going to knock off the Steelers.
Steelers offensive line can't be trusted
Mitch Trubisky didn’t hit the dirt too many times against the Bengals, but then again, he didn’t face anywhere near the sort of defensive pressure he’ll see on Sunday.
The Patriots defense was disruptive throughout their game against the Dolphins. Some are taking that game as an opportunity to pile on Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa. While that might be fair to some extent, it’s also a bit disingenuous to just gloss over the fact that the defensive front kept things antsy in the pocket.
The same will be the case when faced with a Steelers offensive front that’s still ranked among the worst in the league. Matthew Judon, Deatrich Wise Jr. and Christian Barmore are going to feast up front in this matchup. Even if they don’t come away with a high sack total, they can generate enough pressure to turn Trubisky into “Chicago Mitch” with forced turnovers.
Patriots have the better offense
Even with Matt Patricia calling the offensive plays, the Patriots are still clearly the better offensive team than the Steelers. They ran into a defensive beast in Week 1 that stifled them on the road in a game where they left a lot of plays on the field.
And they’ll run into an even tougher defense on Sunday. However, the quarterback play on the other side isn’t scaring anyone. Trubisky and company played it safe for the most part against the Bengals. Despite their own defense coming up with five takeaways, they still needed a field goal in the end to win the game.
The Steelers will enter this matchup against the Patriots with the same mentality of playing it safe and leaning on their defense to win. New England can match that effort on the defensive side of the ball, while also being in a better position to put points on the board.
No, these aren't the Patriots of old, but people are still overreacting
The Patriots are clearly not where they want to be offensively right now, but the 20-7 swing against the Dolphins is also a bit misleading. If not for the one blown coverage that resulted in a Jaylen Waddle 42-yard touchdown reception, the Patriots defense would have finished that game without yielding a single touchdown.
The only other touchdown came on a strip sack fumble on quarterback Mac Jones, which wouldn’t have happened if left tackle Trent Brown didn’t let a free man come off the edge. There was also a bogus, no-call on a hold in the very first drive of the game that ended with a Dolphins interception and a stalled touchdown drive for the Patriots.
Weird things happen in Miami for New England.
But the game was obviously closer than it seems for anyone just looking at the scoreboard. The Patriots just failed to get out of their own way.
