The Patriots don’t seem quite as bad when they get competent play from the quarterback.
That’s not to say they wouldn’t still be one of the NFL’s bottom feeders, but they wouldn’t be quite as bad as their current 3-10 record.
Against the Steelers, the Patriots weren’t done in by turnovers from the quarterback, although Bailey Zappe did have one. Mostly, and more important, the offense didn’t spoil another good day at the offense by the defense.
For a change, the play wasn’t so lopsided. In taking down the Men of Steel, 21-18, it wasn’t just the defense that did all the heavy lifting. The offense did its share.
The special teams didn’t help, but between the play of the Zappe-led offense and defense, there was actually a complementary effort at work during Thursday night’s victory.
“It’s been a hard stretch, it’s been a hard year,” said tight end Hunter Henry, who had two touchdown catches. “It’s not been what we wanted at all, but this is a great step in the right direction. We were able to play complementary football.”
Zappe was hot in the first half, throwing three touchdown passes. The 21 points stood as more output than the offense had produced in the three prior games all together (13 points). While the offense stalled in the second half, the defense made sure that output stood.
Granted, facing Steelers backup Mitch Trubisky, who was roundly booed throughout, helped matters. But the defense still did well to hold the Steelers to just 264 overall yards, with only three of 14 third down conversions.
Obviously, the win likely drops them in the race to land one of the first two picks in the 2024 NFL draft, but it sure helped the morale in the locker room.
It also gave embattled head coach Bill Belichick a bit of a boost.
Said safety Jabrill Peppers: “I don’t really like all the flak he’s been getting,” Peppers said, “because it’s on us as players to go out there and execute. I personally feel like the game plan has been phenomenal week in and week out, and we’ve had the opportunities to make the plays and we didn’t make them. But we made enough tonight.”
They sure did.
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Here’s the grades from the Patriots Week 14 win over the Steelers:
Quarterback : B-minus
Bailey Zappe certainly wasn’t perfect. He did throw a pick. And the offense went silent in the second half, mostly due to the Steelers defense smartening up and playing more man coverage.
Even with that, what Zappe provided in the opening half, right out of the gate, was worth its weight in gold. Playing with poise, confidence, and an ease in the pocket, Zappe led three scoring drives and lit a spark.
It helped that offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien opened up the offense, and let Zappe attack downfield. He trusted that Zappe would make plays, as opposed to mistakes. And he was rewarded.
You couldn’t have thrown two better passes than the two dimes he dropped on Hunter Henry for two of the scores. He hit Ezekiel Elliott coming out of the backfield for the other.
Clearly, the offense was buoyed by the play of Zappe. His confidence was infectious before fading down the stretch.
Yes, the sum total of the offense in the second half – five punts, interception – wasn’t good. But what he did in the first half was some of the best quarterback play we’d seen all year. The protection broke down in the second half, contributing to some of the ineffectiveness along with the Steelers switching to man coverage. He also made a bad read on the ball he threw to JuJu Smith-Schuster that was picked off.
Mostly, though, Zappe (19-for-28, 240 yards, 3 TDs, 1 INT) delivered. He played well enough, and provided enough of a spark, to earn a decent grade.
Running backs: A
Ezekiel Elliott, who took virtually every snap at running back, produced a vintage performance. And given the absence of Rhamondre Stevenson (ankle), it was desperately needed.
Elliott did most of his damage catching the football, but he also produced some tough yards on the ground. He was a warrior, as the ball was in his hands nearly 30 times between runs and catching the football. He caught seven passes for 72 yards and a touchdown.
Perhaps most importantly, Elliott saved a touchdown on the pick Zappe threw late in the third quarter chasing down Steelers safety Mykal Walker and knocking him out of bounds.
Ty Montgomery caught one ball coming out of the backfield for a 17-yard reception.
Wide receivers: B
With Pop Douglas (concussion), DeVante Parker (knee) and Kayshon Boutte (shoulder) sidelined, Zappe wasn’t exactly stacked with a loaded arsenal.
JuJu-Smith Schuster, Tyquan Thornton, Jalen Reagor and Malik Cunningham were his receivers. As it turns out, all he really needed was Smith-Schuster, who finally came alive playing against his former team.
Smith-Schuster battled, making several contested catches, but none better than the 37-yard grab he made in the first quarter. The ball was under-thrown by Zappe, and Smith-Schuster reached back over the defender to make an acrobatic play.
Thornton was more of a presence than he has been, with three catches for 17 yards. Raegor was targeted once, without a catch. But the day belonged to Smith-Schuster, who had his best game as a Patriots with four catches for 90 yards.
Tight ends: A-minus
Hunter Henry had quite a birthday with two touchdown catches. It was nice to see him get open, and for O’Brien to dial up a few plays for the veteran tight end, who made the most of his opportunities.
Henry, targeted three times, caught three balls for 40 yards and two touchdowns. His third catch went for a first down. It doesn’t get much better than that for a tight end, unless your name is Travis Kelce.
The only issue here with Henry was being called for an offensive pass interference, and a false start.
Pharaoh Brown, who has been invisible as a pass catcher recently, added one catch. Mostly, he was used as a blocker. Mike Gesicki was in for a few snaps, but wasn’t targeted.
Offensive line: B-minus
In the first half, the line held up pretty well against T.J. Watt, Cam Heyward & Co. But did spring a few leaks as the game wore on. Bailey Zappe was sacked twice, both times on stunts where communication needed to be better.
On the first, linebacker Elandon Roberts managed to slip around a pile of bodies up front in the second quarter. It was like the Steelers set a pick, and Roberts rolled off of it with no one picking him up.
The second sack came in the third quarter. On another stunt, Hayward flew by Sidy Sow, who was supposed to pick him up on his opposite side, and Zappe went down. Sow also missed Watt on a tackle for loss in the fourth quarter.
In all however, the Patriots were able to contain Watt, the Steelers resident sack master. Michael Onwenu, who had a tough game Sunday against the Chargers, was a stud at right tackle, keeping Watt at bay for the most part.
Conor McDermott, who rotated with Trent Brown, had some issues. He was flagged for holding, a penalty which pretty much killed the Patriots opening drive in the second half.
The line also struggled a bit to get some push up front to create openings for Zeke Elliott (22 carries, 68 yards) in the run game. But all in all, a decent job against the tough Steelers front.
Defensive line: A
Shutting down run games has become a speciality for this group. On Thursday night, they held the Steelers backs to 2.9 yards per carry. Najee Harris, Jaylen Warren, and quarterback Trubisky, who has some ability to run the football, had just 82 yards between them.
It’s a credit to the Patriots front. The group was also effective generating some pressure in the passing game.
Christian Barmore (one sack, three pressures) has been a consistent force all year. He had plenty of company next to him with Davon Godchaux (two run stuffs), Lawrence Guy (one run stuff), Deatrich Wise (tackle for loss), and Keion White (QB hit, pressure) all contributing.
Linebacker: A
As has been the case recently, this group was terrific, and also played a huge factor in shutting down the Steelers run game.
Jahlani Tavai was a wrecking ball with 15 tackles. Ja’Whaun Bentley was also a force in the middle with seven tackles, and a quarterback hit.
Meanwhile, Anfernee Jennings continues to impress setting the edge. He had four tackles, three of those going for loss.
And last, but by no means least, Mack Wilson made a couple of terrific plays. Included in the mix was a sack, and tackle for loss. He also came up with a fourth-and-2 stop of Jaylen Warren at the seven-yard-line. That left the Steelers with no points following a pick of Zappe.
Secondary: B-plus
Jonathan Jones has really emerged in the secondary the past few games. The boundary corner pretty much kept George Pickens ( 5 catches, 19 yards) in check when he was matched up with the talented Steelers receiver. He also did well when he was up against Diontae Johnson, most notably on a long ball the Steelers inexplicably dialed up on 4th-and-2 with 2:01 to play.
Jones also notched seven tackles in the game.
J.C. Jackson, meanwhile, didn’t have his best day. He made some plays, but was also in coverage for Johnson’s second quarter touchdown catch, and flagged a couple times for pass interference. On the first one, he held the receiver before picking off a pass.
As for the safeties, Kyle Dugger was called for defensive pass interference, but also broke up a couple of passes. He was also used quite a bit as a blitzer and was effective generating pressure.
On one of those occasions, his pressure led to a pick by Jabrill Peppers, who read the play well. Jalen Mills also had a productive game with seven tackles, and a tackle for loss. The Pats were very effective mixing their looks on third down, constantly confusing Trubisky.
Specialists: D
Once again, the special teams weren’t so special.
A blocked punt in the fourth quarter basically kept the Steelers in the game. Ty Montgomery didn’t do the best job blocking Steelers special teams ace Miles Killebrew who flew in off the edge and got his hands on Bryce Baringer’s kick. Montgomery took a seat after that, and was released the next day.
On the day, Baringer had nine punts. He had plenty of chances to pin the Steelers in deep, but bombed many of his kicks for touchbacks.
Brendon Schooler, meanwhile, was flagged for a personal foul after flipping out on a Steelers player on a kick return. That forced the Patriots to start a drive on the 11-yard line. Schooler got an earful from Joe Judge on the sideline.
This grade might have been worse, but the Patriots were let off the hook. Jahlani Tavai clearly jumped offsides on a Steelers punt in the fourth quarter, but was saved when the officials penalized the Steelers long snapper instead for a false start for lifting his head.
Coaching: C-plus
Bill O’Brien was much less conservative with his play-calling in the first half (that would come later), and it paid off. He trusted Zappe to make some plays downfield, and was rewarded with the first touchdown on the opening drive this season.
With a lead, he dialed it back in the second half, but some of that was out of necessity. Receivers were able to get open against zone coverage in the first half, and catch the football, but had a tough time separating when the Steelers used more man coverage in the second half.
On the defensive side, Steve Belichick and Jerod Mayo did a good job changing up looks, especially with the Steelers facing third down (3-of-14 conversions). Facing backup Trubisky helped, but the defense has been consistently good the past month.
As for the special teams, a blocked punt and a lack of discipline didn’t help this grade.
Lastly, on the plus side, the coaches get good marks for keeping a 3-10 team motivated.
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