Pats Steal a Win

The Patriots somehow managed to hold the Steelers off enough to squeeze out a win. The game came down to the wire and reminiscent of the days of old was won with a Adam Vinatieri field goal.

The game, however, was very costly to a already depleted secondary. Rodney Harrison sustained a hell of an injury to his left knee that will likely sideline him for the rest of the season. Hopefully, Matt Light’s injury was less brutal and he will be able to return to the line up. The left side of the Offensive line was shored up by two rookies who managed to hold their own as the game went on.

Overall the Patriots play this year has begun to remind me of their play before the back-to-back Super Bowl wins. They committed a large number of penalties that could be avoided. The running game was nowhere to be found and they had to turn to Brady’s hand and the passing game to get them out of the jam.

It’s still very early in the season and I hope that the Pats can figure out how to fix these issues. The beginning of our schedule is notably one of the toughest in the league, but that should hardly cause the Pats to implode. If other teams sense a weakness in the armor of the Pats, they will attack with a ferocity that might be unmatched by a bumbling and fumbling team later in the season.

This game had me at the edge of my seat throughout the game. But if you look at just the numbers of the two teams, this should have been an absolute blowout of the Steelers, as they barely managed any true offense beside the 86-yard TD to Hines Ward. The rest of the time they will struggling to get any first downs. The Pats should have ridden a comfortable cushion of a lead throughout the game and not had to rely on a 43-yard field goal in the waining seconds to win.

If the defense continues to take on the kind of injuries that they’re having this early in the season, we will not be able to rely on them later to stop other teams. The offense has to pick up pace and start putting up the kind of points they did last year if they are going to have any hope of making it back into the playoffs and the big game.

Cheers

Send this post to: