The rich, storied history of the Pittsburgh Steelers has seen, other than countless winning seasons and six Super Bowl victories, plenty of struggles as well. Not until Sunday, November 3, however, have the black and gold been so manhandled by an opposing offense. Today’s sixty minutes played just outside of Boston were not kind to the Steelers (2-6), as the defense allowed a franchise-record 55 points in a 55-31 thrashing at the hands of the New England Patriots (7-2).
Tom Brady and his offense have been through well-documented growing pains early in the 2013 season, and they came into this game hoping to be able to overcome a Steelers defense ranked second in the league with 181 yards per game allowed through the air. They did and, well, that’s an understatement to say the least. Brady threw for 432 yards and four touchdowns. Furthermore, the New England running game was unstoppable as well, going for 197 yards and three scores. Stevan Ridley led the way with two of those trips to the end zone and 115 yards. The Patriots averaged 5.6 yards per carry and over 18 yards per completion totaling a whopping 610 yards of offense overall.
After a mostly uneventful first quarter that resulted in just one score for either side (a Patriots touchdown pass to Danny Amendola), New England took a 14-0 lead on one of a career-high nine catches by TE Rob Gronkowski. Pittsburgh responded with their first successful drive of the night but could not punch it in, settling for a 30-yard Shaun Suisham field goal. New England matched that but Pittsburgh countered with a TD pass to Antonio Brown to show some signs of life, cutting the lead to 17-10. However, with less than two minutes to work with, Brady engineered a 77-yard drive capped off by a Ridley run to make it 24-10 at halftime.
With possession to start the second half, New England dropped an opportunity to run away with the game early when Ridley fumbled a reception, forced by Troy Polamalu and recovered by LaMarr Woodley. Roethlisberger turned the short field into seven points with a TD pass to Jerricho Cotchery, cutting the lead in half. The defense then forced a quick punt and Roethlisberger and Cotchery hooked up again after a five-play, 46 yard march set up by a 24-yard punt return by Brown. With the score knotted at 24-24, Pittsburgh was flying high and poised to overcome a quality opponent on the road and possibly earn a much-needed win to get back into the AFC North race.
It was not meant to be, as Patriots K Stephen Gostkowski made a field goal on the next drive, Pittsburgh punted, and New England went berserk in the fourth quarter. That three-point, 27-24 lead turned to ten when Brady found rookie Aaron Dobson for a touchdown that was upheld after a booth challenge. A sack of Roethlisberger and another punt later, New England embarked on an eight-play, 61 yard drive for a commanding 41-24 lead with 12:44 to play. In just over two minutes, the lead had stretched from one to three possessions. And, sadly for Steeler Nation, it got even worse. After Roethlisberger threw a third TD pass to Cotchery to complete an impressive 80-yard drive and keep the drowning Steelers above water, the defense promptly allowed Dobson to streak 81 yards down the sideline for a completion that allowed Tom Brady to pass Fran Tarkenton for seventh all-time in career passing yards.
Roethlisberger was picked on the next drive with nary a target in site, and New England emphatically punched it in for five yards in the hands of LeGarrette Blount, ending the scoring fest at 55-31. He finished the day 28-48 for 400 yards and a season-high four touchdowns, but also had two interceptions and a lost fumble. The team’s struggling running game averaged just over four yards per carry and combined for over 100 yards for the first time this season. Le’Veon Bell led Pittsburgh ball-carriers with 74 yards and Jonathan Dwyer went for 30 yards on his only carry. Brown, Cotchery, and Emmanuel Sanders went for five, six, and seven yard catches, respectively. None went for 100 yards, whereas three Patriots did so; Gronkowski had 143 yards, Dobson had 130, and Amendola finished with 122.
New England’s 28 fourth quarter points and the 24-point margin of victory are major red flags for a Steelers team clearly in a transition phase. After two victories had brought them to 2-4, losses at Oakland and New England have put them at 2-6 and four wins behind the division-leading Cincinnati Bengals. Pittsburgh hosts Buffalo (3-6) at Heinz Field next Sunday, November 10, at 1:00 pm.
