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Film Review: Pats vs. Steelers 10 Notes

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This was one of the more exciting games to dive into once the All-22 game film was released. There were plenty of good and bad plays that were tough to evaluate in the moment. The emotionless re-watch that is the film review sheds light on what really happened.

Throw out the 69-yard atrocity at the end and this was a quintessential Patriots thriller. It should never have come down to any of the “survive the ground” stuff at the end. The Patriots have their weaknesses, like all teams, but once again their steadfast focus in tight games in tough locations allowed them to overcome.

Here are my 10 thoughts on what transpired.

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Pats Posits: From Malcolm Go to Ben Don’t Throw!

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There are some games where you have to forget about the analysis and just enjoy the footballing. The Patriots miraculous 27-24 win over the Steelers delivered on every level in that regard. I never thought the “All Hope is Lost” moment could be worse than when the Seahawks were sitting on the two in Super Bowl 49 about to win, but this game was an even more dramatic turn and victory.

No, this wasn’t a Super Bowl, but it was the absolutely the defining game of the 2017 season and easily one of the best regular season games of the Tom Brady/Bill Belichick era.

The final moments of the game were a blur. A utter Brady-Gronk domination drive capped off by a Dion Lewis scamper and the Pats had weathered the storm and looked almost assured of locking up homefield. Then….a glaring defensive breakdown of (potentially) season-breaking implications. The Steelers score and retake the lead in TWO PLAYS! Then the call was overturned, a tiny glimmer of hope, but still with the Steelers knocking on the door. A great tackle, an ill-advised attempt at a fake spike which even I saw coming at home. Interception. Pats win.

What!? It all happened so quickly I’m still processing it 12 hours later.

The Patriots now sit firmly in the driver’s seat in the AFC, a spot we’ve been in a lot, but one that never gets old. Breaking down a bunch of thoughts on this huge win in the Posits!

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Patriots Gameplan: Week 15 at Pittsburgh Steelers

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The Patriots’ 2017 season is finally here. Yes, there’s been plenty of ups and downs already, as there often are during the summer and fall, but really, for the Patriots the regular season doesn’t truly start until December and here it is.

So now things get real. Had the Patriots won Monday against Miami this game in Pittsburgh would’ve had a little less flair. But now, it’s everything. The Pats are still very much in the driver’s seat of their own destiny, but a loss would set a nuclear bomb off with just two weeks to go, possibly sending them all the way down to the third seed below, gasp, Jacksonville.

In a season that largely felt like going through the motions suddenly things could take a drastic left turn into unfamiliar territory. The good news? The Patriots have beaten the Pittsburgh Steelers in every meaningful game during the Belichick/Brady dynasty. Brady has feasted on the Steeler defense, going 3-2 in the Steel City and 4-0 at home.

There’s no question where we’d all prefer the AFC Championship to be should there be a rematch, although the Pats have beaten the Steelers in two AFC Championships in Pittsburgh. I’d prefer not to have to try and make it three.

What the Patriots have to do to define their season with a back-against-the-wall win this weekend in then gameplan!

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Film Review: Patriots Third Down Offense

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The Patriots went a mind boggling 0-11 on third down against the Dolphins, a feat they hadn’t accomplished since the dark days of the early 90’s. Without Rob Gronkowski and Julian Edelman, the offense just couldn’t find anyone who could make a key play on the key down.

Let’s go through them one-by-one and see what went wrong and if there are any trends we can discern.

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Scouting Report: Pittsburgh Steelers

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Fresh off being completely dominated in Miami against the Dolphins (what a weird sentence that is), the New England Patriots now turn their sights to their biggest test of the year: the Pittsburgh Steelers. The winner of Sunday’s game will almost assuredly have home field for the inevitable title game between these two teams (knock on wood). While the Steelers do boast the best record in the AFC, four out of their last five games have been decided by game-winning field goals in the final minute, coming against the 3-10 Colts, the 7-6 Rodgers-less Packers, the 5-8 Bengals, and the 7-6 Ravens. This team is good, for sure, but I don’t think they are nearly as good as their record and their stats suggests.

The Steelers offense has put up the 4th most yards in football and 2nd most pass yards in the NFL, just behind the Patriots in both stats. They possess the NFL’s rushing yards leader in Leveon Bell, but strangely rank just 23rd in the league in total rushing yards (Bell has accounted for 85% of their rushing yards). Bell leads the league in rushing because of volume, not efficiency; he is first in the NFL in attempts with 283 (shoutout Atlanta), but is just 21st in yards per carry (of rushers with at least 100 attempts). The Patriots locked down the Steelers daunting running game in the AFC Championship Game, but, as Steeler fans are ever so quick to mention, Bell played just 11 snaps in that game, and the now-retired DeAngelo Williams was tasked with leading the Steelers rushing attack, which only gained 54 yards on 20 carries, good for just 2.7 yards per carry.

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Pats Posits: 2017 Just Got Interesting

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There’s just nothing quite like the morning after a Patriots loss. It’s a small and grim view into the future, when the Patriots do finally return to mortal football team status. You can already see how passionately everyone from the national media to opposing fans will line up and pile on one after the other.

Those days aren’t quite here yet but of course everyone who is sick of the Patriots and ready for the NFL power structure to finally lose it’s long-time top dog is more than ready to start testing the waters — to casually float that someday Tom Brady will be done and maybe, just maybe, this was the first game we’ll look back on as the start of the decline.

No one is happier after a Patriots loss than the national media, especially in such a lackluster, injury-plagued season for the league. The Patriots move the dial. And nothing moves the dial for 31 teams like “MAYBE THE PATRIOTS ARE DONE!!!!!”

As a Patriots fan, it can be annoying, but let’s look on the bright side: The Patriots 2017 season just got interesting. Homefield in the AFC will fully at be stake next week in Pittsburgh. There is also a scenario where a 12-4 Patriots team loses out on a tie breaker to the Jaguars for the second seed. Woah.

It’s a jolt to go from probably coasting to the top seed to suddenly staring down the barrel of playing on wild card weekend. But hey, in-season drama and a race to the finish is what makes the regular season interesting.

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