PatsPropaganda

If you were going to point the finger at one solitary thing that lost the Steelers game for the Pats it has to be 3rd down defense in my opinion. If the defense forces just one punt from the ten 3rd downs they allowed to be converted it could’ve made the difference in a one score game.

As Belichick pointed out on WEEI on Monday the Steelers have one of the best 3rd and long offenses in the NFL, so the Pats should’ve been better prepared. I know we’re all feeling pretty dismal about the Pats legitimate Super Bowl hopes but let’s just remember, this is a young defense that is struggling with communication. That is something that will get better over the course of the season. If they’re communicating and have everyone on the same page and still fail to make plays then we can talk further about the talent level.

Ian does a great job in the article and includes some really great pictures to help break it down. Below is the 3rd down I found most maddening,it’s a 3rd and 15 in the 3rd quarter.

Interesting stuff here from Tom E. who didn’t waste his time going to the Patriots locker room after the loss. Some very candid commentary from the Steelers…

We knew we had a great matchup and that they’d play zone coverage and give us an opportunity to hit ‘em across the middle,“ said wide receiver Antonio Brown. "Heath [Miller] did a great job getting open across the middle, we did a great job of converting third downs and controlling the ball.
 
“I think they just wanted to blitz Ben. Get Ben confused and thinking the younger guys wouldn’t be on point with the hots (hot routes that are broken off when blitzes are sent). I think that was their aim and I think we did a great job counteracting that. They played zone coverage (because they were) scared that Mike Wallace was gonna get deep. That allowed us to get the middle open and make some big plays on third down.”

Beware all ye who click the above link… it’s the cold hard truth about the Patriots defense ultimately boiling down to a lack of talent. You look at all the high round picks (where talent is supposed to be) that have been spent on the secondary and just about all of them are either no longer with the team or playing far below expectations. Leaves you wondering if they’d just hung on the Wilhite, Butler, Wheatley, Sanders and even Meriweather would they be any worse off?

This might be a good spot to mention that I still think drafting Ras-I was an understandable move over a pass rush guy. It sucks that his injury woes have continued but it’s given how much of talent infusion this secondary needs, and the kind of corner that Dowling projected to (and still could be ) I can’t fault the logic of the pick. They took a chance, and he got hurt again. Next year and the year after will be the determination if the pick was truly a miss, but given that Ras-I started against the Dolphins in week one it looks that he at least was living up to his selection in camp. When he was actually practicing.