NFL Gamepass was pretty choppy as I tried to review the offense so instead of going drive-by-drive this will just be more general takeaways since it was tough to establish a flow.
Generally this was one of the better openers of recent memory for the offense. There was still some offensive line juggling and they struggled at times, but overall Brady was close to mid-season form. Of course, he always seems to look comfortable against the Steelers and this one was no exception.
– Dion Lewis is so quick through the hole and has the ability to not only make guys miss, but to break tackles as well. Still, I think he’ll be even more deadly when he’s paired with LeGarrette Blount. The Pats needed that big fourth quarter back in this one, but had to stick with Lewis and that was when the defense started to shut him down a bit. On Lewis’ fumble it was a perfect replica of Shane Vereen’s ability to make tough catches across the middle after squirting out of the backfield.
– Brady wasn’t holding the ball long but compared to last year, and considering the number of rookie OL playing, the protection and blocking looked pretty good. If you couldn’t tell from the summer, I just love watching Shaq Mason and it wasn’t a surprise to see him lineup as a goalline fullback. He’ll get a touchdown carry before his Patriots career is done. Yes Solder had a couple brain farts, but that’s kind of par for the course now, and he was still better than last year. Let’s just keep Cannon from playing any LT okay?
– Gronk is such a force out there, he really makes this offense unstoppable at times because of how he allows the Pats to dictate matchups. Now the four tight end set looks like a new nightmare to deal with.
– I said I’d give away a t-shirt for every yard-after-contact Bolden had and he ended up with 5 carries for 1 yard. I still gave away a t-shirt. But yeah, Bolden is nothing more than a stopgap at running back. He just seems like the easiest guy in the world to tackle and never makes that extra play like we consistently saw out of Lewis.
– Edelman and Amendola didn’t look like they missed a beat from the Super Bowl. Especially Edelman. What a progression he’s had since starting his career in 2009. He’s just relentless and picks up some many extra yards on extra effort.
– Brady set a record with 19 straight completed passes. Fitting that the last one came on the 52-yarder to Gronk. Brady was as locked in as I’ve ever seen him in an opener, maybe since 2007 when they unveiled Randy Moss.