Raising the sixth banner at Gillette Stadium Sunday night brought back all the memories of the previous world championships, most recently against the Los Angeles Rams. To commemorate, New England showcased that they have not skipped a beat since capturing the title in February.
Age defines talent for some, and quarterback Tom Brady continues to be at the pinnacle of his game; slinging passes at 42 years old. Completing 24 of 36 passes for 341 yards and tossing three scores, Tom was dicing the Steelers defense for big chunks of yards as he has always done while looking for his relatively new receiving core on the outside and inside slot plays continuing his dominance in the NFL.
Speedster Phillip Dorsett struggled with injuries and left the impression of not living up to the first-round hype scouts gave him when playing for the Colts a few years back. Now in a new environment, the talks have subsided and the former Miami Hurricane is enjoying a great start to the season with a 98-yard performance to go with a pair of scores, one went for a 58-yard bomb.
Former Super Bowl MVP Julian Edelman had a rough start to the game with a few miscommunicated errors but eventually wound up with 6 catches for 83 yards. Josh Gordon helped shred Pittsburgh while catching a beauty of a touchdown in the first quarter, giving New England its first points of the 2019 season, capping off with 73 yards on 3 catches.
The news of former Steelers and Raiders wide receiver Antonio Brown now joining the stacked arsenal at Brady’s disposal only gives them extra creativity going forward on design plays and keeping up the air raid attack on vulnerable defenses. He will be eligible to play for next week’s trip to Miami.
Holding Pittsburgh down to zero touchdowns, New England’s defense was relentless on every down. New England’s coaching staff implemented schemes to drub down Mike Tomlin and the high-flying Steelers squad, led by former USC receiver standout JuJu Smith-Schuster, gaining just 32 rushing yards. Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger threw for a respectable 276 yards but nothing went well for red zone attempts and huge scoring opportunities, including throwing the lone interception of the game to safety Devin McCourty. It was a long day for both the offense and defense of Pittsburgh trying to get the upper hand.
The Patriots (1-0) take on the struggling Miami Dolphins (0-1) Sept. 15 at 1 p.m., as they face former defensive coach Brian Flores, hired by the Dolphins to relieve Adam Gase, who fled for the Jets coaching job this season. Miami was shut down in their season opener by Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens 59-10.
