WHAT A RUSH
Blount stars in Pats’ run-heavy win over Steelers
PITTSBURGH — With Tom Brady back in the fold, the Patriots have a far greater margin of error than most of their opponents.
That’s why, despite a myriad of blunders yesterday, the Pats outlasted the Pittsburgh Steelers, 2716, at Heinz Field to improve to an AFC-best 6-1. The Patriots have won three consecutive games with Brady and have an opportunity to make up for their only loss Sunday on the road against the Buffalo Bills.
“We made a couple turnovers that we’re going to have to hear about,” Julian Edelman said. “Any time you turn the ball over on the road at a place like this, it puts yourself in a tough situation. We were able to overcome it, so that’s pretty good.”
Brady completed 19-of-26 passes for 222 yards and two touchdowns, and LeGarrette Blount ran 24 times for 127 yards and two scores to burn his former team. Edelman broke out with nine catches for 60 yards, and Rob Gronkowski added four receptions for 93 yards and a touchdown. Malcolm Butler also had an interception and pass breakup in the end zone during his battle with Antonio Brown.
“Our execution, when it was good, we made a lot of good plays,” Brady said. “I think a lot of self-inflicted wounds really hurt us.”
It was all more than enough for the Patriots to make up for two lost fumbles, two pivotal drops, another missed extra point and several special-teams miscues. The Pats limited the Steelers to one touchdown on four red-zone trips. It also helped that the Patriots held the Steelers to 5-of-16 on third down, including four consecutive stops in the fourth quarter.
“We’ve been working on it,” Devin McCourty said of the thirddown defense that came in ranked 27th. “We just played better.”
The Pats mixed brilliance with insipidness throughout the game. Chris Hogan fumbled away Brady’s first completion of the game, which led to a first-quarter benching, but Butler responded by intercepting his first pass of the season on Landry Jones’ underthrown ball for Brown in the end zone.
Brady in turn led a 13-play, 80yard scoring drive that featured three third-down conversions and closed with a 19-yard touchdown on a screen to James White for a 7-0 lead.
Blount, who had 11 carries for 50 yards in the Pats’ first three series, paved the way for the second score. He had a 9-yard rumble on third-and-1 early in the drive and closed it down with a 3-yard touchdown to give the Patriots a 14-0 lead in the second quarter.
“LeGarrette is always impressive,” Martellus Bennett said.
The defense didn’t hold the two-score margin for long, though. Brown beat Butler for a 51-yard catch, and Darrius Heyward-Bey raced past Eric Rowe for a 14-yard touchdown catch on third-and-4 to cut it to 14-7.
Brandon Bolden dropped an easy pass on third down to thwart the Patriots’ ensuing drive, but the Steelers were imperfect in their own right as Chris Boswell missed a 42-yard field goal.
The drops spilled into the next series, as Edelman couldn’t corral a pass. Bolden then nonchalantly chased down a punt that should have been downed at the 6, but bounced into the end zone with 1:47 remaining.
So rather than potentially sitting on the ball, the Steelers mounted a 10-play, 66-yard drive that closed with Boswell’s 32-yard field goal and a 14-10 ballgame at halftime.
After the Pats opened the third quarter with a three-and-out thanks to back-to-back holding penalties against Nate Solder, Le’Veon Bell helped the Steelers inch closer. The running back had six touches for 35 yards on the drive before Boswell’s 46-yard field goal, which cut the deficit to 14-13.
Blount got the next drive started with two carries for 36 yards, and Gronkowski raced up the left seam for a 36-yard touchdown, which tied the franchise record for his 68th score and extended the lead to 20-13 in the third quarter.
Jones (29-of-47, 281 yards) completed the first five passes of the ensuing series for 43 yards, but a pair of misfires yielded Boswell’s 44-yard field goal to trim the deficit to 20-16 in the fourth quarter.
Brady flew down the field highlighted by a 37-yard strike to Gronkowski down to the Pittsburgh 5. Blount followed with a 5-yard touchdown to push the lead to 27-16 with 11:44 to go.
“We’re developing a mentally tough team,” Edelman said. “It’s still very early in the season, so we’ve just got to continue to improve, get better, play out situations better, protect the ball better, so that’s what we’re going to do.”