USA TODAY US Edition

Jarrett Bell Efficient Patriots not invincible

Brady nearly perfect since suspension return

- Jarrett Bell jbell@usatoday.com USA TODAY Sports

It seemed rather improbable from the get-go.

Landry Jones beating Tom Brady?

No, that didn’t happen at Heinz Field on Sunday. Brady, with eight touchdown passes and zero intercepti­ons in three games since getting out Deflategat­e jail, was as efficient as he needed to be in a 27-16 triumph. Jones will remember his third NFL start for what might have been.

As much as the New England Patriots (6-1) look like the team to beat in sizing up the field of Super Bowl contenders, they also looked beatable against a team missing its star quarterbac­k.

The Pittsburgh Steelers (4-3) couldn’t do it with Jones filling in for Ben Roethlisbe­rger, who had arthroscop­ic knee surgery last week.

They had their chances, though.

“You knew the margin of error was going to be minimal,”

Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said.

Tomlin’s voice dripped with the disappoint­ment of what might have been. If you’re going to beat Bill Belichick’s team, which typically doesn’t beat itself, it helps to have a few breaks.

That came in the form of two lost Patriots fumbles, which went right along with their dropped passes. It wasn’t a pretty, signature win. Just one, even with LeGarrette Blount’s 127 yards of smash-mouth running, that will provide The Hoodie with more ammunition to beat his team over the head.

“Self-inflicted wounds” is how Brady put it, summing up the early sputtering on offense.

The defense had a bend-butnot-break thing going. It could have been a lot worse.

It’s no wonder that Patriots safety Devin McCourty seemed to wince when asked what he imagined the tone might be in the Monday afternoon film review with Belichick.

“Honestly, you never know,” McCourty said. “Sometimes we feel like we played well and we still get ripped.”

Sure, they’ll take the W. Victories are never automatic and hardly easy in the NFL.

But the Patriots need not have any illusions. It would have been a different game, with a different result, if the Steelers had Roethlisbe­rger, who had thrown more TD passes than anyone else during the first six weeks of the season. He surely would have offered an extreme test for a Patriots secondary carrying questions.

McCourty realizes what the Steelers were missing with Roethlisbe­rger, who drives defenses crazy with his ability to extend plays by going off-script.

“He makes plays that are not normal,” McCourty said.

Jones provided none of that, one reason the Patriots defense kept getting off the field on third downs. The Steelers converted only five of 16 third downs.

That is not how to beat the Patriots, especially when they are contributi­ng to the cause with their own gaffes. With Jones, the Steelers needed to pretty much play a perfect game.

“It stings because we were right there,” said Antonio Brown, the Steelers’ star wideout.

Yes, you can beat the Patriots. Look at how they went down in last season’s AFC title game in Denver, where the Broncos defense took advantage of the soft spots on the Patriots offensive line — some of which still exist, as demonstrat­ed by the Cincinnati Bengals defensive line in Week 6 — to dictate the flow.

There was none of that from the Steelers defense. Brady (19for-26, 222 yards, two TDs, zero intercepti­ons) was never sacked, and on a couple of occasions when pressured he escaped (yes, Brady plodded out of there on his 39-year-old legs) to scramble for first-down runs.

But that wasn’t even the half of it. Chris Hogan caught Brady’s pass on New England’s first snap, then fumbled it away when popped by Jarvis Jones.

This is apparently how to beat the Patriots. But four plays after Hogan coughed up the football, Landry Jones forced a pass to the corner of the end zone for Brown — who has zero TDs in games without Roethlisbe­rger — that was underthrow­n. Malcolm Butler turned around and intercepte­d the pass. Squandered was the chance to make the Patriots pay.

In the second quarter, the Steelers had an apparent gametying touchdown called back — Darrius Heyward-Bey scampered 14 yards on a crossing route — be- cause of Chris Hubbard’s holding penalty. Then Chris Boswell missed a 42-yard field goal attempt, and the Steelers got nothing.

As the game progressed, a distinct pattern emerged: The Steelers, who fell into a 14-0 hole, kept settling for kicks. Boswell booted three field goals and missed two attempts, including a 54-yard try.

This came after much struggle and heavy lifting, a significan­t amount provided by running back Le’Veon Bell, with his 149 yards from scrimmage.

Stalled drives won’t cut it. The Steelers needed the touchdowns they couldn’t get as Jones (29for-47, 281 yards) was forced to play a game of catch-up that he couldn’t win.

Meanwhile, the Patriots had two TD drives in the second half that covered a combined 150 yards and consumed less than 51⁄ minutes of game clock. That’s efficiency. And that’s how the Patriots win.

 ?? JASON BRIDGE, USA TODAY SPORTS ?? Patriots quarterbac­k Tom Brady wasn’t spectacula­r against the Steelers on Sunday, throwing for 222 yards, but he did pass for two touchdowns and wasn’t intercepte­d.
JASON BRIDGE, USA TODAY SPORTS Patriots quarterbac­k Tom Brady wasn’t spectacula­r against the Steelers on Sunday, throwing for 222 yards, but he did pass for two touchdowns and wasn’t intercepte­d.
 ??  ??
 ?? CHARLES LECLAIRE, USA TODAY SPORTS ?? Steelers quarterbac­k Ben Roethlisbe­rger sat out Sunday’s game vs. the Patriots after having knee surgery last week.
CHARLES LECLAIRE, USA TODAY SPORTS Steelers quarterbac­k Ben Roethlisbe­rger sat out Sunday’s game vs. the Patriots after having knee surgery last week.

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