Patriots rout Steelers without Brown
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — The New England Patriots trolled the Pittsburgh Steelers on Saturday and blew them out Sunday.
A day after acquiring former Steelers malcontent Antonio Brown, the defending Super Bowl champions showed they might not even need him, getting 341 yards and three touchdown passes from 42-year-old Tom Brady to beat Pittsburgh 33-3.
Phillip Dorsett caught two touchdown passes and Josh Gordon — another receiver who wore out his welcome elsewhere — caught a score. On the night New England unveiled its sixth championship banner, Super Bowl most valuable player Julian Edelman caught six passes for 83 yards and also completed a throw.
No one has won back-to-back titles since New England did it in 2003 and ’04.
Facing the last team to beat them, back in Week 15 last year, the Patriots opened a 20-0 lead before Pittsburgh kicked a field goal on fourth and goal from the one with 10:17 left in the third quarter. Brady tossed a 58-yard touchdown pass to Dorsett for a 27-3 lead.
Dorsett had four catches for 95 yards and his first multi-score game. He will be moving down the depth chart Monday when the Patriots make Brown’s signing official.
“He’s a playmaker,” Edelman said. “The more playmakers you have, the more dynamic we can be.”
Unable to get Brown to behave, the Steelers refused to trade the disgruntled diva to New England only to see him wind up with the team that has reached the AFC championship game eight straight seasons.
“Whatever,” said quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, who completed 27 of 47 passes for 277 yards and an interception, though 116 of the yards came on non-scoring drives in the fourth quarter with the Steelers down four scores. The offense showed the effects of losing two of its biggest playmakers: Brown, who talked and tweeted his way out of both Pittsburgh and Oakland in one offseason, and running back Le’Veon Bell, a two-time All-Pro who sat out all of last season to avoid a franchise tag.
In their place, James Conner gained 21 yards in 10 carries — the Steelers gained only 32 yards rushing — and JuJu Smith-Schuster caught six passes for 78 yards, 26 of them coming on one throw in the final minutes.
“We got our butts whooped,” defensive tackle Cameron Heyward said.