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All in all, not a great night for the Patriots’ defense, but they’re a lot better than they showed in this one. Generally it was the same old early season problems they usually have – not playing on the same page, not getting off blocks, missing tackles. It’s really how it looked vs. KC last year, but there’s no reason to panic. 

The Pats were willing to concede a lot in the running game. Once Easley went down it was telling that they went to Grissom for most of the rest of the night. If they were worried about stopping the run it would’ve been easy to put Siliga/Branch/Brown in there in some combination. No, they wanted to have athletes to pass rush in there, for better or worse. Doesn’t mean it will continue and I think Easley is a much better option for this kind of defensive philosophy than an undersized rookie like Grissom. The Steelers took the bait and ran over and over against the defensive right side.

Defensively not much changed from last year in terms of coverage. It was almost all man except for long situations where they’d play it safe in zone. They were slightly less aggressive off the line, pulling back to off man more often than we saw last year. But for those of us who thought they were going back to zone, they didn’t here and thank Hoodie they didn’t because playing man defense in today’s NFL is vital. I’m still not sure how well they’ll be able to do it against the deeper passing teams, but we’ll see.

The pressure was mostly non-existent and it was clear they were missing a dominant inside player like Wilfork. Overall I thought Siliga was probably the best DT followed by Brown and then Branch, who looked slow to me out there. Hopefully he really didn’t drop off the cliff that much, but he looked like he could be gone if that play continues. 

Each of the LB/DEs had their moments good and bad, but generally they were all pretty average, and some of that is because one guy was doing too much. Hightower, Collins, Ninkovich are all a lot better than they played in this one.

Here’s my notes on each defensive possession while reviewing the All-22 film.

Drive #1: 9 plays, 54 yards. Missed Field Goal

This one was about how you might expect the first defensive series of the season to go. Guys overplaying, not getting off blocks nor defeating blocks at contact. They used a fair amount of three safeties, with Chung in the box essentially playing linebacker covering the tight end. Mixed in some Cover-2 Man, Cover-1 Robber Man, and Cover-2 zone on third-and-long. Easley showed good penetration before getting hurt, glad he’s only supposed to be out a week or two, though I’d rest him until Dallas.

Drive #2: 6 plays, 24 yards. Punt

Branch in for Brown, Grissom in for injured Easley and it would seem to indicate that instead of the “double nose” the Pats are now more interested in having a one-gapper defensive tackle in there. Grissom showed some strength, despite being undersized for this role. It would be Easley or Chris Jones probably down the line. On third down the went Cover-1 Man, a popular coverage last year and not one we expected to see much of this year. We were wrong. Up front there was no defensive tackle really, unless you count Grissom as one. They’re really going athletic with things. Nice sack on second down by Hightower. Once again the coverage is Cover-1 Man with High on a delayed blitz where he just juked the center and finished Roethlisberger off. On third down they drop everyone into zone and get off the field.

Drive #3: 7 plays, 52 yards. Missed Field Goal

Sheard in for Nink (yay on getting him some rest), Siliga and Grissom the DTs now. Grissom gets some pass rush to force an incompletion on second down. On third down, Siliga comes off, Nink comes on. This is a pure pass rush front we’ve all dreamed about, but no one gets pressure. 42-yard pass to DHB. Wasn’t horrible coverage by Fletcher, he ran well with DHB despite not getting a jam on him. Just enough separation and a great throw from Roethlisberger. Harmon was favoring Brown’s side and had no chance to get all the way over to break up the pass. Sheard losing contain on the next down was surprising, he seemed a little flat compared to what we saw in preseason. Him and Siliga make up for it next down, stuffing a run for minimal game. Siliga has popped the most of Brown/Branch heavy DT spot so far. Good double-A gap pressure as they send 91 and 54 forcing a quick throw on third down. They sent 5, dropped Nink in the hot read. 

Drive #4: 11 plays, 57 yards. Field Goal

First play of the drive and the Steelers run the Super Bowl INT play (you know which one), right at Butler but he’s just a moment late. That would’ve been a game-winning Super Bowl touchdown had that been February. Brown back in at DT, Grissom still at the other DT spot, showing how much the Pats were daring the Steelers to run. Steelers pick up a first on 3rd down with a 37-yard pass to Brown. Butler just whiffs on any jam and then can’t catch up. Pitt runs the same Super Bowl pick play again on 4th-and-3 and again they pick up the first down. On the third down stop before the field goal the Pats went to Cover-3 man, something we haven’t seen much of before. Seemed like it helped confuse Roethlisberger who pumped then threw incomplete.

Second Half

Drive #5: 7 plays, 80 yards. Touchdown

Tone on this drive was set immediately with a 28 yard run up the defensive left side, the side the Steelers rightly targeted most in the running game. Not a great look from Alan Branch who was slow off the ball then easily pushed out of the way. Not Ninkovich’s best game either, struggled getting off blocks quickly enough. Defense fought down to third down at the goal line but couldn’t hold. Just a sloppy first defensive possession to start the half. Needed one of those “do your job” speeches from BB because the entire defense was out of sync.

Drive #6: 13 plays, 67 yards. Field Goal

Another 12 yard running play to the defensive right. Pats not adjusting to this makes you think they wanted the Steelers to run. One adjustment though here comes moving Siliga to 0-tech NT, Sheard and Chandler playing DT. This allows Siliga to control the A gaps and puts reinforcements on the B/C gaps. Wheaton’s 26-yarder was good coverage but no pressure from the three-man rush. Despite being so ugly, getting the red zone stop here was a highlight of the game after Chung’s PI set the Steelers up 1st-and-goal fro the 1. First down – McCourty/Collins recover from play action to break up pass. Second down – Siliga with a nice slide move around his block. Third down – shift forces false start. Third down again – draw snuffed out by Sheard.

Drive #7: 3 plays, 7 yards. Punt

The goalline stop must’ve helped spark this possession because they looked a little better here, playing within the defense. A shift to Cove2 Off man was a bit of a twist here, as the Pats backed off the crossing routes underneath and it helped them force two incompletions.

Drive #8: 2 plays, 18 yards. Interception

Simple corner route to Wheaton was a good start on this drive with the Pats again going Cover-2 Off Man. Harmon was the deep safety on his interception play but was running for the route at the snap. Great break on the ball that looked to be a little underthrown. Fletcher had great technique to totally cover this pass as well.

Drive #9: 12 plays, 70 yards. Touchdown

Patriots only rushing three guys here and it wasn’t very effective, but the two deep safeties only allowed passes underneath so they were okay. Sheard finally gets a sack coming off the edge. Classic Patriots last drive, good thing they were up by two scores. The effectiveness was in draining the clock.