Breaking down the biggest plays in the Patriots' 17-14 win over the Steelers — and some that set up those plays — using analysis of the coaches' film. The plays:
- Mac Jones snuffing out a late Steelers coverage change to take a chance to Nelson Agholor;
- An outside zone run setting up a huge throw/catch from Jones to Jakobi Meyers that flipped field position in the fourth quarter;
- Matthew Judon making a late adjustment to cover for Ja'Whaun Bentley on the final defensive play.
2-10-NE 49 (:51) (Shotgun) M.Jones pass short middle to J.Meyers to PIT 44 for 7 yards (R.Spillane).
3-3-PIT 44 (:30) (No Huddle, Shotgun) M.Jones pass deep right to N.Agholor for 44 yards, TOUCHDOWN.
Meyers dropped the ball on first down, and Matt Patricia calls a good route concept on second down that Jones could have stayed with, but he didn't. Hunter Henry ran a vertical route that cleared out the middle of the field, and Nelson Agholor was cutting into open space. Jones decided to take the checkdown to Meyers instead of waiting on a lower percentage throw. Not a bad decision because a 3rd and short likely put the Steelers into more aggressive man coverage on third down.
On the touchdown play, the Steelers initially show some sort of Cover 2 coverage with two deep safeties. But after the snap, Jones wisely sees the Steelers have rotated into a single high safety look, with a robber in the middle of the field. Jones looks left, which causes the deep safety to sprint to the middle of the field. That leaves basically Agholor alone with a corner on one half of the field. Not a great throw by Jones, but the type of shot play you can take due to down, distance and coverage.
"He's one of those guys that I put in the throw it up to him category," Jones said of Agholor. "And he's going to have to make the play. So if it's one-on-one, I'll give him a shot. Obviously, had time with the offensive line and I think all our receivers can do that, if they're one-on-one, I'm going to give them a chance. Different philosophy, but that's what we need to do."
2-17-NE 32 (13:00) R.Stevenson up the middle to NE 40 for 8 yards (C.Heyward).
3-9-NE 40 (12:20) (Shotgun) M.Jones pass short middle to J.Meyers to PIT 45 for 15 yards (A.Witherspoon).
Probably the best thing the Patriots did on offense in this game — and it was a theme on the final drive — was take advantage of some poor run defense numbers by the Steelers, and Jones plays a huge role on that.
The second down play comes after the David Andrews holding call. Didn't think he held, but Cole Strange did, so I don't have a problem with the call. The penalty put them in trouble, and they needed to get some yards back.
The Patriots ran their first and only true wide zone run on 2nd and 17 thanks to the Steelers only having three defenders to the left of Andrews. The Patriots have three blockers, so that's a win in terms of numbers. Andrews makes the key block on Cam Heyward, and the 8 yards gained were huge.
On third down, I think this was Jones' best throw of the day simply for the fact that he held onto the ball and let the play develop — which he did not always do in this game. It took a long time for Meyers to work his in-cut, and the Steelers have great coverage, but Meyers does a tremendous job fighting through the physical coverage to make a huge catch.
This drive would not result in any points, but it flipped field position in a big way. The way the Steelers were going, that was almost as important.
3-2-PIT 28 (6:47) (Shotgun) M.Trubisky pass incomplete short right to N.Harris (M.Judon).
Patriots get a little exotic with their look with seven players along the line of scrimmage. They end up only rushing four. I think the Steelers were aiming for a rub/wheel route with Najee Harris, but the receiver keeps going on his route.
Ja'Whaun Bentley — not Judon — was supposed to be in coverage against Harris but he was aligned way too far away to make the play. Judon alertly aborts his rush and carries Harris down the field. I've seen Judon make an error on this play before, leading to a big play. This time, he makes the play that ended the game defensively.
"It was a late jump (by the back)," Judon said. "It was kind of muddy over there for the linebackers and so just an instinctive play, ran with it. You kind of just got to play through the man. And I was able to make a play. (Harris is) one of the best players on that team. And so I'm just fortunate that I was able to make a play and be able to play through the hands (of the receiver)."