Home Steelers 2022 Season SCB Three-Point Stance: Your Patriots-Steelers Gameday Guide

SCB Three-Point Stance: Your Patriots-Steelers Gameday Guide

by Steeldad
steelcityblitz.com

It’s the home opener in Pittsburgh! Here’s everything you need to know about the New England Patriots and the Pittsburgh Steelers!

What: New England Patriots 0-1 at Pittsburgh Steelers 1-0

Where: Acrisure Stadium, Pittsburgh, PA

When: 1pm ET September 18th, 2022

Weather: 85 degrees and mostly sunny at kickoff.

Wagering Information: Patriots -2.5 O/U 40.5

Last Week: The Patriots lost in Miami 20-7 while the Steelers won in Cincinnati 23-20 in overtime.

TV: CBS Ian Eagle (play-by-play), Charles Davis (analysis), Evan Washburn (field reporter)

TV Coverage in Your Area: For the second straight week the Steelers will get coverage across most of the nation. Here’s 506sports for the exact locations.

Radio: Steelers Nation Radio/WDVE Bill Hillgrove (play-by-play), Craig Wolfley (analysis), Missi Matthews (sideline),
Max Starks (sideline)

ESPN Radio: Chris Carlin (play-by-play), Sal Paolantonio (analysis), TBD (sideline)

Head Official:  Land Clark. Clark is in his third season as a head official and last officiated a Steelers game last season when the Lions came to Pittsburgh and tied the Steelers.

Key Injuries/Game Status (courtesy steelers.com) PIT: None   NEWJoshua Bledsoe, S, Groin – Questionable, Adrian Phillips, DB, Ribs, Questionable, Shaun Wade, S, Ankle, Questionable, Pierre Strong, RB, Shoulder – Questionable, Trent Brown, Ankle – Questionable, Raekwon McMillan, LB, Thumb – Questionable

Injury Notes: Bill Belichick is notorious for stocking his injury report so I expect to see all of these players on Sunday. For the Steelers, it’s a second straight week of “no injuries” but this of course does not include T.J. Watt is now on the Injured Reserve list. Keep an eye also on Najee Harris. He is not 100% at all.

2022 NFL Ranks:

Total Offense: PIT 12th  NEW 30th  Passing Offense: PIT 24th NEW 23rd Rushing Offense: PIT 26th   NEW 22nd

Total Defense: PIT 13th NEW 15th  Passing Defense: PIT 28th NEW 20th  Rushing Defense: PIT 23rd NEW 5th

AFC North Rankings: Baltimore 1-0,  Cleveland 1-0, Pittsburgh 1-0 , Cincinnati 0-1

This Week in the AFC North:  Miami at Baltimore 1pmET, NY Jets at Cleveland 1pmET, Cincinnati at Dallas 425pm ET

What You Need to Know: The Steelers have never hosted the Patriots for their home opener… T.J. Watt is the first player since 1982 to record 70 sacks and five interceptions in his first six seasons… Pittsburgh is 16-5 all-time in home openers at Heinz Field/Acrisure Stadium… Bill Belichick hasn’t started 0-2 since his second season at New England.

New England Patriots Names to Know: QB Mac Jones, RB Damien Harris, S Devin McCourty, OT Isaiah Wynn, DB Kyle Dugger, LB Matthew Judon, WR Jakobi Meyers, WR Tyquan Thornton

What’s at Stake: The Patriots desperately need a victory. If they fall two games behind Buffalo that could spell trouble even this early in the season. The Steelers hope to avoid a repeat of last year where they won on the road in week one and then returned home and played miserably in the home opener.

All-Time Series: Patriots lead 17-16. Steelers lead all-time in Pittsburgh 12-10

Postseason History: Patriots lead 4-1

Steelers Game Highs vs NEW:  PASSING Ben Roethlisberger 400 yards 11/2013, RUSHING Jaylen Samuels 142 yards 12/2018, RECEIVING Mike Wallace 136 yards 11/2010, SACKS Joey Porter 3 10/2014, INTERCEPTIONS Gary Jones 2 12/1993

Last Meeting: September 2019 in New England. Patriots 33 Steelers 3

Check out the latest Steel City Blitz Steelers Podcast for more on the Steelers.

Three Things We Need to See for a Steelers’ Victory:

1. Offense. I don’t need any kind of fancy one-liner to open my keys to this game. The Pittsburgh Steelers’ offense has to show up on Sunday. There has to be a running game and if that means more jet sweeps then so be it. The pass protection last week was not as bad as many expected but this is not time to rest on the their laurels. The O-line has to stay on blocks and get to the second level. That’s been a huge problem for several years now. Mitchell Trubisky has to be more accurate with his deep throws and could we please use the middle of the field?

2. Stop the Run. I suppose I’m being pretty basic today but I guarantee that Bill Belichick will come and try to pound the football. With Mac Jones less than 100% he has to keep him from taking a beating. Even without Watt, I still expect there to be pressure on Jones, especially from up the middle. That said, would it surprise me to see the Pats come out in some four-wide sets in order to spread the Steelers out? No it wouldn’t, but the point remains. Shut down the run Sunday and put the ball in Jones’ hands. I’m confident we can be successful with that arrangement.

3. Stand Pat. You know as well as I do that Belichick likes to take away your best offensive player. That likely means Diontae Johnson will see double teams and constant attention all afternoon. My guy therefore is Pat Freiermuth. We know what he is capable of – we saw it last week in clutch moments – but now he can become an even bigger asset for Trubisky. He needs to work the middle of the field, make guys miss, and move the chains. I can easily see him getting seven or more targets in this game and he has to take advantage.

Prediction: This is not the New England Patriots of old but it’s still Bill Belichick. He will scheme and gameplan like a mad scientist in an effort get his team to 1-1 on the season. Matt Canada has to be better than he was in week one. He is what he is at this point but he must show improvement and the willingness to use the middle of the field. Special Teams was solid last week and we know what the defense is capable of even without Watt. I’ll be very surprised to see much scoring in this one and until I see this offense start to look better I just can’t trust them to keep pressure off the defense.

Patriots 20 Steelers 16

Season Record 0-1

 

You may also like

Leave a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.