FOXBORO \u2014 The Patriots embarrassed Aaron Rodgers in the quarterback\u2019s last game ever in Foxboro, holding the future Hall of Famer to just 187 yards passing.<\/p>\n
Opposing offenses may have a hard time slowing down the Patriots defense\u2019s pass-rush attack this season. The Steelers expected relentless pressure from the New England defense heading into Sunday\u2019s Week 2 battle in Foxboro, and they got it.<\/p>\n
But the preparation didn\u2019t matter, as head coach Mike McCarthy blamed himself for his offense\u2019s lackluster performance in a 20-3 loss at Gillette Stadium.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe put a lot of time and energy into the protection component of how we felt today\u2019s game was going to go,\u201d McCarthy said. \u201cExpected pressure, got pressure. As an offensive coach, I always welcome the opportunity to play against pressure defense. I think it\u2019s clearly an opportunity for big play potential. That was not the case today.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe didn\u2019t answer the bell,\u201d the Steelers\u2019 first-year head coach added.<\/p>\n
New England\u2019s forceful front recorded four sacks and rattled the quarterback into an interception late in the fourth quarter.<\/p>\n
Patriots star cornerback Christian Gonzalez helped shut down the Steelers\u2019 biggest receiving threat in DK Metcalf, as the receiver caught just four of nine targets for 27 yards.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t want to dink and dunk and play all day and play keep-away football,\u201d McCarthy said. \u201cThere\u2019s a place for that maybe situationally, but that\u2019s not the philosophy. We have to attempt to get the ball thrown downfield.\u201d<\/p>\n
The pressure from the Patriots defense came early and often. As the Steelers drove into field goal range at the start of the second quarter, Patriots linebacker Christian Elliss got off the edge unblocked, delivering a massive hit from Rodgers\u2019 blindside. Robert Spillane hit the quarterback from the front, causing a chaotic fumble.<\/p>\n
Instead of being in position to attempt a field goal, the devastating blow pinned Pittsburgh back 36 yards, on the opposite side of the field, forcing a fourth-and-43.<\/p>\n
\u201cI haven\u2019t taken too many of those in my career,\u201d Rodgers said, \u201cbecause usually I have a feeling if we\u2019re picked up or not picked up. That was a lapse in communication, obviously, there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rodgers continued to take the brunt of the Patriots\u2019 unrelenting defense in the second half, especially in the fourth quarter. Trailing 13-3, New England defensive tackle Christian Barmore found a hole in the offensive line, smacking the ball out of the quarterback\u2019s hands, leading to a 19-yard scoop-and-score from edge rusher Elijah Ponder.<\/p>\n
That put a bow on the Patriots\u2019 first home-opening victory in seven years, getting back into the win column after dropping a season-opening dud in Seattle.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FOXBORO \u2014 The Patriots embarrassed Aaron Rodgers in the quarterback\u2019s last game ever in Foxboro, holding the future…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":290624,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[8203,5005,120567,73,75,74,1829],"class_list":["post-290623","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh","tag-mike-mccarthy","tag-patriots","tag-patriots-steelers","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-headlines","tag-pittsburgh-news","tag-steelers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290623","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=290623"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290623\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/290624"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=290623"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=290623"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=290623"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}