Gold Stars, Penalty Flags: Brady, Gronk, Edelman Shine But Run Defense Struggles
FOXBORO (CBS) – Well folks, it is that time of the year.
After the longest offseason ever, the Pats hit the field on opening night. Banner night was a complete success. The first win is in the books and here are your gold stars and penalty flags.
The Gold Stars
- The collective group of Tom Brady, Rob Gronkowski and Julian Edelman, gets a gold star. It's good to be able to count on players and these three picked up right where they left off with 288 yards and 4 touchdowns for Brady. At one point he completed 19 straight passes. After his offseason, that was just what everybody needed to see. Three touchdown receptions for Gronk. He was simply a man amongst boys out there. The Steelers said they could slow him down and they were obviously wrong. Julian Edelman remained the constant, racking up 11 catches for 97 yards. He simply moves the chains.
- Dion Lewis and David Andrews get gold stars. Both new to the team and both made impacts. Lewis handled the running back duties and finished with 120 all-purpose yards. He ran the ball tough through the tackles and caught the ball out of the backfield. The Pats have an answer for replacing Shane Vereen. Lewis and LeGarette Blount will make a very good duo. David Andrews stepped in and played center. He just got to the team and here on opening night, he didn't blink an eye. The exchange between he and Brady was smooth and he did his job on blocks.
- The fans get gold stars. The atmosphere was electric and banner night was an awesome experience. The 66,000-plus on hand chanted "Brady," chanted "where is Roger?" and made the whole evening fun. The players said afterwards that it felt like they were in a playoff game. Let's hope that stays that way throughout the season.
The Penalty Flags
- The Pats run defense gets a penalty flag. I wasn't sure what the Pats were doing with their defensive sets. It looked like they were in nickel most of the game. DeAngelo Williams looked unstoppable at points and gashed through the line easily at times. The final tally, 25 carries for the Steelers for 134 yards. The 5.4 yards per carry was just a little too much.
- Nate Solder gets a penalty flag. The Pats had seven penalties in the game and Solder had 2 of them. One was a personal foul. I know the defender got after him a bit but Nate is better than that. He just wasn't against the Steelers.
- The NFL and the headset people get a penalty flag. The one thing the Pats didn't need on opening night was a conspiracy and it happened right out of the gate. I understand rain and all the pomp and circumstance can mess with the WiFi communication. But for the Pats, it just added to how people outside of New England feel about them. It was solid that the NFL immediately came out and said that this had nothing to do with the team but everybody always reads the headline and never the solution.
Follow Levan Reid on Twitter @LevanReid.
