Patriots Team Grades: Tom Brady, Chris Hogan And Strong Defense Lead Pats To Huge Win Over Steelers
By Danny Cox
Last weekend in the divisional round match-up with the Houston Texans, the New England Patriots seemed a bit rusty after an extra week off and there were plenty of obvious problems. A number of NFL experts predicted that those problems could bring about trouble for them in the AFC Championship against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Fortunately, this week of practice allowed them to correct those issues and demolish the Steelers, 36-17, to advance to the Super Bowl.
Offense: A
Sure, the running game forces of Dion Lewis and LeGarrette Blount had only 58 yards on 22 carries combined, but the Patriots didn't seem to want to run the ball much. Tom Brady had the hot hand and the coaching staff let him go with it.
Brady threw three touchdowns, including one to Julian Edelman, who had 118 yards on eight receptions. Looking elsewhere, Chris Hogan had a dominating performance with 180 yards on nine receptions while catching the other two touchdowns thrown by the leader of the Patriots.
Danny Amendola had only two receptions. Martellus Bennett had five for 32 yards. So many New England weapons finished the AFC Championship with low stats, but it didn't matter because the Steelers couldn't contain the three hottest players.
Defense: A-
One of the most prolific rushing offenses in the NFL was completely and totally shut down. Le'Veon Bell's groin injury obviously hurt the Steelers, but the Patriots stopped DeAngelo Williams from trying to fill his shoes at all. From there, they turned their focus to Ben Roethlisberger and the passing game.
Big Ben completed 31-of-47 passes for 314 yards with one touchdown and one interception. The Steelers had no choice but to keep passing, but New England's defense was up to it. Antonio Brown didn't even seem to be on the field for most of the game and that is where Eli Rogers came in, but then the Patriots stripped the ball right out of his hands as he was heading for the end zone.
Logan Ryan was the star of the night on defense, as he always seemed to be in the right place and doing the right thing. Every single time the Steelers got some momentum going, Ryan and company would step in and take it away from them.
Special Teams: B
The return game was almost completely nonexistent as there were no punt returns; Dion Lewis had just one kick return for 18 yards.
Stephen Gostkowski hit all three of his field goal attempts with a long of 47 yards while connecting on three of four extra point tries. Ryan Allen had a slow night as he punted only two times, but he can thank the Patriots' proficient offense for that.
Coaching: A
Bill Belichick put together a game plan that seemed almost flawless at times, and there was nothing that needed to be adjusted or corrected. Of course, the New England Patriots would like to have a bit more balance on offense without having to rely on Tom Brady throwing more than 40 times, but it all worked out in the end. The Patriots were able to move down the field as they tormented the Steelers defense.
Up Next
There will be a two-week break before Super Bowl LI and a match-up against the extremely strong Atlanta Falcons. The Pats are going to face off with an offense that has a lot of firepower and numerous weapons that will demand a lot of attention from all points on the field. It's hard to think that this won't be a tough game, but after the way the Pats manhandled the Steelers in the AFC Championship, it's definitely a winnable one for New England. If the Patriots play like this in two weeks, it will be hard for any team to stand in the way of another ring.
