The common theme with week ones is some teams have things in place and are ready to go, while others have new parts and are learning to work together. The result is often a mismatch that looks great on paper but not so impressive on the field.
The New England Patriots have been the former for years, and it shows in their overall record. Love ‘em of hate ‘em, they’re the best run team in the league. The Pittsburgh Steelers have long been in the former category as well, but they have several new parts that are still trying to figure out how to work together.
Here are the six takeaways from week one’s New England Patriots and Pittsburgh Steelers’ game.
In no particular order:
- The Patriots hit the ground running. Their offense was expected to be a work in progress until around Thanksgiving or so. Expectations were a little off, but for good reason.
- The Patriots’ defense is as good as ever. It was mentioned how Tom Brady thought their offense was in horrible shape because when they practiced against their defense, they were completely shut down. It was something the Steelers’ offense found out the hard way.
- Pittsburgh has the right idea on defense. The change in defensive concepts is never easy, especially when implementing a man-to-man coverage system instead of a zone that has been used for years. It’ll take some time, but Pittsburgh will recover and remain one of the better defenses in the league.
- The Steelers’ offense is a continuing work in progress. With young receivers in new positions, it’s going to take some time for them to settle in, much like the defense. Despite the shellacking they suffered against the Patriots, we can’t discount any team with Big Ben at quarterback.
- Antonio Brown is expected to be a perfect fit. Concluding the Antonio brown saga for the moment, it ‘s believed he’ll fit in perfectly and give the team another Julian Edelman. If those beliefs are correct, it could be a long season for Patriots’ opponents.
- Juju Smith-Schuster is an awesome name. According to Al Michaels, his father’s name was Smith and his step-father’s was Schuster, and he wanted to honor both of them. Pretty awesome and a fun side story to come out of the game.
