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Who were those guys?

After weeks of offensive ineptitude, Bailey Zappe, Bill O’Brien and the Patriots shocked the country on Thursday night, beating Pittsburgh on the road 21-18.

Zappe was 19-28 with 240 yards passing and three first half touchdowns. In his return to Pittsburgh JuJu Smith-Schuster had four catches for 90 yards. Ezekiel Elliott got 22 carries and had 68 yards, he also added seven grabs for 72 yards and a score. As a team, the Pats had 303 yards of total offense to just 264 for the Steelers.

Not only does New England (3-10) pick up its first win since the victory over Buffalo, but they maintain the second overall pick in the draft with Arizona on a bye this week.

On Army-Navy weekend, it all came together for Bill Belichick.

“Tough, disappointing game last week, but they came in and had a really good week of preparation,” Belichick said of his team postgame. “I thought the guys played with a lot of effort, energy and toughness, resiliency. The Steelers are what they are. They battle you. They find a way to hang around and make it tough at the end, which they did.

“But our guys really stepped up and we had a lot of guys really come through with some big plays in the game that we needed. Happy for the team, happy for the coaches. Like I said, it was a short week. Not much sleep this week, but they put a lot into it and it’s very satisfying to see the results we had today.”

Just about all of the game’s scoring came in an entertaining first half, with the over/under hitting in stunning fashion.

The Patriots’ offense started with an unexpected bang, moving 75 yards in eight plays. The march downfield included a 37 yard leaping grab by Smith-Schuster, some smart play calling from Bill O’Brien to get Zappe in rhythm, a 14 yard scramble from Zappe and eventually, a swing to Zeke that turned into an 11 yard TD catch and run for an early 7-0 lead 3:48 in.

Stunningly, it was the first opening drive touchdown for the Patriots this season.

On Pittsburgh’s first drive, J.C. Jackson had a third down interception and lengthy return negated by a pass interference call, putting the Steelers’ offense at the New England 39. Four snaps later, Chris Boswell came on for a 55 yard field goal attempt and buried it.

Hunter Henry had a big 3rd-&-7 catch over the middle taken off the board with a very questionable OPI call on New England’s ensuing drive and a punt soon followed. Pittsburgh answered with a three-and-out of its own. After finding Tyquan Thornton for a nice catch and run the next time out,  Zappe and Smith-Schuster connected again for a 17 yard strike to move the Pats to the Steelers’ 45 before the drive stalled and another punt came with 2:14 left in the first.

On the very first play of the second quarter, Trubisky threw a pick right to Jabrill peppers at the Pittsburgh 45 and he returned it to the 11. Two snaps later, Zappe floated a ball to the back of the end zone that Henry went up and grabbed from eight yards out to make it 14-3, giving himself a nice 29th birthday present in the process.

After trading punts for a bit, Zappe hit JuJu again over the middle for 28 yards down to the Steelers’ 28 after taking over at the New England 41. On the next play, Zappe had his third touchdown pass of the half, a beautiful drop in the bucket to Henry down the left sideline from 24 yards out, giving the Pats a stunning 21-3 lead with 7:38 to go. Pittsburgh got an eight play, 74 yard response and Trubisky found Deontae Johnson from 25 yards out, making it a 21-10 game at the half.

“It’s great to win and it’s a great feeling,” said Zappe. “I think it was a lot different (during the week). I learned some things as far as preparation. There wasn’t lot of physical reps, so a lot of it was me sitting behind a computer screen and just watching plays and just watching games, after games, after games. That’s something I’m going to carry over into the next few weeks and try and grow as far as what I do during the week before games.”

“It was huge, we’ve been wanting a fast start all year,” Henry said of the opening drive. “We’ve had some good first drives in games, they just weren’t finishing in touchdowns. So, starting fast, playing from ahead was huge for us.”

After a fairly uneventful third quarter, Zappe was picked off on a bad throw that was tipped and then intercepted and returned to the New England 13 in the final minute. Ultimately Zeke had a huge hustle play to make a tackle on the return and prevent a touchdown. The quarter ended with Tribusky scrambling and sliding short of the first down marker on 3rd-&-9.

Stunningly down just eight and in chip shot field goal range, the Steelers chose to go for it on 4th-&-2, calling a shovel pass that Mack Wilson snuffed out, forcing a turnover on downs at the Pats’ seven yard line to open the final frame. The offense quickly had to punt and Baringer’s attempted boot was blocked, handing Pittsburgh excellent field position again at the 26.

After a PI call on Jackson in the end zone and then a near interception on a weird tight end pass call from the Steelers, Trubisky eventually dove in for a short TD and an two point conversion made it a three point game at 21-18 with 11:44 remaining.

After trading punts again, Pittsburgh took over at its own 27 with 2:44 remaining. Moments earlier, Pittsburgh was punting on 4th-&-3 when it appeared Jahlani Tavai jumped offside. He, Matt Slater and Brendan Schooler all reacted like it was on New England, but a false start was called, ultimately robbing the Steelers of a first down.

Trubisky moved the Steelers to their own 48 before stalling and facing a 4th-&-2 with 2:01 left. Jonathan Jones covered Johnson perfectly on a wild deep ball, forcing a turnover on downs. After Pittsburgh used its final two timeouts, on 2nd-&-13, Zeke broke off a big run, initially called a first down, but reviewed and marked short by half a yard. Zappe tried the ‘tush push’ on 3rd-&-inches and was stuffed, forcing the Pats to punt with 22 seconds on the clock. Baringer pinned the Steelers at the 13 with only 15 seconds left. Two plays later, the game was officially over.

“This is a great place to play a football game. Coming in here, getting a win against a good football team, definitely feels good. It feels good,” added David Andrews.

Regardless of whether or not the Patriots are 3-10 or 10-3, it’s always nice to make Steelers fans miserable in Pittsburgh.

Now, Belichick, Joe Cardona and the rest of New England can enjoy a few days off and enjoy America’s Game in Foxborough on Saturday before all eyes turn to Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kielce, Taylor Swift(?) and the Chiefs.