Patriots Pulse Preview: New England Patriots (10-3) at Pittsburgh Steelers (11-2)

Posted By on December 17, 2017

The game we have all been waiting for is finally upon us. The Patriots and Steelers will duke it out for the top seed in the AFC. Pittsburgh can lock up the top seed in the conference with a win. The Patriots can secure the top seed in the conference with a win today and wins over the Jets and Bills in the final two games of the regular season.

Here are our five keys for the Patriots in this monster match up.

1. Patriots Must Get Off to a Good Start: The Patriots got off to a terrible start last week and it cost them. They cannot afford to get off to a bad start today. They need to get off to a good start and carry the play early. The Patriots will come to play. They have to weather the storm early. 

2. Pressure Big Ben and Get Him Out of the Pocket: The Patriots have to make Roethlisberger uncomfortable and get him out of the pocket. Get him on the run and force him to throw on the run. Roethlisberger isn’t as dangerous out of the pocket as he once was. The Patriots have to collapse A gap and B gap and get him on the move. 

3. Bracket Brown: Make Pittsburgh’s other receivers, running backs and tight ends beat you. Bill Belichick is famous for taking away what you do best. Well, he and Matt Patricia need to find away to slow down Antonio Brown today. 

4. Gap Integrity on Defense: The Patriots front seven must maintain gap integrity. They cannot lose their gaps and allow LeVeon Bell to cut or bounce runs. He is a patient runner who has terrific feet and vision. The Patriots cannot allow Bell to bust big runs on cut backs. 

5. Brady Must Be Great: Tom Brady has not played well the last two weeks. If the Patriots are going to win this game, Brady is going to need to be great. He needs to play at the championship level that we are all accustomed to seeing from him.

Final Thoughts: The Patriots will have their hands full today. Pittsburgh is good and they are tough to beat at home. The Patriots will need to play the perfect game in order to win today. I think it will be a tough task given the injuries on defense. I like Pittsburgh in this one.