Patriots defense hopes to put road woes behind them in Pittsburgh

FOXBORO – The dress rehearsal’s here. If there’s a time for the Patriots defense to make a stand, it’s now.

Throughout this 2018 season, the Patriots defense simply has looked at its worst on the road. With one more away game left, the time to walk-the-walk is here with the Pittsburgh Steelers. This matchup represents the last true test before the Patriots take on the fluttering Buffalo Bills and New York Jets inside Gillette Stadium.

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FOXBORO – The dress rehearsal’s here. If there’s a time for the Patriots defense to make a stand, it’s now.

Throughout this 2018 season, the Patriots defense simply has looked at its worst on the road. With one more away game left, the time to walk-the-walk is here with the Pittsburgh Steelers. This matchup represents the last true test before the Patriots take on the fluttering Buffalo Bills and New York Jets inside Gillette Stadium.

Following their miserable performance in Miami, a shutdown effort against a good quarterback and two elite receivers could give the defense a momentum push into the playoffs. Another bad effort on the road, however, could push this team to playing on wildcard weekend.

The Patriots have been consistently inconsistent this season. The time to rise to the occasion and right their wrongs should be now.

“It’s the next game. It’s December. To me, it’s the time of year where you play another team that feels like they have to win,” Devin McCourty said. “We feel like we have to win. It’s going to be a playoff-type atmosphere game. For me, that’s norm. This type of year, that’s what we’re going into.”

All four of the Patriots losses this season have come on the road. Three of those were blowouts - Jacksonville, Detroit and Tennessee. Last week's loss, in Miami, came in embarrassing fashion on a last-second hook and ladder play. In typical Patriots fashion, they say they’re on to Pittsburgh. In order for them to right their road wrongs, it starts with the secondary.

Last weekend, against a banged up Ryan Tannehill, the Patriots allowed three passing touchdowns. It was reminiscent to their first loss of the season in Jacksonville when Blake Bortles threw for 376 yards and four touchdowns. Of course, in Miami, the Patriots were also porous us when it came to stopping the run. This weekend, however, will be all about the secondary.

The Steelers are armed with Ben Roethlisberger at quarterback, but what makes them dangerous is their two stud receivers Antonio Brown and JuJu Smith-Schuster.

“Yeah, you’re not going to get anybody better than these two guys, plus the quarterback,” Bill Belichick said. “They’ve got a lot of other guys, too, but I mean, these two receivers are elite – elite, elite.”

Brown’s been the marquee name for years, but this season Smith-Schuster has left his mark. In his second season, Smith-Schuster leads the Steelers in receptions (91) and receiving yards (1,234). He's also sixth in the NFL in receptions and fourth in receiving yards. Brown is ninth in the NFL in receptions (86) and 12th in receiving yards (1,063). The All-Pro also happens to be tied for the NFL-lead in receiving touchdowns with 12.

The Brown-Smith-Schuster combo is similar in a sense to what the Patriots saw two weeks ago when they took on Minnesota’s Adam Thielen and Stefon Diggs. In that game, however, Diggs was dealing with a knee injury. Still, the Patriots defense was outstanding against the Viking, limiting their offense to 10 points.

“I think we’re prepared on what we have to go against, especially defensively of obviously as talented as it gets,” McCourty said. “Last couple of weeks, we were talking about Diggs and Thielen. Now, Shuster, Brown and you add Ben in there, who’s a whole different animal.”

The problems on the road this season start with the defense. The Patriots unit allowed 30-plus points in three of their four losses. Coming off one of their worst losses of the season, the team now will take on one of the top offenses in the NFL.

The Steelers are fourth in the NFL in points per game (28.2) and fourth in the league in total yards (5,305). The only teams that are scoring more points than the Steelers are the Kansas City Chiefs, New Orleans Saints and Los Angeles Rams – three Super Bowl favorites.

If the Patriots want to show that they’re up there with those front runners, the time to do it is now. 

“We know this is going to be a tough test whether it’s home or away,” McCourty said. “Obviously tougher, we have to go on the road in a place where there’s not going to be any Patriots fans. They’re going to be ready to go.”