PITTSBURGH – When it came to the Patriots offense on Sunday, the unit was constantly taking one step forward and two steps back in their loss to Pittsburgh.
Out of the season-high 14 penalties, nine of those moved the offense back - false start (five), offensive holding (three) and an illegal formation. The holding and false start calls really hurt the Patriots in their final three drives.
Their final series, which ended in an incompletion, saw the [...]
PITTSBURGH – When it came to the Patriots offense on Sunday, the unit was constantly taking one step forward and two steps back in their loss to Pittsburgh.
Out of the season-high 14 penalties, nine of those moved the offense back - false start (five), offensive holding (three) and an illegal formation. The holding and false start calls really hurt the Patriots in their final three drives.
Their final series, which ended in an incompletion, saw the chains moved backwards twice with a false start and then a holding call right after the Pats got to the 11-yard line. On the series before, it was another holding call that pushed the Patriots back when they got to the 5-yard line.
After the game, Tom Brady said an official told him they were trying to call holding penalties “tighter.”
“The referees said they are trying to call those tighter,” Brady said. “I don’t have the replay of them. So, I don’t know how tight they are. Obviously, there is holding on every play in the NFL. That’s what we do, we hold, it’s just whether you get called or not. If they are calling it, then you just have to do a little bit less of it. that’s how you block, you hold. If they are holding. We are holding. Sometimes they call them, sometimes they don’t. If they are calling them tight, then they are calling them tight.”
Trent Brown was flagged twice for holding and a false start. Marcus Cannon was flagged twice for holding and a false start. Julian Edelman was also called for a false start and an illegal formation.
On the Patriots final three drives, they were flagged for six penalties. They didn’t score a touchdown on any of those drives.
“Some of those were some close calls,” Matthew Slater said. “Some of those were some penalties that we can handle, but we talked about it earlier in the year. We had a game we had a ton of penalties and we got away with it but it caught up with us today.”
When asked how he thought the game was officiated, Edelman said, ““I have no comment on how it was called.”