PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – Notes from the Steelers loss to New England from the first-half defense to the penalty on Christian Kuntz. Plus a little jab from former Steelers receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster.
1st half D
New England quarterback Bailey Zappe threw for a season-high 196 yards in the first half and a career-high three touchdowns, again just in the first half. Pats jumped out to a 21-3 lead, didn’t score again, but didn’t have to.
“You know, they did a nice job early on in the game,” said Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin. “We got out-leveraged some, so you got to give them credit.”
Rookie corner Joey Porter, Junior said it a bit differently.
“We have to stop BS-ing,” Porter, Junior said. “That’s all that was. That’s all the adjustments we had from the first half to the second. I think that showed.”
“Guys doing their job, everybody can’t make a splash play. If we just stay, doing our job, we will be fine.”
“I thought in the second half we really settled down,” said Steelers defensive captain Cam Heyward. “You can see we didn’t give up any points. Man, you really can’t give up 21 points early on and ask your offense to just continue to just keep climbing.”
“We didn’t answer the call.”
Patriots ended up with 303 total yards, 219 of those in the first half.
Kuntz penalty
It appeared the Steelers were going to get another chance after an incompletion on third and three with 5:06 left in the game, the Steelers lined up to go for it. They got Brenden Schooler to jump offsides, as he dejectedly walked towards the Patriots bench, the call came in that it was a false start on long-snapper Christian Kuntz.
“I thought it was a first down for us,” Kuntz said. “I looked up and I thought it was a first down for us.”
“No abrupt movement is the rule, they must have thought I moved my head abruptly. I saw the big board. I don’t think I moved my head until they jumped offsides.”
Mike Tomlin said he got an explanation of the penalty by the official, but didn’t like it.
JuJu jab
Receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster didn’t score, but was the game’s leading receiver in terms of yardage. The Steelers 2017 second-round pick had four catches for 90 yards.
“It means a lot, honestly, started my career here,” Smith-Schuster said of the win Thursday. “Coming back here and getting a ‘W’, love being on this side of the ball.”
Smith-Schuster said he still has more Steelers jerseys than Patriots and he has so much love for the fans. He called it a great organization and praised what Art Rooney has done.
Up Next
The first of two consecutive 4:30p Saturday starts, December 16 at Indianapolis.