Patriots Talk: Tom Brady Told Officials Were Calling Holds “Tighter” As New England Loses  Back-to-Back Games In The Month Of December

On Sunday the New England Patriots fell to the Pittsburgh Steelers on an afternoon that saw the New England offense get tagged for 13 penalty calls by the officiating crew.

As for why that number was so high it appears the officiating crew came into the game with the goal of calling a “tighter” game and that was confirmed in QB Tom Brady’s postgame press conference.

According to Brady he was told by a referee who “said they are trying to call those tighter”. But ultimately for the most part offensive holding is almost a judgement call by the referee unless they see something blatant and as Brady puts it, “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’re calling them tight. I haven’t seen them. What do you guys think? Hard to tell? That’s how I felt.”.

Clearly something that affected the outcome of the game but that being said the Patriots had a chance to tie the game at the very end and the offense let the defense down. But it appears that this New England Patriots team really isn’t that good.

Right now the Patriots have lost back-to-back games in the month of December, something that is a relative unknown in the Bill Belichick era.

“You know, we are in a tough spot obviously. We put ourselves in a tough spot, but at the same time, we haven’t lost our belief in each other and we still have a lot to play for. There’s really no time for us to feel sorry for ourselves. We need to figure it out and keep competing and keep trying to improve.” Said Tight End Rob Gronkowski.

New England has 5 losses for the first time since the 2009 Matt Cassel led Patriots team that went 11-5. As for what is next for New England, well they are “Getting ready for Buffalo this week” said Head Coach Bill Belichick.

New England Patriots Playing A Must Win Game Against The Pittsburgh Steelers On Sunday

On Sunday the New England Patriots look to get things back on track after a disappointing loss last week in Miami. But for the Patriots getting back on track won’t be that easy, the team is set to take on a Pittsburg Steelers team that despite being rather lackluster, still has Ben Roethlisberger and a solid supporting cast backing him up.

The coaching staff in New England is fully aware of what the Steelers offense is capable of.

“Yeah, it’s very, very dangerous. Yeah, they do a great job. They do a great job of passing the ball, protecting the quarterback and getting the ball to all of their multiple receivers with, I would say, very good variety of schemes. They get it to them different ways, so not only do they get everybody the ball, but they make you cover them vertically on catch-and-run plays, tear screens and things like that. They just do a good job. They’re very well-coached. They’ve got a great guy pulling the trigger and they have great players. They’re extremely talented and they’re a very explosive offense team as we know by the amount of production that they have.” Said Bill Belichick on Tuesday. 

But Pittsburgh is a well rounded team though and has been for a long time. Their defense is almost as good as their offense with players like T.J. Watt rushing the passer with Belichick calling their defense  a “disruptive team” and went on to say.” They have a real good scheme, a lot of pressures so a lot of fumbles and strip sacks. They pursue very well so they get plays from behind where they knock the ball out and they’ve used multiple coverages so man, zone, blitz zone, some blitz man, different combinations of split and post-safety coverages. It’s easy for the offense to make a mistake and stop when they should keep going, go when they should throttle down, convert when they shouldn’t convert, not convert when they should convert based on the rotation or the corner and safety alignments. If you make a mistake then you just throw it right to them. They’re very multiple on defense and probably one of the most multiple teams we’ve seen all year. It’s going to, again, take good team execution offensively up front from our skill players and just everybody working together to do a good job in all of those areas.”

New England takes on Pittsburgh on Sunday at 4:25 pm with the Patriots heading into the game at a 9-4 record and the Steelers holding a 7-5-1. Pittsburgh has had a rough go of things in 2018 much like the Patriots with their main issue being the inconsistency in play from Roethlisberger who has seemingly turned the ball over at the worst times for the Steelers.

In addition Mike Tomlin’s team has seen multiple tight losses and a tie against the Cleveland Browns so it is safe to say despite their record the Steelers are still a very good football team presenting a very difficult matchup for a New England team coming on the heels of losing to Miami.

Certainly going to be a tough week considering it is on the road, a loss here could really put the Patriots in a tough spot that may be insurmountable heading into the final weeks of the NFL season.

Patriots Talk: Head Coach Bill Belichick Takes Full Ownership Of Team’s Executional Failures In Loss Against Miami

The New England Patriots fell to the Miami Dolphins with Miami running a play that is now dubbed “Miami Miracle” at the end of Sundays game to defeat the New England Patriots in walk-off fashion.

As a whole the game was a brutal disappointment and one that is clearly not sitting well with the coaching staff or the players. The question many fans and talking heads are asking is who is to blame for the Patriots loss to Miami? And while many will speculate the answer but if you ask Head Coach Bill Belichick, it is his fault that the Patriots couldn’t find a way to beat Miami in certain situations on Sunday.

“We have to do a better job of that. It starts with me. We’ve got to play better situational football. We’ll work to try to achieve that.” said Belichick on Monday.

Belichick didn’t stop there though in shouldering the blame, when asked if situational football is a combination of personnel or if the personnel out there just needs to execute better the coach deflected the blame away from his players and once again took ownership for Sunday’s failures.

“Well, first of all, it’s understanding the situation. That’s the number one thing, and then what specifically you would call in that situation. That could have a lot of variability depending on what, as you said, personnel they have in the game and various other factors. Understanding what are the critical parts of each situation and then applying the specific call that’s made to that. It’s a combination of a lot of things. As I said, I’ve got to do a better job with it.” Said Belichick.

Definitely a tough loss to bounce back from but if anyone can do it it’s Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots. It is always nice to see a humanized Belichick who ultimately is still just a mortal coach. That being said the Patriots will have a tough time battling back as they are now in the 3rd spot in the conference and only a few games to go.