The New England Patriots earn their 3^rd win of the season as they narrowly defeat the Pittsburgh Steelers 21-18 on Monday night at Acrisure Stadium.

New England led 21-10 going into halftime but would go silent in the 2^nd half. After a blocked punt attempt, Mitch Trubisky ran for a 1-yard touchdown followed by a successful 2-pt conversion to close the deficit the 3.

Both teams would then trade punts and Pittsburgh would have a chance to take the lead late. After marching for a first down, the Steelers would turn the ball over on downs when a Trubisky deep ball fell incomplete to Diontae Johnson.

The Patriots then chewed most of the clock before punting the ball back to Pittsburgh yet again with less than a minute remaining. With the game on the line and no timeouts left, Trubisky completed a deep pass to Allen Robinson, who was tackled in-bounds to end the game.

With this loss, the Pittsburgh Steelers have lost 3 of their last 4 games, with two of those losses coming against teams with 10 defeats on the season. Pittsburgh now falls to 7-6 and will have to win out the remaining of their schedule to have a chance to make the playoffs.

Zappe Leads Offensive Revival

For the first time this season, the New England Patriots scored a touchdown on their opening drive possession when Bailey Zappe threw an 11-yard touchdown to Ezekiel Elliott. The New England offense would then follow-up this score with two more touchdowns in the 2^nd quarter.

“Bailey did a really good job getting the ball out making some good plays,” said David Andrews. “Thought we did a good job. Just got to clean some things up in some crucial moments [and] try to finish out the game the right way”.

Zappe arguably had his best professional game since being drafted last year. He recorded 240 passing yards on 19-28 passing with 3 touchdowns and 1 interception.

“Just doing what I’m coached to do,” said Bailey Zappe. “Going through my reads. When the first read is open, take it. We have great playmakers One on one with our guys, we’ll take our guys any day”.

With Rhamondre Stevenson, Demario Douglas, and Devante Parker all out for this game, the Patriots received a much-needed boost from many players. Hunter Henry was a force near the red zone catching 3 passes for 40 yards and 2 touchdowns.

“We were able to execute at a higher level than we have been and score some points,” said Hunter Henry. “Starting fast was big, kind of gave us some confidence and we were able to take advantage of some things in the first half”.

Juju Smith-Schuster added 4 receptions for 90 yards and Ezekiel Elliot collected 140 total yards with a receiving touchdown.

Up Next

The New England Patriots return home next week when they take on Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas Chiefs. Meanwhile, the Pittsburgh Steelers will travel to Indianapolis to battle the Colts in hopes to regain an AFC Wild Card spot.