Final Score: Patriots 28-21 Steelers.
The Steelers can’t get the onside kick (and wouldn’t have had time for a possession even if they had) and the first real game of the season is in the books. The NFL is officially back. We can focus on actual football again.
Until the next Patriots scandal.
Thanks for following the liveblog. See you again soon.
Touchdown, Steelers! Patriots 28-21 Steelers
Roethlisberger threads the ball into Brown. And with 2 seconds left ... the Steelers cover the spread.
Ouch, gamblers. Ouch.
You had a worse night than the Pittsburgh secondary.
Patriots 28-14 Steelers. 0:27 left in 4th.
Steelers have 3rd and 9 and midfield. This is the part of the game where if a starter gets hurt, the coach gets crucified for keeping them in there.
Updated
Patriots 28-14 Steelers. 2:00 left in the 4th.
Steelers have the ball at their own 46. They have a slim chance of winning the game. But a touchdown and the conversion covers the spread.
Updated
— Alex Navarro (@alex_navarro) September 11, 2015
Roethlisberger intercepted.
New England picks it off at their own 5-yard line on a deep ball to Heyward-Bey. Even if Heyward-Bey had caught it, he probably would have forgotten to keep his feet in.
Patriots 28-14 Steelers. 7:46 left in the 4th.
Patriots go three-and-out. Steelers still have a shot. It’s raining hard now, though, so that makes it tougher. The toughest part remains the fact that they’re down 14 with just 7 minutes left.
Updated
Patriots fans at Gillette Stadium have startd up a “Where is Roger?!” chant.
Goodell is so dumb, he’ll probably tell them where he is. “Here I am! Want to hang out and be friends?” [gets hit with a brick]
Patriots 28-14 Steelers. 8:29 left in 4th.
Steelers go three-and-out. That kind of does it. What do you guys want to talk about now? Are you watching the US Open?
UPDATE: Brady is 20 of 22 for 242 yards and four touchdowns on 4 scoring drives.
— Mark Kaboly (@MarkKaboly_Trib) September 11, 2015
Shower Curtain Defense? Lacy Drape Defense?
Re-touchdown! ... to Gronk, of course.
On 3rd and goal, Brady throws it to Gronkowski for his third of the night and Brady’s fourth.
Touchdown reversed! Still 21-14.
Video showed Gronkowski was not in the end zone on his fumble recovery.
THE PATRIOTS GET NOT BREAKS!
Here’s the Steeler D deciding earlier in the drive that Gronk was not worth covering:
Sorry ‘bout your ankles! pic.twitter.com/Ph9Pn1i7L9
— Pete Blackburn (@PeteBlackburn) September 11, 2015
Touchdown, Gronk! Patriots 28-14 Steelers.
Dion Lewis fumbled at the goal line, but Gronk fell on it for a touchdown.
It’s good to see the Patriots finally get some breaks.
Patriots 21-14 Steelers. 11:00 left in the game.
After the Patriots left Gronk wide open again for a long gain -- interesting approach! -- Brady’s completions streak ends at 19 on an overthrown to Edelman.
For those who care about such things ... the over/under for this game was 52 points. With just 11:34 left and the score 21-14, the under looks pretty safe.
New England was 7.5-point favorites, so that’s the one to watch.
Also, if you gamble, why are you gambling on Week 1 action?
Field goal, Steelers. Patriots 21-14 Steelers. 11:38 left in 4th.
The Steelers drive died at the goal line, but there’s good news: Scobee is .500 now!
Patriots 21-11 Steelers. 13:25 left in the 4th.
Steelers set up at the goal line after pass interference by Patrick Chung in the end zone on Heath Miller.
End of the 3rd Quarter: Patriots 21-11 Steelers
Steelers have 1st and goal at the New England 8-yard line. We are just one quarter away from having to face more than 48 hours without NFL games!
Patriots 21-11 Steelers. 1:20 left in the 3rd.
On 3rd and 6, Steelers convert to Antonio Brown to get the ball to the New England 44. Brown and DeAngelo Williams both have well over 100 yards, Pittsburgh has 0 turnovers ... yet just 11 points.
Updated
Patriots 21-11 Steelers. 4:29 left in the 3rd.
Patriots drive stalls after Brady gets drilled on a sack by Will Allen. Somewhere, probably somewhere awful, Roger Goodell smiles.
Pittsburgh’s ball after the punt.
Updated
Roethlisberger was limping a little bit after the 2-point play. His streak of limping a little bit at one point now extends to every game of his career.
Patriots 21-11 Steelers. 6:43 left in the 3rd.
The Steelers convert the 2-point conversion. And we’ve got a game. Well, we’ve had a game the whole time. But now it’s a somewhat better game.
Touchdown, Steelers. Will Johnson on a 1-yard run.
It’s now 21-9 with 6:43 ... and the Steelers are going for 2!
Steelers at the goalline. They should totally run Marshawn Lynch.
Patriots 21-3 Steelers. 9:58 left in 3rd.
Steelers quickly deep into New England territory on a long run by Williams and a long pass to Brown. Let’s see if they kill the drive with a trick play.
Updated
Tom Brady: 19-21, 199 YDS, 3 TD.
Just imagine if he wasn’t rusty from those two days he had to sit in court for a couple hours.
Patriots 21-3 Steelers. 10:37 left in 3rd.
Scott Chandler with a TD reception. The Patriots are so bored by Pittsburgh’s defense that they’re letting non-Gronks score now.
Patriots 14-3 Steelers. 10:40 left in the 3rd. New England down to the goalline after a pass interference penalty in the end zone on [interchangeable awful Steelers DB].
Patriots Patriots 14-3 Steelers. 12:50 left in the 3rd. Patriots across midfield. Brady now has 15 consecutive completions. The Steelers D has a much longer streak of missed assignments.
Patriots 14-3 Steelers. 14:40 left in the 3rd.
First play of the half is very much like New England’s plays in the first half: easy 1st down to Julian Edelman.
Roethlisberger averaging nearly 10 yards per attempt and Steelers have 3 points. That's hard to do.
— Jason Lisk (@JasonLisk) September 11, 2015
Big assists by Todd Haley’s trick play and Josh Scobee’s trick leg.
The thing I like about NFL halftime is that all of the commercials make it feel very much like game action.
They're really pushing this Tom Brady is "playing well because he's mad" narrative. Or maybe he's just good.
— Ethan J. Skolnick (@EthanJSkolnick) September 11, 2015
Halftime: Patriots 14-3 Steelers.
Had Scobee not Scobee’d his first two kicks, 14-9 feels like a competitive game. But New England gets the ball to start the half, and based off of their last two drives, this game could get to blowout territory very quickly.
Patriots 14-3 Steelers. 0:03 left in the half
Scobee made one! Career saved.
Patriots 14-0 Steelers. 0:08 left in the half.
Here comes Scobee for a 44-yard field goal / his entire career.
Spoke to soon ... Heyward-Bey just blew a TD pass by standing with part of his foot out of bounds.
Patriots 14-0 Steelers. 0:43 left in the half.
Steelers convert on a pass to Heyward-Bey, who is apparently a contributing NFL player now.
Patriots 14-0 Steelers. 0:47 left in the half.
Steelers are going for it on 4th and 3 from the New England 35. Patriots have called timeout. Apparently they didn’t steal Pittsburgh’s 4th down plays and have to scramble.
Congratulations, but ... this is a made up “record.”
This is now the 33rd consecutive game with 5 receptions and 50 receiving yards for @AntonioBrown84, extending his NFL record.
— #HereWeGo (@steelers) September 11, 2015
Patriots 14-0 Steelers. 2:00 left in the half. Steelers pick up a 1st down near midfield on a long pass down the sideline to Antonio Brown. Brown now has 5 catches. Gronk has 2 TDs. The good players of last year are still really good.
Stay tuned for more analysis.
In case anyone is wondering, there have been commercials for the last 6 minutes. Welcome back, football!
The 1988 Steelers defense was the worst in team history, giving up 421 points (26 ppg). I’m fairly certain several of the ‘88 Steelers players would be immediate improvements to what Pittsburgh has going on in its secondary.
Patriots 14-0 Steelers. Another Gronk TD.
4:37 left in the half. Brady through it up in the middle of the end zone and guess who caught it? Yes. His giant tight end.
Patriots 7-0 Steelers. 6:00 left in the 1st. The Patriots are now down to the Pittsburgh 10. Brady is 13-for-15. The Steeler D is getting shredded too fast to liveblog.
Scobee missed again.
Patriots 7-0 Steelers. 8:38 left in the 1st. Scobee is now 0-for-2 as a Steelers. Shaun Suisham is better without an ACL.
Patriots 7-0 Steelers. 10:00 left in the 1st. Steelers convert on 3rd down on a 44-yard pass to Darrius Heyward-Bey. I feel comfortable calling that the biggest play of Heyward-Bey’s career.
When u check twitter and people are saying you cheated pic.twitter.com/7akgx4ubI5
— Kenny Ducey (@KennyDucey) September 11, 2015
Patriots 7-0 Steelers. 11:11 left in the half.
The Steelers get the ball at the 20 after a touchback on the kickoff. They should be rested after the long Patriots drive and approximately 38 TV commercials.
Patriots 7-0 Steelers. Touchdown to Gronkowski.
13 plays, 90 yards, 7:03 elapsed. Brady hits Gronkowski on back-to-back passes to give the Patriots the first touchdown of 2015. It looked so easy, they had to be cheating, no?
Steelers 0-0 Patriots. 12:45 left in the 1st. Patriots convert on 3rd down to get to midfield. Tom Brady is 7-for-9 for 71 yards so far. If he’s rusty, his rust is better than most at 100%.
At the end of the 1st quarter ... Steelers 0, Patriots 0.
So far the most exciting part of the first game of the season has been ... the Steelers’ headsets not working. But that’s actually a continuation of the offseason’s biggest story.
Steelers 0, Patriots 0. 1:09 left in 1st. The Patriots are at their own 10 after another Nate Solder penalty. I hope you didn’t bet the over.
Al Michaels doesn’t seem to care that Microsoft paid the NFL 70 gazillion dollars to get Surfaces on the sidelines.
@sportspickle pic.twitter.com/13nEwoK1ty
— Bridgewater's Gloves (@QBBridgewater) September 11, 2015
Steelers will punt with 3:30 left after failing to convert on 3rd and 18. They completed a pass to Heath Miller for 17 yards. I’m no coach, but they should have completed it for 18 yards. (Or more!)
Updated
NBC just reported that the Steeler coaches are getting the Patriots radio broadcast in their headphones.
Thankfully, the Patriots have never been accused of doing this sort of thing on purpose, so nothing to see here!
Antonio Brown just bad an amazing catch kind of through Malcolm Butler’s body to pick up a Steeler 1st down at the 20. It looked like a video game glitch where two guys occupied the same space. Just over 5 minutes left in the 1st.
As a play caller...if it works, you're a genius, it it doesn't, you're the village idiot. Very fine line.
— Brian Billick (@CoachBillick) September 11, 2015
The former Ravens coach on Todd Haley’s trick play call.
Billick famously hinged his career on Kyle Boller. That was not a fine line. That was nowhere near genius.
8:10 left in the 1st. Patriots will punt after Brady misfires twice and then gets sacked. Time for Garoppolo?
The Patriots quickly solved their 1st and 25 on back-to-back completions. The Pittsburgh secondary is looking very much as expected so far.
Patriots pick up a 1st down on their first play on a pass to Julian Edelman ... but it’s nullified by a personal foul on Nate Solder. An asterisk on the play, so to speak.
Josh Scobee misses 44-yard field goal attempt. Score 0-0.
Have to feel bad for Scobee. He played his whole career with the Jaguars before this. He hasn’t kicked many field goals that have meant anything.
Steelers pick up 10 yards on 3rd and 22 on a pass to Heath Miller. Josh Scobee will attempt his first Steelers field goal.
With 10:43 left in the 1st, the Steelers are facing 3rd and 22 and the New England 36. A Patriots player is down and injured.
The first on-the-field injury marks the true beginning of the NFL season. @DJGalloEtc
— Hunter Felt (@HunterFelt) September 11, 2015
The Steelers attempted a trick play, throwing the ball back to Antonio Brown and giving him a chance to pass, but he got sacked for 8 yards. Odd choice when they were doing whatever they wanted on traditional plays.
12 minutes left in the 1st quarter. Steelers picking up big chunks of yardage on ever play and are down to the New England 24. Is Steeler offensive coordinator Todd Haley the greatest coaching genius in this game?
DeAngelo Williams, Pittsburgh’s starting RB with Bell out, goes 18 yards on the first play from scrimmage.
The Patriots clearly don’t know Pittsburgh’s plays. Vindicated!
The game is underway!
New England’s kick ends in a touchback. Anticlimactic, sure. But still better than the offseason. Pittsburgh’s ball at the 20.
Michele Tafoya: “Both these teams are without their star running backs tonight.”
Le’Veon Bell and LeGarrett Blount are not remotely on the same level. Tafoya must be as high as they were.
Roger Goodell loves fining James Harrison. But if Harrison snaps Tom Brady in half tonight on a sack, Goodell might give him a huge bonus.
Al Michaels just called the Steelers “a regal franchise.” Is regal greater than ELITE?
Just in case the rest of the country didn't hate the Patriots enough, they had to bring on Dropkick Murphys. @DJGalloEtc
— Hunter Felt (@HunterFelt) September 11, 2015
Sometimes it feels like Boston residents want to be exactly like Boston stereotypes.
Everyone is rooting for the underdog Pittsburgh Steelers, who have one of the NFL’s most explosive offenses and the most Super Bowl titles in football history. We believe in you!
NBC just interviewed Rob Gronkowski, and he successfully made words for three minutes. Even if the Steelers win, that’s the upset of the night.
Hopefully the Steelers were smart enough to leave a fake play sheet laying in their locker room for the Patriots to steal.
1st Play: Kneel down
2nd Play: Kneel down
3rd Play: Kneel down
4th Play: Punt
A question from a reader ...
@DJGalloEtc My email to djgallo@theguardian.com bounced, do you know why?
— Estesark (@Estesark) September 11, 2015
The e-mail listed at the top of the liveblog is incorrect. My e-mail is actually dj.gallo.casual@theguardian.com. Really.
I’m not sure why. I guess I was really laid back in my interview.
If you saw NBC’s pregame show, this was not a paid advertisement for Legos. It was an interview with Steelers star receiver Antonio Brown.
Antonio Brown's hair looks like an architectural masterpiece: pic.twitter.com/MXRpo0HCeL
— Jeff Darlington (@JeffDarlington) September 10, 2015
Tom Brady is playing. Here are some ames who you will not see tonight:
- Le’Veon Bell
- Martavis Bryant
- Jimmy Garoppolo
- The Deflator, the Patriots equipment man who has bravely been battling weight gain
Who else? Oh, right ... Roger Goodell.
We are about to witness the first regular season game in NFL history with the new rules about checking football inflation. How exciting!
Welcome to another season of NFL football! I hope everyone is dressed in their finest attire to kick-off the 2015 season.
Who told Ben Roethlisberger this was okay? pic.twitter.com/vhcIpt5bGn
— Wes Kemp (@WesleyAKemp) September 10, 2015
DJ will be here shortly. In the meantime, here are his thoughts on the Pats’ chances this season:
What hath the Patriots wrought?
I’m not exactly sure what that question even means or implies, but it feels appropriately weighty in the wake of an offseason of tumult, discord, Ideal Gas Law and lessons in sports morality foisted on us by Roger Goodell, the New England Patriots, Tom Brady and their equipment men – one of whom, in a bizarre but completely innocent coincidence, is nicknamed “The Deflator.” (Good luck in your weight loss battle, The Deflator! America is pulling for you!)
Now that the entire ordeal is over – save for Roger Goodell’s appeal of Judge Berman’s ruling and any upcoming ESPN Outside the Lines reports linking the Patriots to more cheating or international espionage – the only question we can ask is: “What impact will it have on the field in 2015?”
And the answer is: Absolutely none.
And if Brady had been suspended four games? Absolutely none.
And if the suspension had been reduced to one or two games? None. Still none.
The New England Patriots that take the field Thursday night against the Steelers are essentially the same team that won the Super Bowl, save the loss of Darrelle Revis and Vince Wilfork. The Patriots were 2.5-point favorites in Vegas before Brady’s suspension was nullified. This team wasn’t going to collapse even without their phone-destroying hero. At worst, they would have gotten off to a 2-2 start, 1-3 if Jimmy Garoppolo really struggled. That would have been easily overcome in a division the Patriots have won with ease for a generation.
As much as everyone wants to see the Patriots fail, they’re hated even more because we all know deep inside that the Deflategate drama only helps them. They only grow stronger from this. There will be no Super Bowl hangover. They will be out to prove they are legit to the “haters” and the “doubters”. The Patriots will get to use their “us against the world” thing. They’ll play the disrespect card. Tom Brady will want to throw the ball farther and Gronk will want to spike it harder.
At the risk of becoming the millionth sportswriter to quote a line from The Wire, Omar Little said it best: “You come at the king, you best not miss.” Roger Goodell, in his unmatched incompetence, missed. Badly. He missed so bad his shot ricocheted off the courthouse wall and hit him square in his stupid face.
The New England Patriots are reigning Super Bowl champions. And there’s zero reason to think they can’t do it again this year. Everything is terrible.
