WEEK 1 ESSENTIALS: PATRIOTS VS. STEELERS

The Patriots are pretty impressive at home with a 13 game regular season winning streak.  Tom Brady's worst quarterback rating at home against the Mike Tomlin Steelers is 125.2.  Ben Roethlisberger's best quarterback rating in Gillette Stadium is 95.8.  Unless today ends up being a complete outlier in quarterback play, the Patriots should actually put up some offensive numbers tonight.

During camp the Patriots offense looked okay.  At times Brady really struggled with getting completions against the defense.  Once the preseason games rolled around, it became apparent that the Patriots offense was once again going to be quite capable of moving the ball.  The reason they looked out of character in practice wasn't because Brady had a lost a step or was missing some weapons, but because the defense was so formidable.  

In my opinion, the Patriots biggest strength during most of the summer is now what I am most concerned about.  No, I'm not suddenly concerned about the defense.  In August I felt that the Patriots biggest strength was their offensive line.  Obviously without having stud center David Andrews initializing plays, that has now changed.  Although I am confident in the job Ted Karras will do, not having him on the bench ready to step in to other positions on the line should someone get injured does have me concerned.  

If the Patriots are going to run away with tonight's game, which I think they are, they will literally need to run away with it.  The Patriots are a remarkable 51-1 since 2000 when they have a player run for 100 yards.  With that being said, feed Sony Michel the ball.  

Since this is the first game of the season, it's hard to know exactly what the Patriots should be prepared for.  As usual they need to make sure they take down Big Ben when they get the chance.  Always a bend don't break defense, the Patriots need to be a little less gumby than usual.  Last season the Steelers were tops in the NFL with red zone touchdown conversion rate, so keeping them out of the red zone is huge.  Regardless of who Pittsburg has lined up in the backfield, the Patriots need to stuff him in his place.  Last year spot starter Jaylen Samuels had a career day with 142 yards rushing and 30 yards receiving.  While it's not a secret the Patriots usually game plan to stop their opponents top two threats.  This year those threats are running back James Conner and wide receiver Juju Smith-Schuster.  Again, with this being the first game and the fact that the Steelers should anticipate those players being shut down by Belichick, making timely adjustments to keep the Steelers from getting momentum is another key to an opening night victory.

This being the first game of the season, a sloppy game wouldn't shock anyone.  Unlike a lot of teams, the Patriots played a lot of their offensive starters during pre-season game 4.  Being at home with an overall healthy offense and psyched up crowd, the Patriots offense should be firing on all cylinders.  If they can avoid turnovers and the 7, yes 7 pre-snap penalties that they had during last season's meeting in Pittsburg, they should put 30 points with ease.  

Hopefully, rookie punter Jake Bailey has a routine day involving solid holds and very few punts.  If not, Ryan Allen is still available.  After yesterday's big purchase, who knows if we could afford him.