PITTSBURGH — It wasn’t going to work.
It wasn’t going to cut it.
The Patriots entered last night’s game against the Steelers with 13 sacks.
Green Bay’s Clay Matthews — a 3-4 outside linebacker the Patriots passed on in the 2009 draft — has 10 1/2 in eight games.
The Patriots were on pace for 26, which would have been the lowest in a season since Dick MacPherson went 2-14 in his final season as coach in 1992.
That was so long ago Bill Parcells and Pete Carroll had yet to coach the Patriots.
The Patriots weren’t going anywhere without getting more hits on the quarterback, whether Bill Belichick — Mr. Sacks-and-statistics-are-overrated — wanted to acknowledge it publicly.
Privately he did, with the pressure-filled game plan he unveiled to the team Monday after the Patriots didn’t even hit Colt McCoy in the Browns’ dismantling of the Patriots a week ago.
Energized by the new game plan, Belichick’s defense answered the call.
The Patriots had a season-high five sacks as they hurried, harassed, and wreaked havoc on Ben Roethlisberger and the Steelers’ offense in an emphatic 39-26 victory at Heinz Field last night.
“We came in Monday and he had put stuff in,’’ linebacker Jerod Mayo said of Belichick’s game plan. “We were excited to see that we were going to bring some pressure. Hopefully we’ll do that again next week.’’
Oh yes, next week and Mr. Unsackable himself, Colts quarterback Peyton Manning.
He and they can wait.
Roethlisberger completed 17 of 34 for 201 yards and a touchdown when the game was put out of reach at 29-10 with 8:32 left in the fourth quarter, before his final numbers were pumped up in garbage time.
Throw in an interception, which was returned for a game-clinching touchdown by safety James Sanders, and you have one miserable outing for an elite quarterback.
Gee, isn’t it amazing what a pass rush can do for a beleaguered secondary?
Entering last night, the Patriots were 29th in pass defense. They had allowed opposing quarterbacks to complete 70.1 percent of their passes. That’s an absurd statistic. And the quarterbacks who combined to do it were Carson Palmer, Mark Sanchez, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Chad Henne, Joe Flacco, Philip Rivers, a battered Brett Favre, and McCoy. Only Rivers of the Chargers can be considered anywhere near elite.
But against the only quarterback they’ve faced with a Super Bowl ring (two at that), the Patriots were able to control the game.
The reason? Constant and unrelenting pressure.
“[The pass defense] is way better,’’ Mayo said. “I think the pressure really helped a lot.’’
Said outside linebacker Tully Banta-Cain: “There was definitely an emphasis [on pass rush] this week.’’
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