Patriots-Steelers Takeaways: Tom Brady, Rob Gronkowski Dominate Deep

New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady didn’t just engineer a game-winning drive Sunday; he also penned a pretty impressive plot twist.

Because the narrative would have been much, much different Sunday night if Brady’s final go-ahead drive didn’t occur and the Patriots didn’t beat the Pittsburgh Steelers 27-24.

We’d be talking about how the Patriots are limping into the playoffs after proving they were the lesser team to the Steelers. We’d be questioning if the Patriots could even win the No. 2 seed over the Jacksonville Jaguars.

But last-minute heroics, rightfully, go a long way toward forgetting about issues the Patriots faced through 57 minutes of their Week 15 win over the Steelers.

Here are this week’s takeaways.

PASSING ATTACK
— Prior to Brady’s fourth-quarter drive, it wasn’t one of his best games of the season. He was 22-of-34 passing for 298 yards with one touchdown and one interception. It was his fourth straight game with an interception. He’s been picked off five times in that stretch.

— Of Brady’s 12 incompletions, two were dropped, one was batted at the line of scrimmage and one came when he was hit while throwing, so he had a 75 percent accuracy percentage. Fullback James Develin had a drop, and tight end Rob Gronkowski had the other.

— Brady was 5-of-7 on throws of 20 yards or more for 148 yards. He was 4-of-4 for 105 yards on deep passes to Gronkowski.

— Gronkowski earned a 99.9 rating from Pro Football Focus. He’s the 14th player since 2006 to earn such a rating. It was well-deserved, despite the drop, as he caught 9-of-13 passes for 168 yards.

RUN GAME
— Dion Lewis forced three missed tackles on 13 rushing attempts for 67 yards. James White and Rex Burkhead didn’t force any missed tackles.

— Lewis got his own touchdown — the go-ahead score — but Burkhead did vulture another TD on four carries for 12 yards. Burkhead left the game with a knee injury. We could see Mike Gillislee on Sunday in a revenge game against his former team, the Buffalo Bills.

PASS PROTECTION
Joe Thuney: one sack, four hurries
Cameron Fleming: one sack, one hurry
Shaq Mason: two QB hits
David Andrews: two hurries

— Thuney has allowed a sack in three straight games. He’s let up four sacks in those three games.

— Offensive tackles Nate Solder and LaAdrian Waddle didn’t give up a single pressure. Waddle only played seven snaps, while Solder was on the field for 100 percent of plays.

— Lewis hasn’t allowed a single pressure all season.

PASS RUSH
Trey Flowers: .5 sack, two QB hits, three hurries
Deatrich Wise: .5 sack, one QB hit, two hurries
Patrick Chung: one QB hit, one hurry
Eric Lee: two hurries
Adam Butler: two hurries
Malcom Brown: two hurries
Lawrence Guy: one sack

— Flowers had one of his most productive games of the season on a per snap basis.

— Lee whiffed on a sack in the fourth quarter.

— The Patriots continued to miss Kyle Van Noy’s presence as a pass rusher.

PASS COVERAGE
Eric Rowe: 4-6, 106 yards, TD, PBU
Stephon Gilmore: 5-7, 76 yards, TD, PBU
Trey Flowers: 3-3, 30 yards
Malcolm Butler: 4-4, 28 yards
David Harris: 1-2, 17 yards
Patrick Chung: 3-4, 15 yards, PBU
Jordan Richards: 1-2, 6 yards
Duron Harmon: 1-2, 3 yards, INT

— Elandon Roberts wasn’t targeted on 17 pass-coverage snaps.

— Devin McCourty wasn’t targeted on 34 pass-coverage snaps.

— Gilmore had his weakest game of the season since Week 4. He appeared to get held on a one-handed touchdown catch by Steelers wide receiver Martavis Bryant.

— Rowe let up all of his receptions from the slot. He helped make the game-winning play when he broke up a pass from Steelers quarterback Roethlisberger to wide receiver Eli Rogers that popped into Harmon’s arms for the interception. He also let up the 69-yard reception that could have allowed Pittsburgh to score.

RUN DEFENSE
Malcolm Brown: six stops
Ricky Jean Francois: three stops
Lawrence Guy: two stops
Trey Flowers: two stops
Eric Lee: one stop
Elandon Roberts: one stop
Stephon Gilmore: one stop
Devin McCourty: one stop

— The Patriots had significant struggles defending the run, allowing 31 carries for 143 yards. Le’Veon Bell had 24 carries for 117 yards with a touchdown.

— The Patriots missed defensive tackle Alan Branch, who was out with a knee injury. Since he wasn’t placed on injured reserve, he should be able to return this season.