New England Patriots links 9/19/22 - Patriots, Agholor contest the narrative in grind-it-out win

TEAM TALK

• Post Game Notes: Nelson Agholor has first 100-yard day as a Patriot; Mac Jones throws 2nd longest TD of his career; Jalen Mills has 1st INT in a New England uniform; Today’s game was the 500th game for Robert Kraft; More.
• Evan Lazar’s Game Observations: Ten Takeaways as Patriots take down the Steelers in Week 2. 1. Play of the Game: Nelson Agholor’s 44-yard touchdown catch.
• Mike Dussault’s 5 Keys from Patriots first win of the 2022 season. 1. Good start for the Pats.
• Alexandra Francisco highlights what Bill Belichick said after Patriots’ Week 2 win vs. Steelers.
• Post Game Quotes: Patriots and Steelers.
• Press Conferences: Damien Harris - Matthew Judon - Nelson Agholor - Devin McCourty - Mac Jones - Bill Belichick.
• NFL Week 2 Highlights: Patriots at Steelers. (6 min. video)
• Postgame Show 9/18: Breaking down the win over the Steelers, Nelson Agholor interview. (2 hours)

LOCAL LINKS

• Mike Reiss details the Patriots’ confidence-boosting strong finishing drive. ‘The offense took over with 6:33 remaining and ran out the clock, pounding the Steelers into submission.’
• Karen Guregian writes how with the game on the line, the Patriots went with their fast ball, their run game. ‘The Steelers, of course, knew they were going to try to run out the clock on the ground. And the Patriots still managed to run effectively and move the sticks.’
• Andrew Callahan recaps the Patriots’ pound-it-out 17-14 win in Pittsburgh. Starting at the 2-minute warning, Damien Harris took three straight hand-offs in Pittsburgh territory before Mac Jones knelt down three times and rose up with his first win. Harris and Rhamondre Stevenson combined for 118 rushing yards and one touchdown.
• Mike D’Abate (Patriots Country) Week 2 victory over Steelers provides optimism: The Patriots looked more comfortable and efficient in their 17-14 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 2.
• Richie Whitt (Patriots Country) Patriots use gift from Steelers, rugged running game to avoid 0-2 Start. An offensive line roundly criticized in Week 1 paved the way in Pittsburgh.
• Zack Cox gives us eight at-the-buzzer takeaways from Sunday’s win. 1. Shaky showing from Mac Jones.
• Mike Kadlick gives us his five takeaways from the Week Two win. 2. Defense looked solid again against a very sub-par quarterback.
• Zack Cox shares eight takeaways from the Pats’ win. 1. Shaky showing from Mac Jones. Steelers got Trubisky’d.
• Andrew Callahan highlights Nelson Agholor breaking out at exactly the right time in Pittsburgh.
• Dakota Randall talks about Nelson Agholor delivering his best game as a Patriot at the perfect time.
• Alex Reimer relays Charles Davis dropping a Seinfeld reference during Nelson Agholor’s touchdown. “Good coverage by Witherspoon. But Agholor just goes over the top, and takes it from him. That ball was essentially in the bread basket of Ahkello Witherspoon, and Nelson Agholor said, ‘Uh-uh! I’m snatching it away.’ And there goes Nelson Agholor with the marble rye into the end zone.”
• Kevin Tame, Jr. (Patriots Country) Unsung hero: Jakobi Meyers keys win over Steelers. On got-to-have-it plays all game long, Meyers was Mac Jones’ guy.
• Mike Kadlick sees Brenden Schooler and special team as the difference in the Patriots win vs. the Steelers.
• Karen Guregian declares the Patriots offense lives. After weeks of looking completely disjointed and out of whack, it finally showed a little something in the 17-14 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers.
• Mark Daniels says that even after the win, he’s left wanting more from the Patriots offense.
• Khari Thompson notes Bill Belichick says the Patriots coaches are aiming for ‘balance’ on offense.
• Dakota Randall talks about Gunner Olszewski’s huge turnover after calling out the Patriots last week. /Heh heh.
• Phil Perry notes DeVante Parker is saying the right things after two quiet games to start.
• Nick Goss highlights Matt Cassel sharing his biggest takeaway from Mac Jones’ game vs. Steelers.
• Zack Cox points out Kendrick Bourne took some encouraging steps yesterday.
• Zack Cox notes Mac Jones thought his offensive line was ‘amazing’ yesterday.
• Keagan Stiefel relays Devin McCourty detailing the main focus for Pats defense. New England has the NFL’s fourth-stingiest defense so far.
• CBS Boston reports Robert Kraft was given a game ball from his 500th game as Patriots owner.
• Dakota Randall picks three studs, three duds from a “messy win” over the Steelers.
• Andy Hart gives us his thumbs up, thumbs down from Sunday.
• Matt Geagan’s Ups and Downs: Patriots make the plays when they needed to in Week 2 win over Steelers
• Nick O’Malley notes Damien Harris, the Patriots’ leading rusher, was all smiles after he was seen limping at the end of Sunday’s game. ‘I’m fine, dog!’
• Dakota Randall notes Jakobi Meyers said he’s “hanging in there” after leaving the game with an ailing left knee.

NATIONAL NEWS

• Staff (PFF.com) NFL Week 2 Game Recap: New England Patriots 17, Pittsburgh Steelers 14. This one was a defensive battle, but the New England Patriots did enough on offense to hold off the Pittsburgh Steelers, 17-14.
• NFL Game Center (NFL.com) Week 2: Patriots 17 at Steelers 14. Drive chart, stats, highlights.
• Bryan DeArdo (CBS Sports) Steelers vs. Patriots takeaways: Mac Jones leads New England to first victory of the 2022 season.
• Report (AP) Patriots rely on defense to edge Watt-less Steelers 17-14.
• Josh Alper (ProFootballTalk) Bill Belichick: Running out clock on offense is the best way to win.
• Peter King (ProFootballTalk) FMIA Week 2: Mike McDaniel’s ‘F— you’ play powers Dolphins’ comeback and how the 49ers adjust without Trey Lance.
• Mike Tanier (Football Outsiders) Week 2 Walkthrough: Pats-Steelers: The team that cannot score because its offense is coached by feral meerkats traded punts, interceptions, and blunders with the team that cannot score because of Mitch Trubisky and the Five Traffic Cones offensive line. But Team Feral Meerkat Coaches pulled it out thanks to one Mac Jones-to-Nelson Agholor 44-yard bomb and one touchdown after a muffed punt. /’Eesh...
• Around the NFL (NFL.com) Week 2: What we learned from Sunday’s games. 1. Patriots get back to power running game. Next Gen stat of the game: Nelson Agholor had 0.6 yards of target separation on his 44-yard TD, the second fewest for a Mac Jones TD in his career. [More.]
• NFL Nation (ESPN) NFL Week 2 takeaways: What we learned, big questions for every game and future team outlooks. Patriots: “No team is a finished product after Week 2. While it wasn’t pretty, here’s a possible silver lining: The way the Patriots finished the game, in the four-minute offense, was a potential identity-building drive. They jammed it right down the Steelers’ throat to close out the game.”
• Around the NFL (NFL.com) Week 2: Notable injuries, news from Sunday’s games. Patriots safety Kyle Dugger (knee) left the game versus the Steelers and did not return.
• Brian Barrett (The Ringer) Pats win, but do we have a Mac problem?
• John Breech (CBS Sports) NFL Week 2 grades. Patriots: A-, Steelers: C. ‘A few too many penalties from the offensive line prevented the Patriots from getting a perfect grade.’ More.
• MMQB Staff (SI) Awards for the best NFL Week 2 performances.
• Shalise Manza Young (Yahoo! Sports) Steelers, Mitchell Trubisky already hearing Kenny Pickett chants — and for good reason.
• Michael Baca (NFL.com) Mitch Trubisky on Pittsburgh’s chants for Kenny Pickett: ‘You just block it out and play football’.
• Highlights (NFL Network) The top 5 prime plays from Week 2 on NFL RedZone. Nelson Agholor’s touchdown included. (1.49 min. video)
• Vinnie Iyer (Sporting News) NFL contenders or pretenders: The reality of teams’ hot or cold starts.
• Tyler Greenawalt (Yahoo! Sports) Trey Lance suffers season-ending ankle injury vs. Seahawks; Jimmy Garoppolo leads 49ers to win.
• Albert Breer (SI) The Trey Lance Injury and Jimmy G’s long, strange road back to QB1.
• Mike Florio (ProFootballTalk) NFL will review Mike Evans, Marshon Lattimore conduct for possible suspension.

VIEW FROM PITTSBURGH

• Curt Popejoy (SteelersWire) Instant analysis of the Steelers loss to the Patriots. The Steelers lost to the Patriots 17-14 in what you could call a slugfest but was really just ugly football.
• Joe Rutter (TribLive) 5 things we learned: Steelers’ loss stands apart from others in AFC North.
• Big Bro Scho (BehindTheSteelCurtain) Knee-Jerk reactions to the Steelers 17-14 loss to the Patriots in week 2.
• Gerry Dulac (Post-Gazette) Steelers fall back into bad habits during loss to Patriots.
• Curt Popejoy (SteelersWire) Steelers vs Patriots: 4 takeaways from the embarrassing home loss.
• Ron Cook (Post-Gazette) Frustration with Steelers offense reaching a boiling point.
• Dave Schofield (BehindTheSteelCurtain) What was the game-changing moment in the Steelers loss to the Patriots?
• Jeff Hartman (BehindTheSteelCurtain) Steelers vs. Patriots final score: Offensive ineptitude equate to a 17-14 loss.
• Curt Popejoy (SteelersWire) Lack of playmaking key for Mike Tomlin in loss.
• Curt Popejoy (SteelersWire) Two weeks in, we see Ben Roethlisberger was not the problem with the Steelers offense.