Live updates for Thursday Night Football: The Patriots defeat the Steelers 21–18 by holding them off.
Thursday Night Football kicks off NFL Week 14 with the New England Patriots taking on the Pittsburgh Steelers in Acrisure Stadium. We’ll have all the action covered from beginning to end!
After losing last week, both clubs are eager to win this week. In Week 13, the Los Angeles Chargers defeated the Patriots 6-0, while the Steelers were defeated by the Arizona Cardinals 24-10. The starting point count for this game was the lowest in more than ten years.
There will be a backups’ war on Thursday as well. After being benched for the first time this season, Bailey Zappe is expected to start for New England, replacing Mac Jones; for the Steelers, Mitch Trubisky would start after Kenny Pickett was hurt in Sunday’s loss.
Playing hard has not been a problem for them this season, as they demonstrated to a national televised audience; they have been in close games all season but two. The issue has always been with execution and making clutch plays that have decided games.
At Acrisure Stadium on Thursday night, Zappe led the Patriots of New England to a much-needed 21-18 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers. Trubisky with the Steelers had a difficult first-half performance.
Only the Patriots’ third touchdown of the season came from Zappe’s three touchdown passes in the first half that led to the victory. The Patriots’ offense under Zappe appeared strong, while the Steelers, playing without starter Mitch Trubisky because to an ankle injury to Kenny Pickett, did not.
Thanks to a spectacular interception early in the second quarter and two touchdowns from tight end Hunter Henry—who became just the fifth player in the last 30 years who scored at least four touchdowns while playing on his birthday—the Patriots stormed out to a 21-3 lead.
Pittsburgh had numerous opportunities in the second half as well, but after intercepting Zappe in the fourth quarter, they were unable to score in the red zone.
In the fourth quarter, Miles Killebrew stopped a Patriots punt, giving the Steelers excellent field position once more. Trubisky’s 1-yard touchdown run to close the gap to three points followed that.
But that was the closest they could have gotten. Trubisky and the Steelers failed twice against fourth down despite the Patriots offense stalling. With a three-point victory, the Patriots prevailed.
In the defeat for Pittsburgh, Trubisky completed 21 of 34 passes for 169 yards, a touchdown, and an interception. In addition, with 30 yards plus a touchdown on eight carries, he was the team’s top rusher. Johnson caught three passes for 57 yards.
For the Patriots, Zappe completed 19 of 28 passes for 240 yards, three touchdowns, and one interception. JuJu Smith-Schuster gained 90 yards with four carries, while Ezekiel Elliott gained 68 yards on 22 carries.
Despite still being in the running for the AFC playoffs, the Steelers have now dropped two of the last five games and three of the previous four to teams with a combined record of 6-20.
Given how their offense performed on Thursday night, they may not have much time left to challenge for the postseason without Pickett out for a few more weeks at least.
These teams combined just 39 points in a contest that was not anticipated to feature a lot of scoring.
Most of it came during the first half, when Bailey Zappe, starting for the second time this season after Mac Jones was benched, scored three passing touchdowns to give New England a 21-10 lead.
The Patriots drove 75 yards as well as scored a touchdown on their opening drive for the first time this season. A 21-3 run was fueled by two receiving touchdowns by tight end Hunter Henry.
With Mitch Trubisky starting in place of an injured Kenny Pickett, the Pittsburgh Steelers were struggling as the New England Patriots offense roared to life. The Patriots’ lead was widened by the Steelers’ 0 for 5 start on third down.
Despite having a strong start to the game, Pittsburgh was able to close the gap and cut the lead to three points throughout the fourth quarter as New England’s offensive faltered in the second half.
With just over 13 minutes remaining in regulation, a blocked punt provided the impetus for that late surge.
The Steelers now behind 21-10 and have the ball at the Patriots’ 26-yard line. To get inside a field goal, Trubisky first ran for a score from the opponent’s goal line and then successfully converted a two-point pass to Pat Freiermuth.
The ball was at middle with 2:01 remaining in the game, and there was a fourth-and-2 situation. Then, Mike Tomlin continued to run his offense, but Trubisky’s last-ditch attempt to throw a deep pass to Diontae Johnson was incomplete.
As a result, New England effectively served out the clock to secure a rare victory in 2023. That turned the ball over on downs.
Zappe completed his evening with three touchdowns, 240 yards on 19 of 28 throws, and one interception. Running back Ezekiel Elliott was his primary target and got a game-high eight targets.
In addition to rushing for 68 yards on 22 carries, he caught seven of them for 72 yards and a touchdown. With 169 yards, two touchdowns (one rushing), and an interception, Trubisky completed 21 of 34 passes.