The Worksheet, a fantasy football overview by Rich Hribar, breaking down everything you need to know for the Week 2 New England Patriots at Pittsburgh Steelers Sunday afternoon game.
| New England | Rank | @ | Pittsburgh | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| -1 | Spread | 1 | ||
| 20.75 | Implied Total | 19.75 | ||
| 7 | 30 | Points/Gm | 23 | 12 |
| 20 | 12 | Points All./Gm | 20 | 12 |
| 54 | 29 | Plays/Gm | 61 | 19 |
| 59 | 10 | Opp. Plays/Gm | 94 | 32 |
| 5 | 22 | Off. Yards/Play | 4.4 | 29 |
| 14 | 5.2 | Def. Yards/Play | 7 | 4.6 |
| 40.74% | 16 | Rush% | 36.07% | 23 |
| 59.26% | 17 | Pass% | 63.93% | 10 |
| 38.98% | 14 | Opp. Rush % | 36.17% | 11 |
| 61.02% | 19 | Opp. Pass % | 63.83% | 22 |
- This is the first time the Patriots and Steelers have played without either Tom Brady or Ben Roethlisberger on the field since Week 14, 1998 when Bill Cowher and Pete Carroll were the head coaches of each team. They have played each other 16 times since.
- 19.7% of the offensive plays run by Pittsburgh resulted in a first down or touchdown, ahead of only Dallas (18.8%) in Week 1.
- The Steelers punted on a league-high 57.1% of their possessions in Week 1.
- 33.3% of the New England carries failed to gain yardage in Week 1, the highest rate in the league.
Quarterback
Mitchell Trubisky: Trubisky closed his first week with the Steelers as the QB25 (12.7 points). Much of his first start was a struggle as Trubisky completed 21-of-38 passes (55.3%) for 194 yards (5.1 Y/A) with one touchdown pass.
Trubisky ranked 24th among all quarterbacks in EPA per dropback (-0.18).
The Steelers’ offense was uninspiring in the opener, failing to alleviate any of the questions we had entering the season. Pittsburgh averaged just 20.0 yards per possession, ahead of only the Cowboys in Week 1.
With Pittsburgh entering Week 2 with an implied team total checking in below 20 total points, Trubisky is tough to jam into lineups outside of needy 2QB teams.
