By CNN
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It’s not been a season to remember for the New England Patriots, but they had an evening to enjoy on Thursday when the team claimed an unlikely 21-18 road victory against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
New England’s offense – which has been putrid at times this year – started out hot with three first-half touchdowns, all coming from the arm of quarterback Bailey Zappe.
And that was enough for the Patriots to end their five-game losing skid as Pittsburgh backup QB Mitchell Trubisky – playing for the injured Kenny Pickett – couldn’t mount a stirring comeback.
The result improves New England’s record to 3-10 this season, while it is the second damaging loss in as many weeks for Pittsburgh after losing to the lowly Arizona Cardinals in Week 13.
The Steelers became only the second team in NFL history to lose consecutive home games to teams with 10-plus losses coming into the game, per NFL Research. Before last week’s game, Pittsburgh had been 9-0 in home games against opponents with 10-plus losses entering the game with head coach Mike Tomlin at the helm, but have since lost two in a row.
The loss also hampers the team’s playoff push as it falls down the standings with six losses on the season, dropping to eighth in the AFC.
When asked in the postgame press conference how the team can bounce back from these damaging losses, Tomlin said it’s all about moving forward.
“We get ready for our next opportunity next week. It’s what we always do,” he told reporters. “Obviously, this stings but we’ll be back.”
A bright spot
The Patriots’ Week 13 home loss to the Los Angeles Chargers was a nadir during the team’s storied run under head coach Bill Belichick.
The Chargers won 6-0 in Foxborough, Massachusetts, with New England’s offense hitting new lows as questions loomed over the future of the six-time Super Bowl champion head coach.
But the team looked renewed in Thursday night’s game, constructing an impressive 75-yard drive for a touchdown on its opening possession of the game.
Zappe successfully converted 14 of his first 21 throws for 196 yards and three touchdown passes – two to birthday-boy Hunter Henry and one to Ezekiel Elliot – as the Patriots raced into a 21-3 lead midway through the second quarter.
Remarkably, Zappe’s 37-yard pass to JuJu Smith-Schuster in the first quarter of Thursday’s game was the longest completion by air yards (30) from a Patriots quarterback this season, per Next Gen stats. Zappe has two completions of 25-plus air yards this season, whereas the team’s starter at the beginning of the season, Mac Jones, has none.
Although Pittsburgh clawed its way back into the game, New England was able to hold on for a win which goes some way towards banish the dark cloud hanging over the organization.
Afterwards, Belichick praised his team’s work ethic ahead of the game.
“They’ve come in and worked hard every day,” he told reporters. “Again, we’ve tried to improve and correct things that will help us. Some of those paid off tonight. Hopefully, they will going forward.
“Still things we can do better. Made some mistakes out there. Again, Pittsburgh is a good football team. They’ve got some very good players. You got to take care of those guys and not let them ruin the game. We tried not to do that. It’s the way it will be every week.
“We’ll see good players next week and the week after that. So have to take those guys into account when we prepare for the game. Hopefully go out there and play it the way we want to play it, hit our targets.”
