Patriots' defense was unsurprisingly elite during season-opening win vs. Steelers

The New England Patriots' defense was supposed to be good this season. We knew that based on what the team had leftover from last year's roster, the same roster that allowed just three points to the Los Angeles Rams in Super Bowl LIII. But it was still really encouraging to them live for the first time in a regular season game. And Sunday night's 33-3 victory for the Patriots was exactly what we expected from the defense based on the last time they took the field and the talent they've added since then.

Week 1 was an opportunity for the Steelers to see if third-year wideout Juju Smith-Schuster had what it takes to be the No. 1 wideout in an offense that lost All-Pro receiver Antonio Brown this offseason. But what New England showed is that though the talent might be there for Smith-Schuster to shine as the go-to receiver in Pittsburgh, it's going to take more than one or two studs for them to put points on the board against the resining Super Bowl champs.

At the forefront of Smith-Schuster's lackluster six-catch, 78-yard performance was All-Pro cornerback Stephon Gilmore, who was given the task of shadowing Smith-Schuster for most of the night. As Gilmore has done many time over the past year, he shut down the opposing teams top receiver by not allowing any explosive or meaningful plays in the passing game.

But he wasn't the only one that did that.

Aside from a 45-yard catch by receiver James Washington in the second half, New England's defense kept the Steelers' offense quiet all night. Running back James Connor, who rushed for 1,100 yards and 12 touchdowns last season, couldn't find any running lanes against the Patriots, which led to just 21 yards on 10 carries for the third-year back. Ben Roethlisberger, who has a history of racking up yards and causing headaches for New England's coaching staff over the years, managed just 276 yards and no touchdowns while throwing one interception to Devin McCourty.

"(The Steelers) gave us a lot of different things, whether it was a two-back situation or four-wide, five-wide, they did a bunch of different things," Patriots captain and safety Devin McCourty said during his postgame press conference. "I think our ability to adjust and communicate out there helped us a lot on defense. I think that's something that we have to continue to work on and get better, because teams are going to do different things.

"It helps that we we got a lot of guys that would start on a lot of teams in the NFL. Guys that are very selfless, come out here prepared when their number is called to go out there any play. I think we just got to keep that mentality all throughout."

New England may very well have the deepest defensive unit in recent memory. Even without starting linebacker Kyle Van Noy and rookie second-round pick Joejuan Williams, the team found plenty of ways to disguise coverages, pressure the quarterback and limit big plays in ways that may have no entirely been possible at this point in time last season had they been inactive for a game (Williams wouldn't have been on the team last year, but just play along here).

With one game under their belt in 2019, New England can easily continue their defensive success in the next coming weeks, where they will face the AFC East Rival Miami Dolphins, Buffalo Bills and New York Jets, and then face their first NFC East opponent of the season in the Washington Redskins.

A bump in the road during that span, whether it be because of poor play or injuries, could be troublesome given the grueling schedule they have remaining after the second week of October. But from what we saw in the season-opener, the skies the limit and the points given up will be few for the 2019 Patriots defense.

Add us as a preferred source on Google