The New England Patriots got a game winning touchdown run by Damien Harris in the third quarter Sunday afternoon, and held on to defeat the Pittsburgh Steelers 17-14 at Acrisure Stadium in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
The quarterbacks, Mac Jones and Mitch Trubisky, swapped a pair of interceptions as both teams had a made field goal in the first quarter. New England (1-1) took the lead for good in the second on a Jones touchdown pass. Jones hit Nelson Agholor down the sideline, as Agholor outjumped his defender and went up and grabbed the ball and went 44 yards for the score that made it 10-3 Patriots at halftime. Nick Folk missed a 52 yard field goal in the third that could of extended the lead, while Chris Boswell hit one from 52 to slice the deficit to 10-6. The key play of the game was a muffed punt by former Patriot Gunner Olszewski that was recovered by New England at the Pittsburgh 20 yard line late in the quarter. That led directly to the short two yard touchdown run by Harris. The Steelers scored on their next possession going 75 yards on 11 plays. Trubisky found tight end Pat Freiermuth for an eight yard score on the first play of the fourth quarter, and converted a two point conversion pass to Diontae Johnson. Both teams had three and outs on offense their next two possessions, before the guests were able to kill the clock late with four first downs.
Jones finished 21-35 passing for 252 yards with one touchdown and one interception. Harris had 71 yards on 15 carries along with the game winning score. Agholor had six catches for 110 yards and a touchdown, while Jakobi Meyers had nine receptions for 95 yards. Jalen Mills had an interception, and Myles Bryant had five total tackles to lead the defense. Christian Barmore, Matt Judon, and Jahlani Tavai each recorded a sack. Trubisky went 21-33 for 168 yards with one touchdown and one interception in the loss for 1-1 Pittsburgh. Najee Harris had 15 rushes for 49 yards, while Johnson had six catches for 57 yards. Minkah Fitzpatrick had an interception, and Myles Jack had five total tackles. New England plays their home opener at Gillette Stadium next Sunday at 1 p.m. against the Baltimore Ravens. Baltimore lost a 21 point second half lead on Sunday, and fell 42-38 to the Miami Dolphins.
