When the Patriots and Steelers spent the early part of Week 2 struggling to put points on the board, the game briefly turned into something much stranger than a standard NFL drive. What unfolded midway through the second quarter was less a clean sequence of football and more a live-action gag reel.
Pittsburgh had worked its way across midfield and was nudging toward the red zone when the possession suddenly unraveled. On third-and-seven, Rodgers dropped back to pass and then got hit by Christian Elliss, forcing the ball loose. Once it hit the turf, the play went completely sideways.
The ball bounced and skittered about 36 yards behind the line of scrimmage, and New England looked ready to fall on it. Dre'Mont Jones and Christian Gonzalez both got hands on it, but neither could secure it. The ball kept slipping away until it finally settled at the 39-yard line, where Troy Fautanu dove in to recover it for Pittsburgh, ending up flat on his back with bodies converging around him.
The result was a ridiculous shift from 3rd & 7 to 4th & 43.
Patriots defense pushed the Steelers back from 3rd & 7 to 4th & 43 😳
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It was the kind of sequence that looked cartoonish, chaotic and downright bizarre all at once. The play that caused it may not have been much on its own, but the aftermath was the sort of thing that makes people stop and watch again.
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