No Contest

First they unfolded the banner for their sixth Super Bowl championship. Then the New England Patriots went out and folded the Steelers like a card table.

In what has become a customary occurrence at Gillette Stadium, the Steelers lost to Tom Brady and the defending champion Patriots, 33-3, on Sunday night — their most lopsided defeat ever in New England.

“We weren’t ready for prime time,” coach Mike Tomlin said.

The anemic 30-point defeat eclipsed the previous worst road loss to the Patriots — 55-31 on Nov. 3, 2013. It was also the first time the Steelers did not manage a touchdown since a 34-3 loss in Philadelphia in Week 3 of the 2016 season.

“We got our butts whipped tonight,” said defensive end Cam Heyward. “That was not a good showing by the Pittsburgh Steelers.”

Brady kept the Steelers defense off-balance with 341 yards passing and three touchdowns and kicker Stephen Gostkowski added four field goals. By comparison, the Steelers offense looked like it was in dire need of the wide receiver the Patriots just signed a day earlier.

Brady is now 6-0 against the Steelers at Gillette Stadium and has thrown 21 touchdowns with no interceptions in that time. He took apart their secondary with a number of crossing and underneath routes that the Steelers said were set up by pick plays.

“He’s a smart guy,” said safety Terrell Edmunds. “The type of guy he is, like all great quarterbacks, you let him get a little lead and he’ll pull out all the tricks.”

The Steelers offense was so bad they managed just 87 yards and four first downs in the first half and failed on four occasions in short-yardage situations — three times on third-and-1 and once on fourth-and-1.

After rushing for 161 yards against the Patriots in last year’s game at Heinz Field, the Steelers managed just 32 yards rushing on 13 carries.

“You saw it — you can’t get beat by 30 points,” guard David DeCastro said. “Bunch of three-and-outs, short drives. It was embarrassing and disappointing to start the season off like that in prime time.”

Ben Roethlisberger completed 27 of 47 passes for 277 yards and really managed just one big play — a 45-yard completion to James Washington that set up the only score, a 19-yard field goal by Chris Boswell at the beginning of the third quarter. The decision to not go for a touchdown appeared curious because the Steelers were trailing, 20-0, at the time.

Brady threw for 325 yards and three touchdowns in the first three quarters against a Steelers defense that had no answers for his wizardry.

The Steelers could generate little if any offense in the first half and their defense kept getting sliced in the middle of the field when the Patriots took a 20-0 lead at halftime.

“Miscommunication,” said safety Kameron Kelly, who started for injured Sean Davis and let Patriots receiver Phillip Dorsett get behind him for a 58-yard touchdown in the third quarter.

The Patriots took a 7-0 lead on their second possession, using a trick play to highlight a seven-play, 82-yard drive that ended with Brady throwing a 20-yard touchdown to receiver Josh Gordon, who was recently reinstated by the NFL. Gordon was wide open on an underneath route and broke a tackle by cornerback Joe Haden inside the 10 to score with 4:46 left in the quarter.

The big play was a lateral pass from Brady to wide receiver Julian Edelman, who threw back across the field to running back James White, who ran 32 yards to the Steelers 20 behind a convoy of blockers.

The Patriots outgained the Steelers 141-40 in the first quarter alone, and it didn’t get much better from there. The Steelers never got past their own 39 on their first three possessions and made it past midfield just once in the first half.