With Patriots visiting, Steelers looking for right 'recipe' to avoid another loss to 2-10 team

Another game, another opponent with a 2-10 record coming into Acrisure Stadium to play the Pittsburgh Steelers.

This time, it’s the New England Patriots paying a visit Thursday night. No longer resembling a team that made the AFC championship game an annual destination when Tom Brady was employed in New England, the Patriots have two fewer wins than any other team in the conference and the second-worst mark in the NFL.

For the sake of the Steelers’ playoff chances, they can’t have a repeat performance from Sunday when the Arizona Cardinals stunned them 24-10 in one of the worst late-season performances in Mike Tomlin’s 17 seasons as coach.

“I don’t know if it was a wake-up call,” defensive captain Cameron Heyward said Tuesday, “but if you’re talking about winning games in this league, that’s a recipe for how not to do it.”

After getting a field goal on their first drive, the Steelers didn’t score again until the fourth quarter. The defense, which had shown so much improvement against the run the previous week, allowed 150 yards on the ground and was victimized by a 99-yard touchdown drive late in the first half.

Penalties played a factor. So did a failed fourth-down conversion at the goal line immediately after an injury to Kenny Pickett forced a quarterback change.

It all added up to contentions that the Steelers, at the least, played down to the level of their opponent. Or, at worst, didn’t take the Cardinals seriously. Running back Jaylen Warren said as much after the game, and wide receiver Diontae Johnson confirmed that theory a few days later.

“Once we got out there, I felt like something was different,” Johnson said Tuesday. “We weren’t at our best. I felt like we took them lightly (more) than we should have. We can’t come in this Thursday with the same mindset.”

Despite the loss, the Steelers (7-5) didn’t lose any ground in the conference playoff chase. They still occupy the fifth spot entering Week 14, although they trail the first-place Baltimore Ravens by two games with five to play in the division race.

“We’re still in the hunt, and we still have a good chance of doing everything we want,” running back Najee Harris said. “Everything is still open for us.”

A loss to the Patriots, though, would be crippling to the Steelers’ chances of playing in January beyond the regular-season finale against the Ravens. It doesn’t help that three of the final four games on the schedule are on the road.

Johnson doesn’t expect history to repeat itself.

“We’re going to be fine,” he said. “We’ve moved past it.”

But what if that “different feeling” returns, and there is a sense the Steelers are ripe for another letdown?

“That will be the moment when we have to bring everybody up and have that talk,” Johnson said. “We have to have everybody in the right mindset. We know what we did last week. We just have to capitalize on it.”

The Patriots might be in unfamiliar territory at the bottom of the AFC East standings, but they hardly are a pushover. New England has allowed a combined 26 points in its past three games: losses by 10-6, 10-7 and 6-0 scores.

That presents a challenge for the Steelers, who are averaging 16 points for the season and have scored just 26 in two games since Matt Canada was fired as offensive coordinator.

One thing the Patriots do well is stop the run. They have the NFL’s third-ranked run defense, allowing 88.7 yards per game. The Steelers have averaged 165 yards rushing the past five weeks and could emphasize the running game more with backup quarterback Mitch Trubisky making his first start in nearly a year.

“I just think in general, that is what our identity has started to become,” interim offensive coordinator Eddie Faulkner said. “We run the ball, and we feel like we can run the ball when we have to. We’re going to lean on those guys regardless of who is behind center.”