As the New England Patriots enter the half of their Week 7 battle with the Pittsburgh Steelers, on top 14-10, here are some thoughts about the first half of play. 

Bailing 'Em Out- The first play run by the New England offense resulted in a turnover, as wide receiver Chris Hogan was stripped of the ball following a catch. Due to the fumble, the Steelers offense started their second drive of the game already in New England territory. With the Steelers first play of the drive backup quarterback Landry Jones and wide out Antonio Brown combined to beat Patriots cornerback Malcolm Butler for a 25-yard pass play. With Pittsburgh closing in on a score to give themselves an early lead, they went back after Butler, who made a play on a poorly thrown ball in the corner of the end zone. Butler came away with his first interception of the season, on the play, and bailed out his team's offense after an uncharacteristic turnover.

Converting On Third Down- One of the big reasons for New England's offensive early success in the first half was their ability to convert on third down. The Pats opened the game a perfect five for five on third down attempts, including one that went for the team's first score of the game on a screen pass to James White. Part of the success on third down was the nifty footwork of quarterback Tom Brady, who even scramble for one first down on his own.

Big drops- While the Pats offense was sailing smoothly early on, they hit a road block on their final two drives, because of a couple of bad third down drops. First, core special teamer Brandon Bolden, who is back off of a knee injury and rarely see's offensive snaps, was gifted not only a nice touch pass from Brady but also a lot of room out in front of him. Instead of hauling in the pass and running for presumably a big gain, the backup back failed to see the ball into his hands and forced the Pats to punt. The second drop came on New England's final first half series, in which wide out Julian Edelman, who had been a perfect seven of seven for 46 yards, dropped a routine toss over the middle. The play wouldn't have stood anyway, as right guard Shaq Mason was flagged for holding but it was still an extremely catchable pass. The Pats must be more consistent converting on third downs, like they were earlier in the half, if they want to keep the lead and win the game.

10 Unanswered- The Pats jumped out to a quick 14-0 lead and looked to have the game well in hand early on. With their backup quarterback under center, the Steelers refused to quit, however, scoring 10 unanswered points to close out the half. A lot of praise for the late surge can be attributed to the solid play of running back Le'Veon Bell. Bell had been bottled up nicely by the Pats defense early but became his usually tough to tackle self midway through the half. Overall the back ended the first two quarters of play with 40 rush yards on 10 carries and 43 receiving yards on four catches.

Filling In- With Landry Jones filling in for starter Ben Roethlisberger, the Steelers offense was expected to look a bit different than usual. While Jones did suffer from a few underthrows in the first half and threw an end zone pick on the team's second series, he played pretty well over the first two quarters. The backup was 14 of 20 for 179 yards, a touchdown and the pick.

Missed Chances- The Steelers did end the half strong, but still left points out on the field. First, they missed a field goal opportunity early in the second, then had a touchdown taken off the board because of a holding call. When you play New England, you simply can't make mistakes in scoring situations and take points off the board for yourself. They'll need to not do that in the second half, if they want to come all the way back.

Get A Score- The Pats will start the third quarter with the ball. After 10 unanswered points for the Steelers the Pittsburgh fans will be loud. Look for the Pats to put together a scoring drive to try to get the fans back out of it.

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