The Patriots were down four and got the ball near midfield on safety Duron Harmon’s interception early in the fourth quarter against the Steelers on Sunday, but the ensuing drive didn’t result in any points.
Quarterback Tom Brady was under pressure on a second down play from Pittsburgh’s 16-yard-line and tried to throw the ball away off his back foot. Cornerback Joe Haden intercepted the pass and the Steelers would go on a drive for a field goal that extended their lead to seven points and took more than five minutes off of the clock.
“I was just trying to flick it out of bounds,” Brady said, via NBC Sports Boston. “I didn’t want to take the sack. Shouldn’t happen.”
It wasn’t a particularly sharp game for Brady overall and there was a lot of other sloppiness from the Patriots offense. They had four false starts and three holding penalties -- one of each on the final, futile drive -- and Brady intimated the latter was due to tighter enforcement than there might be at other times.
“Obviously there’s holding on every play in the NFL,” Brady said. “That’s what we do. We hold. It’s just whether you get called or not.”
They got called for it on Sunday and that went into the pile of reasons why the Patriots ended the road portion of their schedule with a 3-5 record.