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PITTSBURGH — In a celebration room after the New England Patriots’ 21-18 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers on Thursday at Acrisure Stadium, safety Jabrill Peppers dedicated the victory to head coach Bill Belichick.
“We need it. I just feel good that we can do it for Bill and all the other coaches,” Peppers said after the team’s five-game hitting streak.
“I’m not too happy with all the bad he got, because it’s up to us as players to go and perform, to me personally like the game plan was amazing week in and week out week, and when we have opportunities to make plays. , we didn’t, but we did enough tonight.”
Belichick’s 24th season with the Patriots has been one of his most challenging, his team is 3-10 and in last place in the AFC.
In a sign of the struggle, the Patriots’ next game, originally scheduled for December 18 against the Kansas City Chiefs, was moved from earlier to December 17 at 1 pm ET.
The slide, along with the Patriots posting losing records in three of the past four seasons, has prompted questions from fans. announce whether Belichick’s run with the franchise that includes six Super Bowl championships could end after the season.
Thursday was Belichick’s 507th game (including the postseason), breaking a tie with George Halas for second all-time for most games played behind Don Shula (526).
“I have a lot of respect for Coach, how he does things. He’s strong, he’s right,” said longtime captain David Andrews after the game. “We’re all doing as much as we can to try to win.”
The Patriots led 21-10 at halftime, then relied on their defense throughout.
The Patriots’ first four wins under Belichick were scoreless in the second half, but the last victory came in Week 2 of the 2013 season.
The Patriots led 21-3 midway through the second quarter and are now 147-2 under Belichick when leading by 18 or more points in a game, according to ESPN Stats & Information . The losses came in 2011 to the Buffalo Bills (led by 21) and the 2006 AFC Championship Game to the Indianapolis Colts (led by 18).
“I thought it was a great job by the players and coaches this week,” Belichick said. “Obviously it was a short week with a tough, disappointing game last week (6-0 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers), but they came in and had a good week of preparation. I thought the boys played with a lot of effort, energy, strength and resilience.”