Ben Roethlisberger was out. Cam Heyward was, too. Landry Jones was taking snaps. The New England Patriots were on the other sideline. Nobody was expecting much, and nothing much was what they provided; the Patriots (6-1) beat Pittsburgh (4-3) 27-16.

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It was a boring game — certainly more boring than it would’ve been had Roethlisberger played. For a time, though, it seemed like Jones and the Steelers were hanging around long enough to do something weird. Then, Mike Tomlin took care of things. Threat of interest averted.

Jones, aggressively mediocre as he is, had somehow kept Pittsburgh close enough that a fourth-quarter fumble recovery had them in Patriots territory with 10:37 remaining and a chance to cut into an 11-point deficit.

Odds were slim that the Steelers were going to get many more prime chances — Jones, again, is not very good — so it would’ve made sense for Tomlin to maximize the opportunity, specifically in the form of a touchdown and two-point conversion. Don’t go for broke, but also, maybe, weigh risk vs. reward. If nothing else, avoid a long field-goal attempt from a convertible distance.

That’s not what Tomlin did. He did the opposite, actually.

On third and three, Jones took a shotgun snap, then missed Le’Veon Bell. On fourth down, Chris Boswell walked out and missed his 54-yard-attempt wide right.

Boswell had already missed a 42-yarder. Again — you aren’t going to get many more chances out of a Landry Jones-led offense. Why not go for broke with Bell, who finished the day with 149 total yards? Try to put the ball in his hands again, maybe, or plan to run the ball twice on third and fourth down?

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Did Tomlin give any thought to that? The dude who, in part, is defined by his willingness to roll the dice on fourth down?

“I did not,” Tomlin said. “(Boswell) made a similar kick over a year ago in that same spot on the same field when we tried him out. … We were down there, we had an opportunity to make it a one-score game. I took that chance.”

It didn’t work out. Neither team scored the rest of the game, and the closest Pittsburgh came was the Pats’ 45-yard line. If there was an off-chance they’d pull off a shocker, Boswell’s miss was the final nail.

There’d been others — Jones threw a first-quarter interception in the end zone, and a holding penalty negated Darrius Heyward-Bey’s second touchdown of the second quarter.

“To be honest with you, we moved the ball up and down the field,” Kones said. “That was no issue. The issue was in the redzone. We kicked field goals instead of scoring touchdowns.”

And missed them, actually. And for as easy as it is to give them a freebie here, they’re not going to get many more.