Pittsburgh Steelers: End Three Game Home Losing Streak to New England Patriots

The New England Patriots took on the Pittsburgh Steelers at Heinz Field Sunday having won the last three match-ups at Heinz Field between two of the National Football League’s true heavyweights, a label especially appropriate when considering since 2001, the teams have won a combined five Super Bowls, along with having the best record in the AFC five times during that span.

Superiority of power and influence in the AFC rested on the shoulders of the winner of this game. These are the title holders and the men with the rings. With the Indianapolis Colts currently on an eight-game losing streak, it left the usual suspects like the San Diego Chargers, New York Jets and Baltimore Ravens all craving the chance to be called champions and dethrone the long-time standard bearers of the AFC conference title.

Remember, the Ravens where the last AFC team to win it all (2000 season) prior to the domination of the Patriots and Steelers over the next 10 years. Like they say in boxing, “to be the champ you got to beat the champ.”

“Boy, that was a great win for us, at home, in front of our fans,” said head coach Mike Tomlin, adding "we were where we were supposed to be, doing what we were supposed to do, for the most part in all three phases.”

Contrary to everything the Pittsburgh Steelers did last season when they lost to New England, 39-26. The win ended a three-game losing streak at home versus the Patriots and definitely left the 64,424 on hand driving home in a better mood, reflecting on the 25-17 win. 

Early on, the Pittsburgh Steelers established the passing game with quarterback Ben Roethlisberger finding Pro-Bowl tight end Heath Miller fours times while orchestrating an 11-play, 68-yard opening scoring drive resulting in a five-yard touchdown pass to Mewelde Moore.

Spreading the ball early and often was not a secret to the Steelers offensive players, with receiver Emmanuel Sanders saying “(Offensive coordinator) Bruce Arians told us we were going to open up the offense more,” which Sanders was excited about, saying “I’m liking it and loving it.”

Truth can be found in those words, with Roethlisberger passing for over 300 yards in back-to-back games for only the second time in his career, last done in 2006. Finishing with 365 yards and two touchdowns along with one interception, Roethlisberger has thrown 14 touchdowns and seven interceptions, riding the team's four-game winning streak.

The Steelers had the winning plan this evening, holding the historic Patriots offense to 1:24 of time of possession in the first quarter, holding Brady and the high-octane offense under 100 yards by halftime (83), or how about Steelers punter Dan Sepulveda's only punt coming in the fourth quarter with 28 seconds remaining in the game?

While both teams have shared in dominating the NFL over the last 10 years, the Patriots have had the best of the Black-N-Gold, winning six of the last eight meetings (playoffs included) prior to today’s loss. Little kids play ‘King of the Mountain’ with the winner being the last one on top, and it was getting to the point the Steelers found themselves looking up way too much at Bill Belichick and Tom Brady.

“Yeah, we needed the win. Wanted to take care of our grass," said nine-year defensive end Brett Keisel, adding “it’s a good win especially regarding our past, they’ve beat us a lot lately.”

Whispers were starting to surface with the quality of the wins recorded by the Steelers, who had beaten only one team with a winning record, the 4-3 Tennessee Titans. Let’s face facts here; wins versus the Seattle Seahawks, Indianapolis Colts, Jacksonville Jaguars and Arizona Cardinals, whom together total a dismal nine wins on the year with 26 losses, don’t exactly looked good on the resume.

When the age of the Steelers is being questioned with veterans missing time with injuries, there was no better time than the present for several youngsters to step up, like receiver Antonio Brown, who stepped up big in the absence of Super Bowl MVP Hines Ward. Brown caught the first touchdown pass of his two-year career while posting career highs in receptions (nine).

On defense, the combination of bridging the gap between the old and new was clearly evident when Keisel forced Tom Brady into fumbling on the Patriots' own 15-yard line. As the ball began bouncing towards the back of the end zone, the big, burly Ziggy Hood chased it down, missing the chance of scoring a touchdown as he was called out of bounds on his end-zone recovery.

Hood stood up from the back of the end zone uninhibitedly, enthusiastically making his way towards the sidelines with the ball in his hands. It almost was like the passing of the torch in some odd cosmic, even surreal way with the crowd in a frenzy and Hood heading towards the sidelines like a dog finding his favorite bone.

“We have a tradition on the line," said Keisel, adding “I can’t say enough good things about Ziggy, Steve (McLendon), Cameron (Heyward) all coming in and playing winning football. Those kids have been playing amazing ball for us.”

Off to their first 4-0 start at home since 2009, with no opponent scoring over 17 points at home in 2011, the Steelers are starting to shake off the critics after tonight’s win over the Patriots. When asked what has changed from opening day versus the Ravens to now, Troy Polamalu said “we’re the exact same team.”

It’s the grind and highs and lows of the National Football League, and the endurance race it brings to every team out there on the field.

“Our formula for winning is controlling the clock on offense and allowing us to play high energy defense,” said Polamalu, adding “if we stick to it, we will win more games than not.”

Next week brings on the division rival Baltimore Ravens, and the crowd was stopped in mid-cheer when the PA announcer said following the conclusion of the game that that was the next opponent to draw the boos in the crowd and overtake the joy of the win over New England.