The Pittsburgh Steelers are pride themselves for being the only team to have six Super Bowls. Their 1-6 record vs New England Patriots quarterback, Tom Brady is something different entirely.
If there is one player that even the most die-hard Steelers fan fears—like the dread bogeyman in their dreams—it is Brady who has simply haunted and owned the Steelers for nearly a decade. Steelers fans hate to admit and state this deep-seeded fear of Brady and his 6-1 record against their beloved team, but the facts are there to see.
Many in Steeler Nation chose to call “Spygate” when talking about the Patriots and dismiss Brady’s mastery over Pittsburgh, but there is was no denying Brady’s recent 350-yard three touchdown performance in a 39-26 win at Heinz Field last year.
Pittsburgh may clearly be in the back of the minds of Baltimore, but Brady is squarely chiseled into the heads and hearts of black and gold wearing “Yinzers” from Pittsburgh to Timbuktu.
Since 2001, Brady has thrown for 2,008 yards, 14 touchdowns and only three interceptions in his career against the Steelers, Brady has also posted a QB rating of 104.8
If Pittsburgh is going to end their misery against Brady, they must do three things, mainly take wide receiver Wes Welker out of the game and keep Brady off the field.
During the Steelers lone win against Brady in 2004, the Steelers used a unique five-man defensive front to all but bottle up and contain Brady during a 34-20 win ending the Pat’s NFL record 21-game winning streak.
The secret is out on how to slow down Brady and that is by applying direct pressure “up the gut”, Dallas was able to corral Brady for three quarters before losing 20-16 In Week 6.
For the Steelers, that may be easier said then done due to the rash of injuries to their defense, most notably linebacker James Harrison and defensive tackle Aaron Smith.
Harrison is out for another two weeks due to an eye injury during the Steelers 17-10 loss to Houston and Smith is done for the year with a neck injury.
The second thing the Steelers must do is take away Welker, Brady’s go-to man. The Patriots have wideouts Deion Branch, Chad Ochocinco and tight ends Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez, but make no mistake, the Patriots offense runs through Welker.
The Steelers are expected to assign cornerback Ryan Clark on Welker—which has proved to be anything but successful—if the Steelers want to really take Welker away from Brady they must jam him immediately off the line of scrimmage in order of disrupting the well-tuned Patriots offense.
The last thing that Pittsburgh must do in order to beat the Patriots is keep Brady off the field. For the Steelers they must go to the physical running game that they are renowned for.
As tempting as it maybe for Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger to air it out against the Pats 32nd ranked pass defense, the Steelers must use a heavy dose of running back Rashard Mendenhall early and often, and then hit wideouts Mike Wallace, Antonio Brown and Emmanuel Sanders late for big plays.
Despite having a record of 5-2, Pittsburgh’s five wins were against teams with a combined record of 8-24—and only the Tennessee Titans—are the only team that the Steelers have defeated that has a .500 record at 3-3
So is the Steelers 2nd-ranked passing defense is a misnomer? Perhaps.
Look for Brady to exploit the holes in the Steelers defense by going to Gronkowski and Hernandez down the middle of the field against the Steelers linebackers and to then take some shots downfield.
If the Steelers have any hope of winning on Sunday, they must dictate the tone and tempo of this game early by running the ball early and often with Mendenhall. Only then will Pittsburgh have a chance to finally slay the demon known as Tom Brady.
Unfortunately for Pittsburgh, Tom Brady is still Tom Brady.
Prediction : Patriots 37 Steelers 34
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