Going into this game, all the Steelers heard was how Tom Brady has owned their team during his tenure as quarterback of the New England Patriots and how their “old” defense, with its zone blitz schemes, was going to get picked apart by Brady and company.

The Steelers changed all that talk in a big way on Sunday as Ben Roethlisberger was the quarterback picking apart the Steelers, giving Brady and the Patriots offense fits all day.

Brady came into the game with a 6-1 record against the Steelers, and put up monster numbers in doing so. But on Sunday at Heinz Field, it was all Steelers, all game. The Steelers had 39 minutes of possession, and Brady was never able to get into rhythm because the Steelers changed their defense.

Instead of featuring zone blitz schemes, which have allowed Brady and the Patriots to spread out the defense and throw in between the zones, the Steelers switched up their strategy featuring more man-to-man play. The coverage and ample pressure from wide receivers on Brady allowed them to keep Brady under wraps, and set the blueprint to bring down Bill Belichick and Brady.

Brady was sacked three times during the game, but was under pressure all day. When he couldn’t find an open receiver, Wes Welker, who, like Brady, has numbers on a record pace this season, was held to six catches for only 39 yards.

“It’s been all Tom Brady versus the Pittsburgh Steelers, and looking back on the past, how he’s owned the Pittsburgh Steelers, and I think everybody forgot about our offense a little bit and the things they’ve been doing out there,” Pittsburgh linebacker LaMarr Woodley said. “I think they took that a little personal.”

Roethlisberger had one of his best games of the season, throwing 30 times in the first half and finishing 36 of 50 for 365 yards, two touchdowns, and one pick as the Steelers notched their fourth straight victory after starting 2-2. They move into a tie for first place in the AFC.

Brady was 24 of 35 for a season low 198 yards and two touchdowns. The Patriots showed no signs of panicking, though the loss dropped them back into a tie for the AFC East with Buffalo and only one game ahead of the Jets. The Patriots punted four times during the game, missed a key field goal, and failed miserably on an onside kick attempt.

The team that was out there Sunday was very reminiscent of the Patriots teams that have shown up in the playoffs the past few years. ”It just wasn’t a really good day for us in any phase of the game, in any area,” Belichick said. “We just didn’t do a good enough job. That’s really all there is to say.”

There is more to say than just that. This is a Patriots team whose defense is so bad that on any given day when the offense isn’t putting up huge numbers, there’s a really good possibility of them losing the game.

The problems with the defense are deeper than anyone in New England wants to let on, but the Steelers have shown the rest of the league that this isn’t the same untouchable Patriots team we’ve seen over the past decade.

The Patriots host the New York Giants next week. With their schedule not getting any easier and the emergence of Buffalo combined with the recent resurgence of the Jets, the Patriots have to get things turned around quickly if they hope to keep control of the AFC East.

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When the 6-1 Patriots take on the 5-2 Steelers this Sunday we all will get a little preview of what may come later in the playoffs as both teams look to make runs at the Super Bowl. Both teams have been playing well as of late and this should be another classic showdown between one of the leagues’ best offenses and one of the best defenses.

New England is the No. 1-ranked offense and Pittsburgh is the third-ranked defense. On paper this would seem like an even matchup and for years the Steelers have been known for their staunch defense, but there is one thing that those stats don’t reflect: Tom Brady is the QB for the Patriots and if history shows anything it’s that Brady plays really well against the Steelers.

Brady is 6-1 all-time against Pittsburgh with a 104.8 career passer rating and a 67.8 completion percentage. You don’t have to be a sports analyst to know that those are astonishingly good stats against a team whose defense is usually its strong point. In the most recent matchup between the two from last year, Brady was 30 of 43 for 350 yards and three touchdowns.

Mike Tomlin, whose now in his fifth season coaching the Steelers, has yet to beat the Patriots. “He is just very good physically and mentally,” Tomlin said this week. “He is very talented in both areas. He is tough to trick, he makes quick decisions, he has pinpoint accuracy and he has the arm to do the things he desires to do.”

The Steelers run a base 3-4 defense with a lot of zone-blitzes that are designed to trick and disguise quarterbacks, but Brady always seems to be a step ahead of them. Brady’s ability, plus the personel for both teams favors the Patriots. The Steelers strength is not their secondary it’s their front seven.

With the way the Patriots utilize spread formations along with the emergence of tight ends, Aaron Hernandez and Rob Gronkowski, the Steelers are forced to sub out linebackers for more corners, or live with James Farrior, LaMarr Woodley, and Larry Foote matched up against the more athletic tight ends.

With the way the Patriots have been able to run the ball this year–they are 10^th in the league–it’s a double edge sword for the Steelers. Not having James Harrison, who will miss his 4^th game due to an eye injury, hurts as well because it takes away from the Steelers pass rush, which as we have seen over the years is the only way to get to Brady.

On the flip side is the atrocious Patriot defense, especially the secondary, against Big Ben and the Steeler offense. The Steelers have the 9^th ranked pass offense and the Patriots have the 32^nd ranked pass defense.

This matchup should favor the Steelers  as Rashard Mendenhall has been running the ball effectively and with a WR core consisting of Mike Wallace, Hines Ward, Antonio Brown, Emmanuel Sanders, and TE Heath Miller, the Steelers should have no problem exploiting the secondary.

This game has the looks of a shootout the question boils down to whether the Steelers can manage to stop Brady and if Big Ben, who isn’t known for putting up monster numbers in a game, can keep up with the high scoring Patriots. This is not to say that history won’t repeat itself again and that means that Tom Brady and the Patriots have the Steelers number.

Add to that giving Belichick an extra week to prepare and it is probable that the Patriots will win a high scoring. Final Prediction: Patriots 31 Steelers 21.

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