Steelers Offer The Latest Blueprint To Stopping New England's Offense: Don't Let Them Have The Ball

Scores in NFL games can be very misleading and look no further than Sunday's Patriots-Steelers game from Sunday afternoon to illustrate that gambler's truth.

Pittsburgh (6-2, 4-0 at home) won 25-17 at Heinz Field over New England (5-2, 2-2 on road) so at first glance, you think well it was a one-score game so it must have been close. Theoretically this was true since the Pats got the ball back down six points late in the fourth quarter.

Truthfully, without any timeouts and under the two-minute warning plus pinned way back in their territory, the Patriots had no chance. Mercifully, it ended soon after as the Steelers forced a fumble that went out the back of the end zone for a safety. This came after Bill Belichick chose to try an onside kick rather than pin the Steelers deep following the score which trimmed Pittsburgh's lead to 23-17.

Despite having insane results every week (see today: the winless Rams beating the Saints), every NFL expert loves to make conclusions after each game (as stupid as that tends to be) since ESPN's family of networks has a lot of programming slots to fill. Today's lesson: keep the ball away from Tom Brady (24 for 35, 198 yards, 2 TDs, O INTs) and New England's offense.

Even without a great running game (98 yards), the Steelers were able to own time of possession: 39:22 to 20:38. Rashard Mendenhall paced Pittsburgh with 70 yards on 13 carries while Kevin Faulk led New England with 32 yards on six carries (plus 5 catches, 20 yards) in his first game back in 13 months.

Ben Roethlisberger (36 for 50, 365 yards, 2 TDs, 1 INT) did his best Brady impression by spreading it around to nine different receivers. Heath Miller (7 catches, 85 yards), Mike Wallace (7 catches, 70 yards) and Emmanuel Sanders proved to be better than Rob Gronkowski (7 catches, 94 yards), Wes Welker (6 catches, 39 yards) and Deion Branch (4 catches, 36 yards) If Pittsburgh was a little better in the red zone (2 for 5), this one wouldn't have been so misleadingly close.

When passing around the blame pie for the Patriots, it's hard to say who's more responsible: the defense that couldn't get off the field or the offense that started each half with 3-and-outs? It's the boring answer but I'd say they're equally culpable. New England's defense actually did some nice things (5 sacks, 10 tackles for losses) but as usual, their secondary looked awful and the entire team tackled about as well as your local Pop Warner B team.

For whatever reason, the Pats abandoned the running game (43 total yards) pretty much right away and instead relied Gronk who was the only receiver who constantly got open and fought for extra yards after the catch. Pittsburgh shut down Welker and Branch save for 2-yard score from Branch.

The Steelers' first drive of the game foreshadowed the rest of the contest as they went 11 plays, 69 yards in 5:52. Roethlisberger hit Mewelde Moore for a 5-yard touchdown which was way too easy, 7-0 Steelers.

New England had the first of their aforementioned 3-and-outs before Pittsburgh closed out the first quarter with another lengthy drive. Vince Wilfork sacked Big Ben on 3rd-and-Goal from the 9 to limit the Steelers to a 33-yard kick by Shaun Suisham.

The Pats' next drive at least got into Pittsburgh territory but Lamar Woodley (2 sacks) ended it with a 14-yard sack on 3rd-and-15. Roethlisberger made one of his typical bonehead mistakes (residual effects from that motorcycle crash?) as he threw an easy interception to Gary Guyton three plays later.

Guyton returned it 17 yards to Pittsburgh's 8-yard line. After two plays, Brady hit Branch for a 2-yard TD and the Patriots were seemingly right back in it trailing 10-7.

Impressively, the Steelers weren't fazed and they went on another long drive: 10 plays, 76 yards, 5:39. Roethlisberger found Antonio Brown (9 catches, 67 yards) for a 7-yard touchdown. New England got some points on its abbreviated last drive of the half with a 46-yard field goal by Stephen Gostkowski. Pittsburgh led 17-10 going into halftime.

By failing to score let alone pick up a few first downs to begin the second half, New England started to let this game get away from them. The Steelers had another decent drive (14 plays, 55 yards, 7:06) but they had to settle for a 21-yard field goal and a 20-10 lead.

The Patriots were moving the ball and seemingly getting into a rhythm but it stalled as they tried to pass on every down. Even worse, Gostkowski's 42-yard field goal went off the goalpost. Not making excuses because Gostkowski is one of the NFL's better kickers but Heinz Field has always famously been a hard place to kick.

Believe it or not, the Steelers had another long drive (11 plays, 69 yards, 5:54) but yet again, they had to take a 23-yard field rather than a touchdown that likely would have ended it early in the fourth quarter.

The teams traded punts before Brady and his receivers channeled their two minute drill against the Cowboys from two weeks ago. Aaron Hernandez caught a 1-yard TD to cut it to 23-17. A 3-and-out by the Pats' defense would have given the offense the ball back but they were gassed and they couldn't stop Isaac Redman on the 3rd-and-1 run that iced it.

New England had burned all of its timeouts and it was under two minutes when Big Ben curiously decided to drop back for passes on two straight plays. The Pats got the ball back but it was too late to do anything productive, game over.

The Buffalo Bills (5-2) shutout the Washington Redskins in Toronto earlier today meaning they lead the AFC East (by tiebreaker) even though they have the same record as New England. The New York Jets (4-3) were idle and the Suck for Luck Dolphins (0-7) continued to do what they do.

Next Sunday, the New York Giants (5-2) visit Gillette Stadium for a rematch of Super Bowl 42. The G-Men are always one of the tougher teams to predict since in some weeks Eli Manning looks good and their defensive line is one of if not the best in the league. Then other times, they almost lose to Miami (today) and appear to be their own worst enemy.

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The Patriots Won't Tell You It But Sources Say Jerod Mayo Will Miss Six Weeks

Patriots middle linebacker Jerod Mayo went down with an MCL sprain in his left knee on Sunday in Oakland and it's been reported that he'll miss six weeks.

For a defense that is already one of the NFL's worst, losing it's signal-caller, in addition to its top tackler from the last three seasons (No. 1 in the NFL last season too) is very bad news.

I've heard some experts say in the last few days that it's not big of a loss since the Patriots defense is so bad in the first place but my question is have they seen Gary Guyton and Dane Fletcher-the two players that will most likely replace Mayo's minutes?

Mayo wears the green dot on his helmet (meaning the coaches are in his ears literally) for a reason. Along with Vince Wilfork and Devin McCourty, ironically the other first-round picks of past New England drafts, those three are far and away the most consistent and reliable defenders. I love the Guytons, Fletchers, Rob Ninkovichs and Mike Wrights of the world but let's not kid ourselves, there's a reason they were all undrafted.

If Mayo misses the next six weeks (Jets, Cowboys, bye, at Steelers, at Giants and at Jets), he'll really be missed since all of those teams are playoff contenders, no layups in that group. Mayo has been a captain since 2009 and he hurt the MCL in his right knee two years ago and recovered quicker than expected so let's cross our fingers that the same thing transpires this time too.

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The unstoppable juggernaut that is Tom Brady and Bill Belichick will not be denied

Why do we put up with Bill Belichick's boring interviews and personality and Tom Brady's ridiculous hair and sponsorships (Uggs, really?), because the two happen to be the best in the NFL and when it's all said and done, they will be on the short-list of all-time greats in NFL history.

The New England Patriots clinched a playoff spot yesterday and took two steps forward to winning the AFC East (thanks Dolphins) with a 36-7 blowout at Solider Field against the Chicago Bears, who were supposedly one of the NFC's top contenders.

Embarrassing a team that's led by quarterback Jay Cutler (12 for 26, 152 yards, 0 touchdowns, 2 interceptions) is not surprising at all but absolutely shredding Chicago's good defense in the wind, snow and freezing temperatures was unexpected.

However, after winning five in a row, smoking the Jets on Monday Night Football and going into Chicago and absolutely tearing the Bears apart (33-0 at halftime), nothing short of a Super Bowl victory will be tolerable in this season of amazing improvements.

Brady (27 for 40, 369 yards, 2 touchdowns, 0 interceptions) continued his MVP landslide with more Madden numbers and efficiency (he hasn't thrown a pick in two months). Deion Branch (8 catches, 151 yards, touchdown) and Wes Welker (8 catches, 115 yards) have become the league's most formidable receiving duo while New England (11-2) still possesses plenty of other weapons: BenJarvus Green-Ellis (87 yards rushing), Danny Woodhead (rushing touchdown) and Rob Gronkowski (5 catches, 43 yards, touchdown) just to name a few.

It was enough to make you feel bad for the Bears (9-4) and the fine folks of Chicago until you remembered Cutler and Brian Urlacher are the two meatheads leading them to nowhere.

New England's defense is perhaps its biggest surprise since they've gone from a complete liability to dependable and capable of making big plays at any turn. They had four turnovers yesterday (2 interceptions by Gary Guyton and Brandon Meriweather and 2 fumble recoveries by Guyton and Jerod Mayo).

Gronkowski started the hit parade with a 7-yard touchdown catch from Brady at 5:47 in the first quarter.

The second quarter was when the Patriots put this one away with authority. Woodhead had a 3-yard touchdown run then Devin McCourty forced a fumble by Bears receiver Johnny Knox and Guyton returned it 35 yards for a score. Shayne Graham added two field goals (30, 25) and the final nail was a 59-yard touchdown pass from Brady to Branch on the last play of the first half. Lovie Smith is apparently a defensive genius but why his secondary wasn't playing prevent defense is beyond me. 33-0 Patriots at halftime after Graham missed the last point after.

The entire second half was elongated garbage time that basically revolved around whether the Bears would ever score (barely) and if Brady would come out at some point (yes). Graham had a 29-yard field goal and Chester Taylor finally got Chicago on the board with a 1-yard touchdown run.

From here, New England gets set for another prime time game: Sunday at Gillette vs. the Green Bay Packers. They might have caught a break (not that they need it) when Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers picked up his second concussion of the season yesterday in a loss to the Lions. Green Bay's only hope of winning (and making the playoffs) is if Rodgers is healthy enough to play. Matt Flynn was not good at LSU and I'm pretty sure that hasn't changed in the NFL.

oh hello NFL regular season

It's probably because the 2010 Boston Red Sox have been out of the race for basically all season but I can never remember being more excited for an NFL season to start.

I have absolutely no idea what to expect from my New England Patriots but therein lies some of the excitement I guess.

Yesterday afternoon was about as good a start as you could ever dream of: New England beat a playoff team (Cincinnati Bengals) 38-24 at Gillette Stadium.

Where to begin the plethora of highlights? Tom Brady, the NFL's highest paid player, looked awesome spreading it around (25 of 35 for 258 yards, 3 touchdowns, 0 interceptions).

Wes Welker played his first real game since the 2009 regular season finale, racking up eight catches for 64 yards and two touchdowns, looking nothing like a guy recovering from ACL surgery. Even Fred Taylor (71 yards rushing) and the ageless Kevin Faulk (70 total yards) had a spring in their old steps.

The Patriots had a defensive touchdown (a 59-yard interception return from Gary Guyton) and a 97-yard kickoff return by Brandon Tate. All this led to a 31-3 lead and a cruise control second half which led to the tighter final score.

With so many young guys and new names, particularly on defense, New England looked very promising. Pat Chung led the way with 16 tackles (12 solo), rookie tight end Aaron Hernandez had a 45-yard catch and rookie tight end Rob Gronkowski capped the scoring with a 1-yard back of the end zone grab.

Carson Palmer's numbers (34 of 50, 345 yards, 2 touchdowns, 1 interception) look nice but he didn't do anything when it mattered and the outcome hung in the balance. Ditto for Chad Ochocinco (12 catches, 159 yards, 1 touchdown) and Terrell Owens (7 catches, 53) who are well on their way to a 8-8 season that nobody will ever remember.

Welker fittingly caught the first pass of the 2010 season and finished the first drive with an easy nine-yard catch and run for a score. Stephen Gostkowski's 31-yard field goal put the Pats up 10-0 after the first quarter.

Welker added a four-yard touchdown catch in the second quarter along with Guyton's awesome individual effort.

Mike Nugent hit a 54-yard field goal to get the Bengals on the board late in the second quarter.

After Tate's kickoff return, Cincy finally scored two touchdowns (a one-yard pass to Jermaine Gresham and 28-yard pass to Ochocinco).

Gronkowski's touchdown sealed this one before Cedric Benson wrapped it up with a one-yard run.

The Dolphins eeked one out on the road over the Bills yesterday afternoon and the Jets begin their season tonight with a game at the Baltimore Ravens.

New England travels to the New Meadowlands on Sunday (4:15 p.m.) for an early AFC East showdown.

Randy Moss had five catches for 59 yards but he made headlines for his bizarre 14-minute post-game press conference. I have already seen too much coverage of it so I don't feel like I have to talk about it like everybody else.