Pittsburgh Steelers quiet Tom Brady and New England Patriots in AFC showdown

In case anyone has forgotten exactly where last year's AFC Championship trophy resides, the Steelers provided a reminder Sunday.

They came out from under the radar to defeat the ir nemesis, the Patriots, 25-17, discount jerseyswith a clinical ball control offense that almost made it easy for their banged-up defense. Coming into the game, the Steelers had a 1-6 record against Tom Brady. This time, they didn't allow him to be the deciding factor.

"You can't go into a game and put the other team on a pedestal, or you're going to play them different," Steelers nose tackle Casey Hampton said before the game. "Who cares? You've just got to go out there and play. Sure, they're a good team, but we're a good team, too."

The Steelers have won four straight to run their record to 6-2 and get the chance nfl jerseys cheap to avenge a 35-7 opening day loss when they play the Ravens at Heinz Field, where they are 4-0 this year.

The 5-2 Patriots, who host the Giants next week, managed to hang in the game, mostly due to a bad Ben Roethlisberger interception that set up New England's first touchdown. But they had a key three-and-out on the opening possession of the second half and later, Stephen Gostkowski banged a 42-yard field goal try off the right upright. Scott Suisham kicked field goals of 21 and 23 yards

Brady (24-35-197, 2 TDs) was frustrated because he was hardly on the field. jerseys wholesale The Steelers, traditionally a zone team, played great man-to-man defense against the Patriots' receivers and LaMarr Woodley was in Brady's face in the first half. With LBs James Harrison and James Farrior already sidelined, Woodley would injure his hamstring in the second half.

Roethlisberger, meanwhile, finished 36-of-50 for 365 yards, a pair of TDs naty and the one interception. While the Steelers have been a downfield, big-play team all year, he went after them underneath out of the spread. The Steelers had five scoring drives, each at least 10 plays and 5:00.

Finally, after the Patriots closed to 23-17 on a one-yard Brady to Aaron Hernandez with 2:35 to go (it was the Patriots' only sustained TD drive of note), Gostkowski's onside kick didn't go the required 10 yards and the Steelers picked up one first down before punting, leaving Brady one last chance from his 22 with 19 seconds left.

Patting the ball and looking downfield, he had the ball stripped by Brett Keisel. Troy Polamalu batted it all the way back into the end zone for a safety.

All things considered, the Patriots were happy to go into the locker room steelers jerseys cheap trailing by just 17-10. They were outgained 261-83, out-first-downed, 18-8 and had a 21:13-8:47 disadvantage in time of possession.

Roethlisberger shook off a bothersome foot that sent him into the lockerroom at one point. He threw touchdown passes of five and seven yards to Mewelde Moore and Antonio Brown.

A patient Roethlisberger utilized his checkdowns and kept attacking the Patriots with tight end Heath Miller on the opening drive of the day, an 11-play, 68-yard march.

The touchdown came on a nice read by Roethlisberger, who was cheap nfl jerseys operating out an empty set. When the Patriots brought a blitzer off the slot, Moore came underneath out of the slot and Roethlisberger hit him on a slant.

After Shaun Suisham tacked on a 33-yard field to cap off a 16-play, 72-drive that took 7:47, Roethlisberger made his only mistake of the half. He gift-wrapped an interception for Gary Guyton at the Pittsburgh eight and it took just two plays for the Patriots to cash in with a TD with Brady hitting Deion Branch for the final two yards.

The Steelers came right back with a 10-play, 76-yard drive, capped off by Brown's catch and the Patriots closed the first-half scoring with a 46-yard field goal by Gostkowski.