Coming into Sunday's tilt with Steelers Killer Tom Brady and the then 5-1 Patriots, the Steelers didn't have history on their side. Tom Brady's numbers against the Steelers were oft-repeated coming into the afternoon's national game of the week: 6-1 all-time, a 67.8 completion percentage, 2,006 yards, 14 TDs and only three interceptions.

But somewhere in the dark cloud that was the Steelers' history against Brady and the Patriots was a silver lining: The Steelers suddenly have one of the most potent offenses in the NFL and enough talent to torch the Patriots' 32nd-ranked pass defense. And that's exactly what they did.

Ben Roethlisberger lead a ball-control passing offense that was worked to keep Tom Brady and the Patriots offense off the field.

"Whenever you think about possessing the ball and time of possession and controlling it, it's running the ball," Roethlisberger said. "Well, we kind of showed we can do it without always running the ball."

The Steelers ran the ball twice on the opening drive as Roethlisberger lead an 11-play, 68-yard touchdown drive that ate 5:52 off the clock. After their defense forced a three-and-out, the Steelers got the ball back with 7:44 left in the first quarter. The Patriots didn't get the ball back until the second quarter. After Shaun Suisham kicked a 33-yard field goal to give the Steelers a 10-0 lead, the Patriots were still looking to run their fifth offensive play of the game.

The Steelers once again leaned heavily on the pass for that second drive, running on only three of 16 plays. By the end of the first half the Patriots had only possessed the ball for 8:47 to Pittsburgh's 21:13.

The Steelers converted 68 percent of the time on third down, including 6 of 8 in the first half, to sustain drives, which kept Brady off the field.

"[That] was big. That's the way you have to play a top quarterback," Steelers safety Ryan Clark said. "You have to keep him off the field as much as possible. Them scoring a low amount of points is just as much the offense's job as the defense's."

"You always wanna be out there and the defense is busting their butts to get them off the field," Brady said after the game. "We needed to do a better job complimenting their drives. If they have a long drive, our offense can't just go in there and do a three and out like we did."

Roethlisberger's 50 pass attempts were the second most of his career. He had 54 on Nov. 5, 2006, in a loss against the Broncos. These weren't all quick hitters and dump-offs against the Patriots. Roethlisberger finished the game with an average of 7.3 yards per passing attempt. And Roethlisberger says the offensive gameplan was to go downfield with the ball.

"You would have thought that the game plan was just dink-and-dunk but that is what they gave us," Roethlisberger said. "They took away the deep ball."

The Patriots decision to take away the deep ball merely opened things up underneath and allowed Steelers tight end Heath Miller and wide receiver Antonio Brown to have big days.

"I thought our Pro Bowl tight end did a great job," Roethlisberger said of Miller. "I know he had a great game. He is Mr. Dependable. I get the ball close to him and he makes plays."

As for Antonio Brown, the second-year wideout saw more passes with veteran WR Hines Ward being inactive due to injury and finished with a career high nine receptions for 67 yards and a touchdown.

"We expect to step up," Brown said of himself and fellow second-year receiver Emmanuel Sanders. "Every time we are out there, we expect to make plays and expect to do our job. Doing that with Hines Ward and the veteran that he is being out, we knew that our plays were going to be even more key."

The Steelers would end up almost doubling the Patriots in both time of possession and in total plays, keeping Brady off the field and allowing Roethlisberger to do his best impression of the Patriots signal caller.

But as good as the Steelers offense performed in their 25-17 win over their AFC nemesis, as a unit they still were not entirely happy with their performance.

"When we get to the red zone we have to control the ball and put seven points on the board," Roethlisberger said.

With division rival Baltimore coming into town next week for a Sunday Night showdown that could determine the winner of the AFC North, things aren't going to get any easier for the Steelers. But if their offense can possess the ball and keep the opposing offense off the field, they have a great chance to beat anybody. Clark and the Steelers defense would certainly love the Steelers dominance in time of possession to continue.

"The time of possession was big for us, and I enjoy it," Clark said. "If I had a Terrible Towel, I'd wave it too when our offense is out there. Three plays in the first quarter, for us, defensively, really set the tone that our offense was going to be able to control the ball. And when you've got that going, you can just kind of pin your ears back and play defense."

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-- CHASE KENDERES
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