Pats' Win Comes With a Guarantee

Patriots 34, Steelers 13

FOXBOROUGH, Mass., Dec. 9 -- The New England Patriots steadied themselves after a couple of wobbly performances and took a significant stride toward securing an unbeaten season. Quarterback Tom Brady threw four touchdown passes, two of them to wide receiver Randy Moss, and the Patriots pulled away in the second half to beat the Pittsburgh Steelers, 34-13, Sunday at Gillette Stadium.

The Patriots improved to 13-0 and dispatched the last AFC heavyweight on their regular season schedule. They get to face two lightweights, the New York Jets and Miami Dolphins, at home the next two weekends before closing the regular season on the road against the New York Giants in a game that could mean nothing in the playoff seedings. The Patriots clinched a first-round playoff bye.

Brady completed 32 of 46 passes for 399 yards as the Patriots all but abandoned their running game, rushing for 22 yards. Brady threw first-half touchdown passes to Moss on consecutive offensive plays, and added third-quarter touchdowns on throws to wideouts Jabar Gaffney and Wes Welker. The Patriots repeatedly took advantage of young Steelers safety Anthony Smith, who had issued a public victory guarantee during the week.

"They've done their talking throughout the week," said Moss, who amassed 135 receiving yards, 13 more than Gaffney. "And we've done our talking on the field today."

Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger threw for a touchdown and tailback Willie Parker ran for 124 yards for the Steelers (9-4), but they couldn't keep pace in a third quarter in which the Patriots stretched their lead from 17-13 to 31-13. The Patriots stopped the Steelers on a fourth-and-goal play at the New England 1-yard line early in the fourth quarter and coasted from there.

"They are good," Steelers Coach Mike Tomlin said. "We knew they were good. But that doesn't mean they should go up and down the field like that. . . . If that's the measuring stick, we're not close."

The Patriots had needed to dip into their reservoir of championship grit for fourth-quarter comebacks in three of their previous four games. The first of those came in Indianapolis against the defending Super Bowl champions. But their narrow escapes against less-imposing teams the previous two weeks -- here against the Philadelphia Eagles two weeks ago and last Monday night in Baltimore -- had made the Patriots look vulnerable.

Suddenly, opponents were finding ways to put pressure on Brady and take Moss out of games with physical play. More ominously, the Patriots were looking old and a few steps slow on defense. The Eagles passed circles around the Patriots with backup quarterback A.J. Feeley. The Ravens ran right over them with tailback Willis McGahee. The Patriots were fortunate to beat the Ravens, three times having failed fourth-down tries overturned by officials' calls on their late game-winning touchdown drive.

The Steelers were a different caliber opponent, with both a quarterback and running back capable of capitalizing if the Patriots didn't fix their problems on defense. The Steelers have annoyed Tomlin, their first-year coach, with a propensity to lose to lesser opponents. But they clearly were unafraid, as Smith's guarantee demonstrated.

If they didn't have the Patriots' attention already, they certainly had it after each team's opening possession. Brady and the Patriots' pass-first offense didn't have to deal with the sort of windy conditions they'd faced in Baltimore. But Brady was off target on the Patriots' first drive, and they went three plays and out. The Steelers kept the ball for 15 plays and 8 minutes 14 seconds. But they didn't get into the end zone, settling for Jeff Reed's 23-yard field goal.

The insufficiency of getting field goals instead of touchdowns against the Patriots was highlighted when Brady and Moss struck right back. Moss made a terrific third-down grab over cornerback Ike Taylor to keep the drive going, then got open against Taylor on a slant pattern on second down from the Steelers 4 for his first touchdown catch of the day. Brady made sure to find Smith for some in-your-face trash talking in the end zone after the play.

"I probably couldn't repeat what I said," said Brady, who surpassed 4,000 passing yards for the season. "I don't care to repeat it, especially if my mother reads it."