Sign up for one of our email newsletters.
Since the start of the 2000s, a few constant sports-related questions have hung over the city of Pittsburgh:
- Will the Pirates ever sign a big name free agent?
- Will Pitt and Penn State ever play annually again?
- Will the Steelers ever slow down Tom Brady?
In the first 17 years of the new century the answers have been:
- No way
- Yeah, right
And….
- We'll believe it when we see it.
Well, don't expect to see it this Sunday either when Brady and New England come to town again.
And Pittsburgh shouldn't approach this game like it will.
If the Steelers are to beat the Patriots Sunday, they should be ready to do it exactly the same way they just beat Baltimore: in a shootout.
No, that wasn't beloved “AFC North football.” It was more like Big Twelve football.
It may need to be that way again next Sunday.
For the first seven weeks of this season, the Steelers emerging defense finally had the appearance of one that could potentially combat Brady's relentlessly precise passing game.
It was getting pressure up the middle. The pocket was being collapsed off the edge. The middle of the field was being taken away better than it had in almost a decade. Even the back third was looking above average.
But injuries to Joe Haden and Ryan Shazier seem to have changed that. Not only had those two players been excellent this season, but the depth behind them has been stretched thin.
Tyler Matakevich is also hurt behind Shazier. So the defensive coaching staff seems to be throwing whatever it can against the wall to see what sticks between promoted special teamer L.J. Fort, reclamation project Sean Spence, and converted outside backer Arthur Moats.
If Haden can't return by next week, Coty Sensabaugh is struggling to fill the void and Cam Sutton is still a very green rookie.
Also in the secondary, safety Mike Mitchell just played his first game back from injury and showed some ill effects and/or rust against the Ravens.
T.J. Watt had a knee that was barking at him this week too. Plus he may have hit a rookie wall. Before his game-saving strip of Joe Flacco Sunday, he had just one sack since October 29.
Bud Dupree has just one in his last four games. That goes for Stephon Tuitt as well.
“It gives us a sour taste,” said Moats. “The performance was very much below the line.”
So if Joe Flacco and Brett Hundley could combine to put up 66 points in two of the last three weeks--all together now--”Can yinz imagine what Tom Brady and the Patriots are gonna do, n'at?”
Exactly.
“They are who they are. He is who he is,” said offensive lineman Ramon Foster. “We'll just have to deal with them next Sunday.”
Easier said than done.
I'd suggest the Steelers enter this game with one of two approaches:
Embrace the idea of winning a shootout like the 39-38 victory they just pulled off against Baltimore
Or…
Posses the ball for 40 minutes and keep Brady on the sideline like they did the only two times they've beaten him; in 2004 (34-20) and 2011 (25-17).
Since the latter may require a few three and outs along the way, I'd say buckle up and go score for score.
“We can win a shootout against anybody,” exclaimed running back Le'veon Bell. “I feel like we can score points whenever we need to. We ended up scoring 39 today. And that was not even playing our greatest football.”
For its part the defense would prefer the game didn't have to go in that direction.
“Gotta get stops. Gotta get off the field,” said Cam Heyward. “It's self-inflicted. Penalties. Missed tackles. Absurd things we are doing.”
If you saw Sunday's third quarter, you'd agree that “absurd” is a good description.
What also is absurd is thinking that you can keep trying to put a square peg into a round hole and assume it's going to work.
That's in part why Pittsburgh has struggled so much over the years against Brady and the Patriots ­– continually trying to do the same things they do on defense against everyone else, just hoping to do it better against the best quarterback in the history of the game.
That hasn't panned out.
So if you want a different answer, it's time to start asking a different question.
After sixteen years, stop asking: “Will the Steelers ever slow down Tom Brady and the Patriots?”
Start asking: “Can the Steelers outscore them offensively?”
The path to that answer seems more clear right now. It starts with Ben Roethlisberger to Antonio Brown.
If the Steelers don't go down that path, a different path may end up taking them to Foxborough in January instead.