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Lesson learned: Don't antagonize Brady

Lesson learned: Don't antagonize Brady

By Dan Ralph

Anthony Smith should have known better.

The Pittsburgh Steelers sophomore safety made headlines last week when he publicly guaranteed his team would beat New England on Sunday and end the Patriots’ quest for an undefeated regular season.

Forget that the Patriots looked vulnerable and were coming off two less than stellar victories against teams with losing records or that Pittsburgh sported the NFL’s top-ranked defence.

Smith should’ve known to let a sleeping dog lie.

Patriots quarterback Tom Brady made Smith eat his words Sunday, throwing four touchdown passes and burning Smith on two long TD throws in leading New England past the Steelers 34-13.

The victory came after the Patriots needed to rally late for victories over Philadelphia and Baltimore. New England also had a short week to prepare for Pittsburgh after dispatching the Ravens on Monday night on Brady’s eight-yard TD pass with 44 seconds left to play.

The win over Pittsburgh improved New England’s record to 13-0, and given that its next two games are against the hapless New York Jets (3-10) and Miami Dolphins (0-13), there’s little doubt the Patriots will be poised to make NFL history heading into their regular season finale against the New York Giants (9-4) on Dec. 29.

New England is the fifth NFL team to post a 13-0 record and is chasing the ‘72 Miami Dolphins to become the second franchise to finish a regular season unbeaten. The Dolphins won all 14 of their regular-season contests before registering three straight playoff victories to record the only perfect season in league history.

Sunday‘s win clinched New England a first-round playoff bye and moved the squad closer to cementing home-field advantage throughout the AFC postseason.

Brady is four scoring passes shy of Peyton Manning's record of 49 set in 2004 and moved ahead of Dan Marino's 44 in 1986 into third place. Marino holds down second spot with 48.

The Patriots’ lopsided win over Pittsburgh was like the many they handed out in their first 10 games, when their average victory margin was 25.4 points.

The Steelers were unlikely victims. They began play Sunday giving up just 12.9 points per game with only one reception of more than 40 yards.

But New England had two catches of 50-plus yards Sunday.

Brady finished 32-of-46 passing for 399 yards and no interceptions. The Steelers' defence did a good job of rushing Brady in the first half as New England held a 17-14 advantage at halftime. However Brady and Co. took over in the second half, helped by a Patriots' defence that held the Steelers to 156 yards and no points in the second half.

The Steelers presented the last real regular-season challenge for New England. The Patriots have already defeated the Jets this year and Miami, well, let‘s just say the Dolphins appear destined to make a much less glorious kind of NFL history.

Which brings us to the Giants, who should have an NFC playoff berth nailed down by the time they face New England. If so, their main concern likely will be staying healthy for the postseason. The Patriots, on the other hand, can take a serious run at finishing undefeated safe in the knowledge they’ll have two weeks off before having to suit up again.

So why not sit back and watch Brady’s effortless passes to Randy Moss, veteran defensive stalwarts like Teddy Bruschi and Mike Vrabel make big tackles and defensive backs such as Asante Samuel and Rodney Harrison continually breaking up passes. Seeing as it‘s been 35 years since an NFL team went undefeated, it‘s obviously not every day we see such history in the making.