Dec 9, 2007 9:00 pm US/Eastern
Pats Defeat Steelers 34-13, Remain Undefeated
FOXBORO, Mass. (CBS) ―
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Randy Moss caught seven passes for135 yards and two touchdowns in the Patriots' 34-13 win over the Steelers on Dec. 9, 2007.
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The Patriots are dominant once more, and still unbeaten.
Tom
Brady threw four touchdown passes, shattering Steelers safety Anthony
Smith's guarantee of a victory, Randy Moss caught two of them and New
England crushed Pittsburgh 34-13 on Sunday. Two of the TD's were at the
expense of Smith, one a quick-strike 63-yarder after Moss ran past
Smith and cornerback Ike Taylor on his way into the open field.
The
lopsided victory against the NFL's stingiest defense followed a
two-game struggle in which the Patriots (13-0) needed late comebacks to
beat teams with losing records, Philadelphia and Baltimore.
They
had a short week to prepare for the Steelers (9-4) after beating the
Ravens on Monday night on a touchdown with 44 seconds left.
Still,
the Patriots became the fifth team with a 13-0 record, joining the 1934
Chicago Bears, 1972 Miami Dolphins, 1998 Denver Broncos and 2005
Indianapolis Colts. They can become the first team since the 1972
Dolphins to finish a regular season undefeated.
They should
be big favorites to win the next two, against the Jets and Dolphins,
and take a 15-0 record into their season finale at the New York Giants.
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 the second spot with 48.
Moss caught touchdown passes
of 4 and 63 yards in a span of 1:59 midway through the first half and
has 19 to move into second place for a season. Jerry Rice's record of
22 is in sight.
Brady also threw scoring passes of 56 yards to Jabar Gaffney and 2 yards to Wes Welker.
It
was a beating like so many of those the Patriots handed out in their
first 10 games, when their average victory margin was 25.4 points.
There may have been extra satisfaction because Smith was burned on both long touchdown passes.
Just
before the 2-minute warning at the end of the game, the fans began
chanting "Guarantee!" to mock Smith, whose picture was shown on the
scoreboard.
"When something like that is
said, it's either going to be really good for you or really bad. I
think we all saw how it turned out there," New England offensive
lineman Matt Light said. "The big man upstairs, they say he has a sense
of humor."
The Patriots were laughing
openly after a flea-flicker that went from Brady to Moss, off the turf,
and back to Brady, who heaved a 56-yard floater to a wide-open Jabar
Gaffney in the end zone. Smith was sprinting to catch up.
"We've
played against a lot better safeties than him, I'll tell you," New
England coach Bill Belichick said with a smile, adding later: "The
safety play at that position was pretty inviting."
Despite
the win, none of the Patriots were willing to consider the chance for a
perfect season after the game: "14-0 means something to me. I think
that's about as far as I would go," said Brady, who completed 32-of-46
for 399 yards.
Both Moss and Brady are on track to set some NFL records of their own as well.
Moss,
who caught seven passes for 135 yards in the game, needs just four more
touchdown catches in the last three games to break Jerry Rice's record
of 22 in a season. While Brady needs only five more TD passes to break
Peyton Manning's record of 49 set in 2004.
"I
told him I hope he breaks the record next week, because it's so much
fun watching him play," said Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger,
who completed 19 of 32 passes for 187 yards and a touchdown. "I don't
like him playing against us and how well he played, but it truly is an
honor to watch such a great quarterback play the game."
The Steelers would have clinched a playoff berth with a victory, but still lead the AFC North.
"We
are still writing our story," Coach Mike Tomlin said. "This is not the
final chapter in our story, and it wasn't going to be whether we won or
lost."
Game Notes: Gaffney caught seven
passes for 122 yards. New England ran for just 22 yards in the game.
Willie Parker rushed for 124 yards on 21 carries for Pittsburgh.
Belichick improved to 100-39 as Patriots coach, including the playoffs.
Brady wasn't sacked by Pittsburgh and in 476 passes attempted this
season, he's been sacked just 16 times. Pittsburgh played without
starting safeties Ryan Clark, on injured reserve, and Troy Polamalu,
who has a knee injury. The Patriots became the fifth team with a 13-0
record, joining the 1934 Chicago Bears, 1972 Miami Dolphins, 1998
Denver Broncos and 2005 Indianapolis Colts.
(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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