Heinz Field has usually been a very frightening place for teams facing the Pittsburgh Steelers over the years, though Tom Brady and the New England Patriots haven’t seemed to be too intimidated.
The Patriots aim to continue their recent success in the Steel City when two of the AFC’s premier teams square off Sunday in the headline matchup of the Week 8 schedule.
The reigning league MVP has had several other outstanding moments against the Steelers over his glorious career. In his last four encounters with Pittsburgh, which includes an appearance in the 2004 AFC Championship Game held at Heinz Field, Brady has thrown for nine touchdowns and been intercepted just once in leading New England to victories on each of those occasions.
Pittsburgh did rout the Patriots by a 33-10 count in New England in 2008, but Brady did not play that day because of a torn ACL the superstar signal-caller suffered in that year’s opener.
Counting the playoffs, the Patriots have left with a win in five of their last six stops in Pittsburgh and are 6-1 all-time against the Steelers when Brady’s been under center.
The Patriots had a little additional time to prepare for the Steelers’ formidable stop unit, with the AFC East front-runners enjoying a Week 7 bye that followed their third consecutive triumph, a hard-fought 20-16 decision over Dallas on Oct. 16 in which Brady engineered a long go-ahead drive capped by an eight-yard touchdown strike to tight end Aaron Hernandez with only 22 seconds left to play.
