The Result

The Pittsburgh Steelers came into Gillette Stadium and played a very efficient Steeler like football game that saw some good pass plays, some solid runs, excellent defense and they capitalized on turnovers and came out with their first win ever at the Razor 33-10 over the New England Patriots on Sunday afternoon.

Pittsburgh basically took what New England gave them which in the second half was alot. You are not going to beat a good football when you play like that.  Poor special teams, poor defense, turnovers on offense just don’t lead to victories on Sundays.

New England now drops to 7-5 when they had a great opportunity to gain some ground with the Jets also losing but instead are still one game out of first in the AFC East and tied for second with Miami who beat St. Louis.  Pittsburgh improved to 9-3 on the season and are 8-1 in the conference.

Scoring Plays

STEELERS	3	7	13	10	33
PATRIOTS	7	3	0	0	10

1^st Quarter

• NE – Morris 2 yard run – Gostkowski PAT
• PIT – Reed 20 yard FG

2^nd Quarter

• NE – Gostkowski 29 yard FG
• PIT – Roethlisberger 19 yard pass to Ward – Reed PAT

3^rd Quarter

• PIT – Reed 25 yard FG
• PIT – Roethlisberger 11 yard pass to Ward – Reed PAT
• PIT – Reed 20 yard FG

4^th Quarter

• PIT – Reed 45 yard FG
• PIT – Russell 1 yard run – Reed PAT

Offensive Player of the Game

Pittsburgh RB Willie Parker who sat for most of the first half had 87 yards on 16 carries.

Defensive Player of the Game

Pittsburgh LB James Harrison had 7 tackles (5 solo) and two strip sacks of Matt Cassel.

Turning Point(s) of the Game

The fumble by Matthew Slater on the kick off return after the Steelers took a 13-10 lead.  It led to a Pittsburgh TD and a quick 10 point lead.  Then Cassel gets stripped sack on the next possession and Reed kicks another FG and it was a 13 point lead just like that in 2:49.

Offensive Leaders/Notes

In addition to Parker there really was none for either side.

• They need to cut down on the turnovers.  Four turnovers on offense, all by Cassel, proved very costly.   Drops by the receivers hurt them and poorly thrown balls by the young QB stalled drives.
• For a more extensive offensive recap make sure you check out the live blog replay.

Defensive Leaders/Notes

In addition to Harrison, Lawrence Timmons and Troy Polamalu each had 5 tackles and an INT.

• Once again poor pass coverage was a killer and Deltha O’Neal was once again the culprit on the two TD passes.
• For a more in-depth look at the defense make sure you check out the live blog replay.

Special Teams Notes

• Overall they weren’t bad on special teams but the Matthew Slater fumble on the kickoff that led to a Pittsburgh TD was especially bad and the turning point of the game.

Coaching Decisions

• NE – 4th/>1 at PIT 20 Morris runs for 2 yards and 1st down in 2nd qtr
• NE – 4th/>1 at PIT 19 Cassel sneaks for 1st down in 4th qtr
• NE – 4th/6 at PIT 44 penalty gives NE first down  in 4th qtr

Injuries

• NE – S Matthew Slater injured in 2nd qtr on PIT KOR after NE FG – returned
• PIT – LB James Harrison carted off field at half time – returned
• NE – LB Pierre Woods motuh injury 3rd qtr - did not return
• NE – WR Wes Welker head injury – did not return

The Officials

• Ed Hochuli was the referee.
• Missed pass interference call on PIT when NE Gaffney was run into on a pattern in first qtr
• Missed a neutral zone infraction on PIT in 2nd qtr on 3rd and 2 at PIT 11

Game Notes

• The Patriots wore their blue jerseys today.
• Inactives for the Steelers: CB Bryant McFadden (injured -forearm), CB Fernando Bryant, LB Bruce Davis, OT Tony Hills, OT Marvel Smith (injured – back), DE Brent Keisel (injured – knee), RB Najeh Davenport and Dennis Dixon (3rd QB).
• Inactives for the Patriots: LB Adalius Thomas (injured – forearm), RB LaMont Jordan (injured – calf), DE Ty Warren (injured – groin),  OL Wesley Britt, OL Billy Yates, WR Kelley Washington (injured -thigh), TE Tyson DeVree and QB Matt Gutierrez (3rd QB).
• Note: The third quarterback can still enter the game at any time, but if he does so in the first, second or third quarters, the team can no longer use its top two quarterbacks the rest of the game.
• Offensive starters for the Patriots:
  QB: Matt Cassel
  RB: Kevin Faulk
  WR: Wes Welker
  WR: Randy Moss
  TE: Ben Watson
  TE: David Thomas
  LT: Matt Light
  LG: Logan Mankins
  C: Dan Koppen
  RG: Stephen Neal
  RT: Nick Kaczur
• Defensive starters for the Patriots:
  DE: Mike Wright
  NT: Vince Wilfork
  DE: Richard Seymour
  LB: Tedy Bruschi
  LB: Pierre Woods
  LB: Jerod Mayo
  LB: Mike Vrabel
  CB: Ellis Hobbs
  CB: Deltha O’Neal
  S: James Sanders
  S: Brandon Meriweather
• The Steelers won the toss and elected to receive.
• Due to his injury, Wes Welker had  his streak of 16 consecutive games of catching 6 or more passes end.  Welker had four catches before leaving the game.
• Since replacing Tom Brady, Matt Cassel is now 6-5 as a NFL starting QB.
• New England is now 66-17 in games played after November 1st since 2001.
• The Patriots have won 18 of their last 21 games when the kickoff temperature is 34 degrees of colder.
• New England is 50-12 since Gillette Stadium opened in 2002.
• The Steelers got their first win ever at Gillette Stadium.  They are 4-3 over all in games in Foxboro.
• Ben Roethlisberger is 2-3 in his career against the Patriots (including one AFC Conference Championship game loss) .
• Mike Tomlin is 1-1 vs New England as a NFL head coach.

Post Game Press Conferences

Listen to what Patriots head coach Bill Belichick and quarterback Matt Cassel had to say about the game.

Post game press conferences via patriots.com

Things To Work On For Next Week

Cutting down on the turnovers.

Next Week’s Opponent

The Patriots will travel to Seattle to face the Seahawks at Qwest Field at 4:05 p.m. on Sunday.