This Week
The New England Patriots host the Pittsburgh Steelers at Gillette Stadium on Sunday at 4:15 p.m. The two teams have won 4 of the last 6 Super Bowls. This is the first game of a three game homestand for New England.
The Patriots are 5-0 at the Razor this season, 3-0 against the AFC North and 9-0 in the AFC. The Steelers are 2-3 on the road, 2-1 against the AFC East and 7-2 in the conference in 2007.
Here are the rosters for the Steelers and Patriots.
The Line/Prediction
As of Thursday the line on the game from Yahoo Sports is Patriots -10.5. The over/under is 48.
My prediction is Patriots 31, Steelers, 24. Take the points and over. I am 9-3 against the spread and have called the over/under nine out of twelve times in 2007.
Tickets
The Patriots are reporting the game as a sell out.
Tickets to the game, if available, may be purchased through Ticketmaster. You can check the availability here. Many times tickets are released in the last 48 hours prior to the game.
Getting To The Game
If you’re lucky enough to be going to the game make sure you check out the links.
Here is the up to date weather forecast for the game from The Weather Channel.
Click for stadium directions, parking information, parking map, specific MBTA train times for this game and a Gillette Stadium seating chart.
Tailgating
Here’s a bunch of different tailgating recipes from Tailgaiting America. There’s something there for everyone and every type of meal or snack. I’ve tried some of the recipes and they’re very good and for good measure here is one of my own.
BROADCAST INFORMATION
Television
CBS is televising the game, and it is cleared for nearly the entire country. The play-by-play duties will be handled by Jim Nantz with Phil Simms doing game analysis. You can check here to see if you are getting the game from CBS and look for your local CBS Station.
Radio
The Patriots Rock Radio Network broadcasts the game from flagship station WBCN-FM 104.1 in Boston. Gil Santos handles the play-by-play and former Patriot Gino Cappelletti does the color.
It all starts with Gary Tanguay, Scott Zolak, Pete Brock and Andy Gresh and the pregame show at 1 p.m. along the network.
The post game starts after the final gun and continues for three hours.
If you are outside of the broadcast area of the stations on the Patriots Rock Radio Network you can purchase NFL Field Pass which allows you to listen to any NFL game live. You can also pick which teams broadcasters you want to listen to.
All NFL games are also available on Sirius Satellite Radio. The Patriots radio call is available on Channel 122, the Steelers radio call is available on Channel 181.
The game can also be heard nationally on Westwood One. Bill Rosinski and Dan Reeves will call the game.
Last Week
The Patriots survived their second close game in a row and beat the Ravens in Baltimore 27-24 on a last minute Tom Brady TD pass to improve to 12-0. The Steelers upped their record to 9-3 with a 24-10 win at home over the Bengals.
History
This is only the second visit by the Steelers to Foxboro since 1997. They played the 2002 season opener in the new state of the art Gillette Stadium’s Grand Opening game won by the Patriots 30-14.
This is the first meeting between the teams since the 2005 regular season. New England has won five of the last six meetings between the teams including two AFC Championship games played at Heinz Field.
In 22 previous meetings the Steelers hold a 13-9 series advantage but only five of those games have been played in Foxboro.
Connections
- Patriots linebacker Chad Brown was drafted by the Steelers in 1993 and played in Pittsburgh for four seasons, going to the Pro Bowl as a Steeler in 1996. He re-joined the Steelers in 2006 and played in eight games for Pittsburgh last year.
- Patriots linebacker Mike Vrabel played in 51 games for Pittsburgh from 1997-2000. He totaled 43 tackles, including seven sacks while with the Steelers.
- Patriots running back Kevin Faulk played with Steelers guard Alan Faneca at Louisiana State from 1995 to 1997.
- Patriots defensive lineman Richard Seymour and Steelers receiver Hines Ward were teammates at Georgia in 1997.
- Steelers linebacker James Farrior was coached by Bill Belichick when Farrior was with the Jets from 1997-1999.
- Patriots quarterback Matt Cassel and Steelers safety Troy Polamalu were teammates at Southern Cal from 2000-02.
- Patriot Laurence Maroney and Steeler Gary Russell were both running backs at Minnesota. Steelers tight end Matt Spaeth was also on the squad.
- Patriots center Dan Koppen and Steelers quarterback Brian St. Pierre were teammates at Boston College. St. Pierre is a native of Salem, Mass.
Other News
This is the link to head coach Bill Belichick’s Wednesday press conference on the Steelers. You can also see what Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin had to say about the game in a conference call with the New England media.
This is Tom Brady’s 106th consecutive start. It is the third longest streak among NFL quarterbacks behind only Peyton Manning and Brett Favre. He is 81-24 in his career during the regular season.
Here is the injury list for the game.
The Patriots are 12-0 for the first time in franchise history. They have won 15 consecutive regular season games dating back to last season.
The 15-game regular season win streak is second only in franchise history to the NFL record streak of 18 consecutive games the club set in 2003 and 2004. That was part of an overall 21 game win streak that set an all-time pro football record.
This is the final weekend for you to vote in the NFL Pro Bowl balloting which ends on Tuesday. Fans may vote online at nfl.com/probowl or by sending the text message “PRO” to 7777 from a phone with Sprint wireless service. The AFC and NFC All-Star squads are determined by the consensus votes of fans, players and coaches. Each group’s vote counts one-third towards determining each conference’s 43-man roster.
Tom Brady now has 41 TD passes just 8 from Peyton Manning’s record of 49.
Patriots wide receiver Randy Moss was named AFC Offensive Player of the Month for November by the NFL. He has 17 TD’s this year which ties him for the single season franchise record with Curtis Martin who had 17 TD’sin 1996.
New England is +17 in turnovers after 12 games.
With a win on Sunday the Patriots will have clinched a first round playoff bye. With a win and an Indianapolis loss the Patriots will clinch homefield advantage through out the playoffs.
Head coach Bill Belichick is looking for his 100th win as Patriots coach, he is 99-39 with the Patriots in the regular season. He is also 13-2 with the team in the playoffs. Raymond Berry is second to Belichick in all-time franchise coaching wins with a 48-39 regular season record and a 3-2 playoff record from 1984-89.
Since Belichick became coach in 2000 the Patriots are 24-6 in December for an .800 winning percentage. They have won 10 of the last 11 games they have played in December.
News from this weeks opponent:
Steelers defensive back Anthony Smith is predicting the Steelers will beat the Patriots this week. He is so confident he’s guaranteed victory for the black and gold:
“People keep asking me if we’re ready for the Patriots, they should be asking if they’re ready for us.”
“We’re going to win. “Yeah, I can guarantee a win. As long as we come out and do what we got to do. Both sides of the ball are rolling, and if our special teams come through for us, we’ve got a good chance to win.”
Patriots safety Rodney Harrison was asked by Fox Sports Radio about the comments and when told who it was Harrison had this to say:
“Never heard of him”.
Smith, a third-round pick from Syracuse in 2006, became the starter at free safety only after Ryan Clark needed spleen surgery in late October.
The second year DB doesn’t even seem to know who he will be covering come Sunday.
“They’ve got Walker and Moss,” Smith said, referring to Patriots receivers Wes Welker and Randy Moss. “But they’re not like Cincinnati.”
Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger suffered his first two NFL losses at the hands of the Patriots. He has a career record of 38-14.
Pittsburgh head coach Mike Tomlin will be the fourth first year head coach New England has faced this season. The others were Norv Turner of San Diego, Wade Phillips of Dallas and Cam Cameron of Miami. Last season New England faced 8 first year coaches and went 7-1 in those games.
Steelers linebacker James Harrison was named AFC Defensive Player of the Month for November by the NFL.
Karen Guregian of the Boston Herald says to expect the Steelers secondary to follow suit and get physical with the Patriots receivers on Sunday.
The Steelers have been without wide receiver Santonio Holmes and safety Troy Polamalu due to injuries the last two games. Holmes looks like he may play on Sunday while Polamalu’s return is much more up in the air. He missed practice on Thursday after he had practiced on Wednesday. The team hopes to know more on Friday on Polamalu’s status.
Next Week
The Patriots host the New York Jets at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro MA. The ass kicking starts at 1 p.m. on CBS. You can also follow all the action on the Patriots Rock Radio Network.
