• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Patriots put streak on line vs. Steelers

Dec 9, 2007 - 12:40 PM Pittsburgh (9-3) at New England (12-0) 4:15 pm EST

FOXBORO, Massachusetts (Ticker) - The perfect record remains intact but the New England Patriots have been anything but flawless in their past two games.

The Patriots look to continue their undefeated season when they host the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday.

A victory over the Steelers will make New England the fifth team in league history to begin a season 13-0. The Indianapolis Colts last accomplished the feat in 2005.

The Patriots looked invincible in steamrolling their first eight opponents, but they have had to come from behind in the fourth quarter in three of their last four games.

Monday night's 27-24 victory over the Baltimore Ravens was the closest call of the season. New England seemingly was stopped twice on the final drive of the game before Tom Brady threw a touchdown pass to Jabar Gaffney with 44 seconds to play.

"This is the third time in four weeks that we've come from behind in the fourth quarter," Patriots coach Bill Belichick said. "It wasn't perfect. I was proud of the way they played when it was on the line."

Brady became the fourth quarterback in league history to throw 40 touchdown passes in a season but it came in his worst performance of the season.

The two-time Super Bowl MVP finished 18-of-38 for 257 yards, two touchdowns and an interception but still directed his 21st game-winning drive in either the fourth quarter or overtime - a league high since 2001.

Still, the ending didn't obscure the fact that the Ravens dominated much of the game, a fact not lost on the Patriots.

"This was the first time all year we got bullied," Patriots safety Rodney Harrison said. "(It) showed we have a lot of problems and we're going to look at film and make corrections before we play Pittsburgh."

New England, which has already wrapped up the AFC East title and has won 15 straight regular-season games, lead the league in scoring with 469 points but the Steelers counter with a defense that has yielded a league-low 155 points.

"The Patriots can beat anybody by 50," Steelers linebacker Larry Foote said. "But I still like our chances when we go in."

Pittsburgh's defense held the Cincinnati Bengals to 23 points in two games this season, shutting down their vaunted passing attack that compares favorably to that of New England.

Expect the Steelers to blitz often - a tactic employed successfully by Baltimore and Philadelphia the past two weeks.

Pittsburgh is no slouch on offense, showing its best balance in years behind quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and running back Willie Parker.

Roethlisberger has thrown 25 touchdown passes and 11 interceptions, a dramatic improvement from the numbers of 18 and 23 last season.

Parker has rushed for 1,093 yards and has six 100-yard efforts this season, although he lost two fumbles in last week's 24-10 win over the Bengals.

One thing working against the Steelers is a lack of success away from home - they are just 2-3 on the road, including a 19-16 loss to the New York Jets on November 18.