The NFL is filled with punks and criminals but Big Ben & Jeff Reed take the cake

There's something immensely satisfying about beating a team that's fans think they're the shit. Clearly, that is why so many people outside of New England love it when the Patriots lose but is their a bigger group of frauds than Steelers fans?

Cheering for a scumbag like Ben Roethlisberger like he is a choir boy is sickening. The guy can play tackle football but yikes, the hard-working people of Pittsburgh are better than that right? No, I guess they're just like the fanboys of the Vikings who fell hook and sinker for Brett Favre. How's that going? End of rant.

After the Pats shit the bed last week in Cleveland, to put it politely, they obviously were just setting themselves up for their best performance in years: a 39-26 last night at Heinz Field.

New England (7-2) dominated this game of the AFC's best (not named the Jets) and the Steelers (6-3) scored a pair of garbage time touchdown catches by Mike Wallace (8 catches, 136 yards) to make it respectable for their fans who were already headed back to the steel mills and coal mines (stereotype much?).

Tom Brady (30 for 43, 350 yards, 3 TDs, 0 INTs) ridiculous hair and all (still no haircut) was the star of stars and his matchup with Big Ben (30 for 49, 387 yards, 3 TDs, 1 INT) never really materialized since the Pats sacked Roethlisberger five times (I know, unreal) and James Sanders returned the pick 36 yards for the clinching score (29-10).

After a brutal game last week, rookie tight end Rob Gronkowski showed why he is such a stud, hauling in all three touchdown passes from Brady. Overall, he had five catches for 72 yards.

The playbook for New England was back to spreading the field and using all their weapons: Wes Welker had his best game of the season by far (8 catches, 89 yards), Deion Branch (7 catches, 71 yards) looked healthy again and Brandon Tate had a 45-yard catch. Somewhere Randy Moss gets released.

You can't run on the Steelers' top ranked rushed defense, except BenJarvus Green-Ellis put up 87 yards on 18 carries. His 17-yard rush in the first drive of the game was the longest given up by Pittsburgh all season.

In fact, Gronkowski's impressive 19-yard touchdown grab on New England's opening drive, was the first TD the Steelers had allowed this season. New kicker Shayne Graham added a 31-yard field goal for the early 10-0 lead.

That drunk kicker/goofball Jeff Reed hit a 22-yard kick in the second quarter which would be the game's only scoring.

Brady and the Patriots showed the first half was no fluke as once again he found Gronk for a 9-yard touchdown early in the third quarter. Brady even ran for a 3-yard touchdown late in the third quarter, putting New England up 23-3 late in the third quarter.

Steelers rookie wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders (in for a concussed Hines Ward) gave the Steelers some hope with a 6-yard touchdown catch early in the fourth quarter but then Sanders iced it.

The last four scores for strictly for fantasy football purposes: Wallace's 15-yard TD catch, a 25-yard touchdown catch by Gronk - completing his hat trick according to Al Michaels - a 33-yard score by Wallace and a 36-yard kick by Graham.

Patrick Chung was back in action for the Pats and he made his presence felt with 11 tackles, six solo including a couple serious pops. Devin McCourty continued to ball with 11 tackles, nine solo. Finally, Jerod Mayo had nine tackles, four solo.

It will take another effort like this next week as Peyton Manning and the Colts (6-3) come to Gillette Stadium. As much as Brady (6-1 career record against them) has the Steelers' number, Indianapolis has seemingly always beat the Patriots the last few seasons. Should be another good one.

Reality Bites

The past few weeks with Matt Cassel playing the best football of his life, it was easy for Patriots fans to think that just maybe this team could make a playoff run in the AFC that other than the Titans, has no heavyweights in 2008.

The Pittsburgh Steelers (9-3) came to Gillette Stadium yesterday afternoon and made a statement with a 33-10 victory over New England (7-5).

We were getting ahead of ourselves and this team-while still in position for a playoff spot given such an easy remaining schedule-has to get its shit together and fast.

The Pats actually led 10-3 late in the first half (and it should have been more) but the Steelers reeled off 30 straight points.

One of the hallmarks of the last eight years for New England has been smart, physical football. Rarely do the Patriots make more mental mistakes than their opponents.

That trait was totally absent yesterday as the Patriots turned the ball over five times and had countless drops and stupid mistakes.

After posting 400+ yards in his last two starts, Cassel quickly came back to earth against the No. 1 defense in the NFL. He was 19-for-39 for 169 yards and two interceptions. He also fumbled twice.

Cassel's teammates didn't help him much as Randy Moss (twice), Ben Watson and Jabar Gaffney all dropped very catchable balls.

Kevin Faulk (73 yards rushing, 48 yards receiving) seemed to be the only New England player that showed up all day.

Things started out well as Mike Vrabel picked off Ben Roethlisberger deep in Steelers territory on their first drive. Sammy Morris punched it in from 2 yards out to put the Pats up 7-0.

Pittsburgh drove down to the red zone but New England's defense held up, forcing a 20-yard field goal by Jeff Reed.

Stephen Gostkowski's 29-yard kick put the Pats up 10-3 in the second quarter.

Big Ben and the Steelers moved the ball downfield efficiently and Roethlisberger found Santonio Holmes for a 19-yard TD pass.

Cassel and the offense looked like they would go up before halftime but Moss dropped a pass in the end zone and then Gostkowski shanked a 27-yard kick.

In the third quarter, Pittsburgh took a 13-10 lead on a Reed 25-yard kick then everything fell apart for New England.

Normal return man Ellis Hobbs was on the bench with cramps so rookie Matthew Slater took the ensuing kickoff and promptly fumbled which Pittsburgh recovered.

Two plays later, Roethlisberger hit Hines Ward with an 11-yard TD pass.

James Harrison started to get around Matt Light at will and he caused both fumbles by Cassel that Pittsburgh recovered. Two more Reed field goals and two more Cassel picks made this an ugly blowout.

Gary Russell went in from a yard out to make it 33-10 Steelers.

It was a pretty depressing game, fittingly played in miserable pouring rain.

Wes Welker left the game in the second half after taking a kill shot from a Steelers defensive back. Somehow, he walked off under his own power after being drilled when he was defenseless and trying to make a catch.

The Jets lost and the Dolphins won, meaning New England is still a game behind the New York and tied with Miami. Buffalo lost so they're officially done from the AFC East race.

The schedule maker gave the Pats a gift at the beginning of the year in the form of consecutive games at Seattle and Oakland.

Since they're still on the outside of the playoff picture, the remaining four games for the Patriots are crucial. They have to win at least three, four to be safe.

Just like they have no excuse for yesterday, there is no reason in the world they should lose to the Seahawks or Raiders, two of the worst teams in the NFL this season.

File this under: some people will never learn

Through the past seven years while the Patriots have won three Super Bowls and been the model franchise in the NFL, they have taken every tiny criticism against them and used it as rallying points. The no respect act gets tiresome but you certainly can't argue with the results. Make no mistake, this isn't high school football. Bulletin-board material doesn't win or lose the games since they're all highly-paid professionals but nobody takes more pleasure in opponent's absent-minded trash talk then the Pats.

Enter Anthony Smith, a second-year safety out of Syracuse, who is currently starting for the Steelers only because Troy Polamalu is out with an injury. For some reason (probably to get famous), Smith guaranteed a victory against New England last Tuesday. Therefore this game was won back on Tuesday. It was the perfect motivational tool the Patriots needed after coming out flat and barely surviving against the Eagles and Ravens the past two weeks. There would be no letdown yesterday at Gillette as the Pats picked up a well-deserved 34-13 thrashing of Pittsburgh.

Now the Patriots (13-0) only have three regular season games left in their quest for perfection and with this win they gave head coach Bill Belichick his 100th career victory. Pittsburgh (9-4) came out sharp as they held New England to a three-and-out on their first possession. Next, the Steelers went 59-yards in 15 plays (taking 8:14 off the clock) before stalling in the red zone and settling for a 23-yard field goal by Jeff Reed.

New England quickly responded as kick returner Chad Jackson (remember him?) returned the kickoff 39-yards to the Patriots 48. Tom Brady (32 of 46, 399 yards, 4 touchdowns) drove the team 52-yards in nine plays which ended with a four-yard pass to Randy Moss (7 catches, 135 yards, 2 touchdowns) in the back of the end zone. Need proof that the Pats relished Smith's wake up call? After the first TD, Brady sought out Smith and was jawing with him, something that Moss also did on multiple occasions.

After a Pittsburgh three-and-out, the Patriots caught the Steelers secondary off-guard as Brady hit Moss in stride on a perfect, play-action pass, 63-yards for another score at the start of the second quarter.

The Steelers are a solid team (probably the third-best in the AFC) and they didn't fold as they came back with a touchdown of their own. Running back Willie Parker was sprung for a 30-yard gain and later on the drive, Ben Roethlisberger (19 of 32, 187 yards, 1 touchdown) found backup running back Najah Davenport in the end zone for a 32-yard TD pass. Somehow, Davenport did a wheel route down to the goal-line and Patriots cornerback Ellis Hobbs couldn't get over quickly enough to fully cover him.

The Pats caught a huge break as they recovered their own punt after the next drive. They had first-and-10 at the Pittsburgh 34-yard line but could only gain four yards in three plays. Stephen Gostowski missed a 48-yard field goal as the Steelers dodged a big bullet.

Pittsburgh later added a 44-yard field goal by Reed on a drive where they converted twice on fourth down. Gostowski had a 42-yard kick with less than a minute before the half to give the Patriots a 17-13 lead.

The Steelers took the kickoff to start the second half but couldn't do anything after Parker gained 19-yards on the first play. It was an omen of things to come as they were shutout in the second half.

The Pats took over as Brady hit Moss (22 yards), Donte' Stallworth (9 yards) and Kyle Brady (7 yards) with passes before the play of the game. With 1st-and-10 at their own 44, Brady threw a lateral to Moss on the right. Moss fumbled the bad pass then tossed it back across the field to Brady. By that time, Jabar Gaffney (7 catches, 122 yards) was wide open down the field. Brady hit him just in time as he caught the 56-yard bomb in the end zone, right in front of our boy Smith.

The Pats stepped on the gas and went up 31-13 as Brady finished another drive with a two-yard pass to Welker. Wes had been held in check until then but he was on fire early in the fourth quarter as he caught five passes in a row at one point before Gostkowski notched a 28-yard field goal, the final score. At any level of football, have you ever seen five catches in a row on the same drive by one player? The Pats had broken the Steelers will.

The last signature moment of the game was provided by the Patriots defense as they stuffed the Steelers on a goal-line opportunity. For some reason, Pittsburgh chose to give a handoff to Hines Ward on fourth-and-goal from the 2. Pats safety Rodney Harrison (9 tackles, 2 assists) corralled Ward and also had a key deflection in the end zone on the preceding play: a fade to Santonio Holmes in the corner. It was a great game for Harrison, who had a tough season up until then. Since returning from the four game suspension, Rodney had looked a step slow. He's still the emotional leader on a gritty, veteran Patriots defense. Vince Wilfork (7 tackles, 1 sack) was another guy, who seemed to have his best game. He's usually battling multiple blockers in the trenches but he got some glory yesterday, even recording a sack of Big Ben in the third quarter. Vince fittingly celebrated with the Superman (thanks Soulja Boy) which finally made me realize that's what Moss has been doing all season after TD's.

Parker had 124 yards rushing but it didn't really matter as the Steelers passing game was never much of a factor. The Pats only ran nine times the whole game but that seemed to be a function of the game-plan. The Steelers came in with the top-ranked defense and the long ball was their obvious weakness in the secondary so the Pats went repeatedly for the kill with much success.

The numbers for the Pats are staggering. Brady has 45 TD's, four shy of Peyton Manning's record. Moss has 19 TD's, his personal best and a Pats record. He's three shy of the NFL record set by Jerry Rice. New England has 503 points (the 11th team in history to top 500), the record of 556 from the '98 Vikings is well within reach. Ditto for the touchdown record: the Pats have 65 and the '84 Dolphins had 70. Finally, Welker has 93 catches (4th best in Pats history) and is only eight behind Troy Brown's record.

The Jets (3-10) come to Gillette next Sunday and honestly, the Pats are going to bury them after all the Spygate drama from the season-opener. The Jets are a garbage team and New England could put up 50 or 60 next Sunday, look out.