Patriots at Steelers Week 8 Capsule

PATRIOTS	STEELERS
SERIES LEADER		13-8
STREAKS	3 of past 4
COACHES VS. OPP.	Belichick: 9-10	Tomlin: 1-2
LAST WEEK	Bye (Wk. 6: W 20-16 vs. Cowboys)	W 32-20 at Cardinals
LAST GAME	11/14/10: Patriots 39 at Steelers 26. New England QB Tom Brady passes for 350 yards & 3 TDs for 117.4 passer rating in Patriots win.
LAST GAME AT SITE	11/14/10
BROADCAST	CBS (4:15 PM ET): Jim Nantz, Phil Simms.  Westwood One Radio: Kevin Kugler, Mark Malone. SIRIUS: 91 (NE), 86 (Pit.).  XM: 230 (Pit.).

 

STATS

PASSING	Brady: 160-237-2,163 (1C)-16 (1C)-8-104.8 (1C)	Roethlisberger: 147-234-1,937 (2C)-12 (T2C)-6-95.3 (T3C)
RUSHING	Green-Ellis: 91-391-4.3-5 (2C)	Mendenhall: 94-351-3.7-3
RECEIVING	Welker: 51 (1L)-785 (1C)-15.4-6 (1C)	Wallace: 36 (2C)-730 (3L)-20.3-5 (T3L)
OFFENSE	474.5 (1L)	383.3
TAKE/GIVE	+1	-9
DEFENSE	423.7	279.0 (3L)
SACKS	Anderson: 3.5	Woodley: 7 (1C)
INTs	Arrington: 4 (T1C)	Clark, Woodley: 1
PUNTING	Mesko: 45.8	Sepulveda: 46.8
KICKING	Gostkowski: 51 (21/21 PAT; 10/11 FG)	Suisham: 47 (17/17 PAT; 10/14 FG)

NOTES

PATRIOTS:  With win, head coach BILL BELICHICK & QB TOM BRADY surpass HOFers DAN MARINO & DON SHULA of Miami for most wins (116) by QB-head coach duo in SB era (since ’66)….Incl. playoffs, Patriots have won 4 of past 5 vs. Pit…Rank 1st in NFL w/ 474.5 yards per game in ’11…Have totaled at least 30 pts in 13 of past 14 games…Incl. postseason, QB TOM BRADY has 6-1 record vs. Pit. & has 14 TDs vs. 3 INTs & 104.8 passer rating. Last game, Brady (277) surpassed VINNY TESTAVERDE (275) for 8th-most TD passes in NFL history.  Patriots are 18-1 (.947) when RB BEN JARVUS GREEN-ELLIS has rush TD in game…Since ’07, WR WES WELKER averages NFL-best 7.2 catches per game (483 rec.). Has totaled 100+ rec. yards in 4 of 6 games this season (160, 217, 158, 124)…TE ROB GRONKOWSKI had career-high 3 TD catches in last game vs. Pit. TEs Gronkowski (5) & AARON HERNANDEZ (3) have totaled 8 TD rec. in 1st 6 games of season…CB KYLE ARRINGTON leads team with 4 INTs…DE ANDRE CARTER had season-high 2 sacks last game…STEELERS: Aim for 5th consecutive win at Heinz Field…QB BEN ROETHLISBERGER (74-31, .705) seeks 75th regular-season win as starter. Has 114.4 passer rating at home in ’11, 3rd-best in NFL (AARON RODGERS, 129.4; DREW BREES, 124.4) & highest among AFC QBs. Roethlisberger has 10 TDs vs. 2 INTs & 94.6 passer rating in 5 regular-season games vs. NE. In past 3 games, Roethlisberger has 9 TDs vs. 1 INT & 117.1 passer rating…RB RASHARD MENDENHALL has 9 rush TDs in past 10 home games…WR MIKE WALLACE tied career-best with 2 TDs in only meeting vs. NE (11/14/10). Wallace has rec. of 40+ yards in 6 straight games, longest streak since ISAAC BRUCE in 2000. WR ANTONIO BROWN had career-best in catches (7) & receiving yards (102) last week…Defense allows NFL-low in passing yards per game (171.9) this season…LB LA MARR WOODLEY aims for 3rd consecutive game with at least 2 sacks. Leads AFC w/ 7 sacks…S RYAN CLARK posted 1st INT of season last week.