So Much for the #1 Defense in the NFL

This week was said to be the biggest test left for the Patriots on their way to an undefeated season. However, the mighty Pittsburgh Steelers and their #1 rated defense were still 10-point underdogs going into today's game, even after two weeks where the Patriots seemed to scuffle a bit.

It turned out the bookies were wrong...way wrong. Their pick for a winner was right, but the spread was more than doubled as the Pats trounced the Steelers 34-13, clinching a bye in the first round of this year's playoffs. Tom Brady threw for 399 yards and 4 touchdowns today, giving him 45 on the season. He needs 5 more over the next 3 games to pass Peyton Manning's single season record of 49, set in 2004. Considering that Brady passed Dan Marino's record today for most games in a season with 3 or more touchdown passes (11), this doesn;t look to be a problem.

A couple of those touchdowns were caught by Randy Moss (go figure), who almost caught a third on the Patriots' last drive. He now has 19 on the year and is another Patriot on pace to break a single season record, that being the one for receiving touchdowns in a single season currently set at 22 by Jerry Rice.

There were some great plays in the game as well. The Patriots found the endzone with 1:05 left in the first quarter when Brady slung it in to Moss for a 4 yard touchdown, and subsequently highlighted, by the way, by a post-catch jabbering match between Brady and some of the Steelers' secondary. On their very next play from scrimmage, the Pats went long and scored on a 63-yard play-action pass from Brady to Moss. In the third quarter, there was another long passing touchdown, but this one was the result of a play that started with Brady throwing across field to Moss, Moss dropping it, picking it up, then passing it back to Brady who then found Jabar Gaffney 56 yards downfield in the endzone. Because the only forward pass was the last one, the play was entirely legal, and had Moss not picked up the ball quickly enough a Steeler may have recovered what would have been considered a fumble.

After the play the cameras showed image after image of Patriots' coaches, players and fans smiling and laughing, perhaps at the fact that the play worked, perhaps at the Steelers in general.

Oh, and of course there was backup-turned-starter Anthony Smith's bold guarantee of a Steeler victory. As with most declarations of the sort, he was wrong.

13 down, 3 to go.