Pittsburgh finally solved its Tom Brady problem, defeating the New England Patriots 25-17 on Sunday to end the superstar quarterback's long reign over the Steelers. The Steelers had lost six of their seven NFL contests against the Patriots with Brady as their starting quarterback. That included the teams' past four meetings. This time, however, the Steelers found a way to stop the league's most prolific attack this season. Steelers signal-caller Ben Roethlisberger passed for 365 yards and two touchdowns, completing 36 of 50 passes and guiding his team through a series of drives that ate up time and kept Brady and the Pats offense off the field. The Steelers held the ball for more than 39 minutes and thwarted New England's late rally bid to notch their fourth straight victory. “It's been all Tom Brady versus the Pittsburgh Steelers and looking back on the past, how he's owned the Pittsburgh Steelers, and I think everybody forgot about our offense a little bit and the things they've been doing out there,” Pittsburgh linebacker LaMarr Woodley said. Brady, who lost to the Steelers for only the second time in his career, passed for two touchdowns but overall threw for a season-low 198 yards. Even so, New England pulled within six points of the Steelers with 2:35 to play when Brady connected with Aaron Hernandez on a one-yard touchdown pass. However, the Patriots' last-chance drive ended with eight seconds remaining when Brady was sacked. Roethlisberger used an uncharacteristic but successful array of shorter passes to keep the ball advancing in Steelers hands. The Steelers' five scoring drives lasted 11, 16, 10, 14 and 11 plays. They converted 10 of their 16 third-down chances and had three field goals by Shaun Suisham. The Steelers improved to 6-2. With the unbeaten 7-0 Packers idle, San Francisco and Detroit also took their number of victories to six. In San Francisco, Frank Gore ran for more than 125 yards and a touchdown in a fourth straight game as the 49ers defeated Cleveland 20-10 to improve to 6-1. Detroit, who had lost two after a blazing 5-0 start, sacked Denver quarterback Tim Tebow seven times en route to a 45-10 victory over the Broncos that took their record to 6-2. The St. Louis Rams, perhaps buoyed by the St. Louis Cardinals' World Series baseball triumph, shocked the New Orleans Saints 31-21 for their first victory of the season. The Dolphins and Colts, however, remained winless. The New York Giants dealt Miami a 20-17 defeat while Tennessee beat Indianapolis 27-10 as Colts quarterback Curtis Painter was sacked twice and threw two interceptions that led to Titans touchdowns. Baltimore engineered the biggest comeback in Ravens history, Billy Cundiff kicking a 25-yard field goal as time expired to seal a 30-27 victory over the Arizona Cardinals. In other games, Philadelphia, defeated Dallas 34-7, Minnesota edged Carolina 24-21, Houston beat Jacksonville 24-14, Buffalo routed Washington 23-0, Cincinnati defeated Seattle 34-12.
