you got roethlisberger flanked on the le and moore will try to churn his way into the end zone and does! so that puts them in a position down by 11, to get a touchdown and two-point conversion and a field goal if they can pull that off. >> cris: well, there is really nothing too pretty about this. it's just a double team on both outside guys and then the scrum. who can push the scrum forward or push the scrum backwards and trae essex got in on the back end of that choo-choo train and just pusd the whole pile forward. there you go. he put his back side into it and they pick up a couple of pots. >> al: a bill couple too. . if you go for one or miss on the two, you need a couple of touchdowns. but this way, as i say, you get

the touchdown and two-point conversion and a field goal and get that field goal and touchdown inither order an that is how you make up the 11. 29-18. >> cris: the game is not going away for bill belichick. it looks like every once in a while it's a little more comfortable but now it's decision time where you got to take a shot here with onside kick. the patriots answer with their team out there. >> cris: some of the guys on that hands team, not that guy. edeln is out there. >> cris: he is always the one i want to see them sort of drop it in the hole about the patriots 40 yard line and see if one of those guys can recover the bounng ball. one of those shots kind of right in there. sometimes you get a weird hop. you get your guys running forward, their guys running backwards and see what happe. >> al: welker the only guy back.

a little ground ball. it has to go ten yards. of course, now you have difficult scrum on the onside kick. each team will think they have it. >> cris: but did the steelers touch it before it went ten yards? i thought keenan lewis was pretty close to touching that one before it hit the line. >> al: it has to get to the 40 beforit can be touched by the kicking team and cheffers has already signaled it's new england's ball at the 40 yard line. >> cris: not going to mat now. but let's check out keenan lewis and see if he toues this ball before it gets to the yellow line. yes, he did. >> al: hit his foot. >> cris: it wouldn't have mattered anyway.

>> al: illegal touch off his foot. >> cris: pretty good job by mayo there. he almosknocked lewis into that ball. he didn't jump on it untilt got to that 10-yard mark and gave lewis a shot and i think knocked him into the football. >> al: new england with a short field at the pittsburgh 41 yard line. green-ellis, the running back. they give it to him. a gain of about four yards. to the 36 yard line. three straight 300-yard passing games against the steelers. the second player to do that, brian sipe in '79 and '80. >> cris: don't you get the feeling the steelers defensively hate this style more than anything else? they like beinin a phone booth and a fist fight and stopping

the run and you get them all spread out and it's like they think it's almost not fair, like come fight me, come fight me! the patriots just aren't going toe-to-toe with them. >> al: a 402nd pass from brady. that will move the chains and take more time off the clock. >> cris: for troy polamalu, he takes a guess here. he is thinking run and he's going to come in there and it goes the opposite way. he is allowed to try to go figure it out on his own. that time, he went opposite. the motion of the fuback and then the fullback, wide open. that play more than any other tonight is really givinghe steelers fits. the little throw out in the flat. >> al: from the 30, green-ellis

to the 26. at this point, the pittsburgh steelers are going to start to use their ti-outs with 5:12. >> cris: al, i like what i've seen out of the new england patriots tonight. you know, i knew they were going to or struggling a little bit defensively. you know, the numbers just weren't there. the pass rush really wasn't there but you knew they were so young with four rookies starting on that side of the ball and their offensive line was good. obviously, brady. if that defense grows up, maybe this is the team we have been looking for to emerge from the pack. >> al: one thing we know and thinks tells us this they almost never play two clunkers back-to-back. so i mean, they really laid an egg in cleveland last week. and it should have been predictable. they come back and play lights out the following week. second and seven. green-ellis to the 25.

in this league this year, nobody kno anything. >> cris: i can't remember a year in which there has been no team really emerge. every team has at least two losses. we have the jets now and have the falcons sitting there at 7-2. the winner of this game will come out of this thing 7-2. ordinarily, we arused to the colts or the saints or somebody being undefeated and maybe going for a perfect season. this year, it just hasn't been that way. >> al: third down d five. from the 25. pressure. brady going deep! and it's gronkowski for the hat trick but a flag is down back at the 37 yard line. and it was woodly -- >> referee: personal foul roughing the quarterback. number 56 defense. that penalty will be enforced on the kickoff. result of the play is a

tohdown. >> al: rob gnkowski has a game to forget last week has a game to remember the rest of his life ton. three touchdowns. >> cris: confusion in that secondary of the pittsburgh steelers. once again, william gay the victim on this one. gay and polama just could not figure out which oneas going to take which recver and it cost them another tchdown. we have seen a lot of just mistakes -- there is oo another mistake, but mistakes in the secondary in coverage that is very aa atypical for this steelers team. >> al: graham who missed the last attempt just puts this one in. doubles the score, 36-18 new england. >> cris: not the first time tom brady has done this to this pittsburgh steelers. we have seen him in the past.

this is just the style. but not everybody has a tom brady to play quarterback and you can't do this with every football team but you can just see the frustration level on the faces of these steelers defenders. they have no answer for what tom brady has done tonight. >> al: you know, it's funny. with new england through the years, the tight ends, aft ben koets left hasn't played that big of a role. ben watson played a big role in '05 and '06. you have gronkowski and they love hernandez and. >> hernandez with big plays in the passing game but tonight they want to make sure they get the outside guys blocked. we have seen more crumpler and gronkowski because of their blocking abilities. a more opening passg game, you'll see hernandez. one of the things the steele were talking about, any time you play against bill belichick,

they are going to have specialists at the tight end position and a guy that can come out of the backfid and tch balls in danny woodhead. >> al: sanders wanted to come out with the kick. they say forget did bit. andrea? >> andrea: we have seen gronkowski with the hat trick. i spoke with his mother about their family. five boys and three in the nfl. she said hardly a dull moment with them growing up. needless to say everything was competitive and not only a hat trick for rob but the boys all around. chris one in dallas and dan in denver. nd then tonight with rob for the patriots.

>> al: roethlisberger gets away from a pulled shirt and gets the pass away. caught up at the 40 yard line by mike wallace. they hustle up to the line of scrimmage and snap it as fast as they can. >> cris: so much of this offense is built around that the wide receivers to one side and one receiver down here to the bottom in mike wallace and hines ward is sort of that move guy. hasn't been quite thsame in there without him. >> al: and, again, wallace working that route to its max. first down at the 42 of new england. >> cris: mike wallace is starting to show some real patience. funny watching him in practic yesterday. ben roethlisberger overthrew him on a go. i looked back at him like he would be disappointed on that one. he was jumping up and down and he was so excited. he was excited he missed him because he overthrew it.

>> al: seven catches thrown tonight for 103 yards and ben with a little shovel. moore. mewelde gets to the 33 yard line. down to 3:30 left to play. >> cris: well, a lot of sort of late yards here for the pittsburgh steelers which are going to skew the stats of this one, but this has been a defensive effort that is clearly one of the best of the year for the patriots. >> al: no question. despi the fact that roethlisberger is gng to wind up for about 300 or more. that pass is incomplete as sanders goes down and sanders is shaken on the play. covered by mccourty. >> cris: lets give a little tip of the hat to the offensive line for the new england patriots. what a job they did. any time you play the pittsburgh steelers and all of their blitz packages and all of the things that dick lebeau can throw at

you, when you see a goose egg right there, not on him, but that is a pretty good guy there too. sebtian palmer who has had a heck of a day. >> al: third and two. ben. gets hit before he throws. thats caught for a touchdown by wallace. play extension of ben roethlisberger. he makes it pay off. receivers keep working and wallace gets free and it's a 33-yard touchdown. >> cris: mike wallace never stops. he stops there and tn runs to this side. somehow, ben finds these guys. i mean, their offense, so much of it, is built around ben roethlisberger's abili to do this. just move around. they can't tackle him. good job that time inside.

jonathan scott held his guy. here we go again. >> al: again they go fotwo to try to make it a 10-point game. and ben throws it up and we got a flag in the end zone. >> cris: looks like one of the receivers got decked. >> referee: prior to the pass, illegal contact number 32 defense. half the distance to the goal. repeat the try from the 1 yard line. >> al: devin mccourty. >> cris: i'm not sure but it looked like vince wilfork who sort of fell off the line of scrimmage, he comes back -- i can't believe that vince doesn't know illegal contact rule down the field. a nose tackle and illegal

contact down the field. >> al: ball at the 1 yard line. this is moore. he will work his way into -- well, he does get into the end zone. forwardrogress across the goal line and two-point try is good for make it a 10-point game. >> cris: wow. that was a late call. they end up calling that one maybe five seconds after he started to get driven back. it wasn't called immediately by the official on that side but as that pile started moving back, i guess he had time to think about it and thought it was good. >> al: again, belichick wants to challenge. he can. we're outside of two minutes at 2:59. the question is do you see enougho overturn it? the ball gets obscured here. >> cris: i think the answer to that is no.

i couldn't see it from that angle and this one not down the line. >> al: right. that is the issue. >> cris: you can't see it again. yoalso have to wonder in that situation, how did the linesman see it either? it doesn't matter. this game is still not over. it's been crazy, the fourth quarter. >> al: 36-26. pittsburgh again with an onside y here. the last one was touched before it went ten yards. now belichick is going to challenge challenge. it looked like he reached dow for the flag and then he said, no. here is reed. have to go ten yards. it is taken by alge crumpler. so they put crumpler in on special teams in this situation. the tight endwith the good hands. new england will take over at the 32 yard line. >> cris: it's one of the things

they do on the hands teanow. instead of trying to catch it on the front line, they send those guys out to block and then let somebody with good lands in behind make the catch. that time, mayo with great block in front that afforded crumpler the opportunity to make the catch. good play. >> al: pitburgh can stop it twice on defense. the ball at the 33 yard line. 2:57. green-ellis is making sure he stays inbounds. to the 30 yard line. compelling pittsburgh to take its second time-out. there is the look -- >> referee: hding number 98 defense. five-yard penalty. repeat first down. >> al: that is casey hampton. he got the penalty call. >> cris: yeah.

and one of the things you get or you missed was the umpire standing back in the backfield as some of those defense holding calls calls. now, i believe, at this point in the game, did he move back behind him? yeah, i think it's the five-minute mark, they go back behind. >> al: correct. >> cris: now you see the umpire. now some of those defense linemen can get away with, they can't get away with. >> al: the ball at the5 yard line. this is green-ellis again, to the 24 yard line. huge night for that man. the history of the franchise that began as the boston patriots in 1960. first patriots rookie with three touchdowns in a game.

>> cris: it's always good to see a rookie that can bounce back like that. for the kraft family, it's a pretty good bounce-back game for them as well. i'm sure they getting excited about what they are seeing with this team, too. >> al: second and six. polamalu is racing in and he overruns the play to the 21 yard line for green-ellis. d the pittsburgh steelers are going to take a time-out here on the other side, on the front side of the two-minute warning. >> cris: for theatriots tight ends tonight, it has been a good evening. starting right off wh this bullet from tom brady for the touchdown. then they get william gay a little lost in the play fe and an easy one. then a little nfusion back there as well d he was able to beat a corner, william gay as well.

for alge crumpler his night was more subtle. a lot of blocking inside on the outside linebackers. james harrison and lamarr woodley. and just enough of a running game to get those play action fakes working for tom brady and good night for some of those specialists on the outside and really didn't even get to e that much of aaron hernandez, probably their best receiver. >> al: third and five. green-ellis. fourth down. that takes us to the two-minute warning at 1:58 officially f the new england patriots on top by a score of 36-26. there is the two-minute warning at heinz field. .

>> al: coming up after theame tonight here, andrea with an interview with the star or stars of the game. bob, tony, mike florio will wrap it up and look at the other news around the national football league and cris and i will take a preview look at the giants against the eagles from philadelphia next sunday night. >> cris: how about mike vick? i think he is the leading passer into the league cing into this and i believe vince young is second. so it has been an impressive year fomike vk after it looked like would he ever get his athleticism back or not. boy, has he shown a lot this season. >> al: see him next week.

a 34-yard attempt for graham. shayne graham's kick is a wobbly one but goes through. i think the equivalent of screwball there. mesko puts it down and which way does it go g? >> cris: after a missed extra point tonight, i think shayne graham is thinking i need all of the good publicity i can get here. ben roethlisberger maybe thinking i could use a little help up front on that offensive line. it really has been -- people forget that willie cologne who is the starting right tackle and i think their best offensive lineman and out at the beginning of the season with the achilles. kemoeatu shod be back next week. max starks is out for the rest

of the season so this is pretty much a make-shift gup for the rest of the year. >> al: oakland comes here to pittsburgh next week. oakland comes here after their bye week. the raiders are, all of a sudden, hot and very much in contention in that afc west. then the eelers go to buffalo. then in three more weeks, to baltimore and that will be a sunday nit game on the 5th night of december. graham's kick taken at the 8 yard line. this is isaac redman, up to the 29 yard line. so the steelers down by 13 and one time-out. the rest of their schedule, there it is. baltimore, the game on the 5th and cincinnati comes in here. they have the three home games in a row. cincinni, the jets, and carolina and then wrap it up at cleveland. of course, one of the great benefits when the league gives

you three road games in a row, as they did at miami, at new orleans, and at cincinnati, coming into this one, at some point, yogoing to probably wind up with three home games in a row. >> cris: five of their last eight at home. although this one didn't help them any. >> al: the ball is caught and randle el takes the ball out to the 40 yard line. first and t. taking a little extra time here considering the circumstance. fires over the middle. that will be hauled in in patriot territory by randle el at the 46 yard line. >> cris: it's pretty easy to see now who they are focusing on for this patriots defense. mike wallace is getting a lot of attention. they have seen enough of him tonight. >> al: eight catches and 136 yards and two touchdowns for number 17.

miller. aken down at the 36 yard line. ticking down to 45 seconds. >> cris: at some point, you rlly need to begin with btaking a shot, even if it's a hail mary because you got to get one more. >> al: like right here. ben is not going be able to do it because he is going to go down in a heap at the 39 yard line and that is five sacks of roethlisberger tonight. banta-cain and warren are both there. now pittsburgh will spend its final time-out. >> cris: patriots am lm as many sacks tonight as they have all season. mike wallace on the outside. he is going to get a shove early and a lot of people staing around. they ve -- saying no, not you.

let a man like emmanuel sanders take a shot at it. at this point, i think it's time to take your shot. even if you recover an onside kick, you still have to have probably another completion before the hail mary. >> referee: time-out new england, 30-seco time-out. >> al: the last time the steelers gave up this many points at home we need to go back to the afc championship game after the '04 sean. that was bill cowher was the head coach. it was 41-27. an afc championship game.

new england came in here twice in the decade to win the conference title and proceed to the super bowl. second and 13. ben will dump it underneath and this is mewelde moore and moore will get to the 15 yard line. no time-outs. ben indicates that he wants to spike it. barely matters at this point. they need two touchdowns and they don't have time to do that. >> cris: i just don't get it. i don't know why you do that. that's a give up there. youad to take a shot in the end zone which would have left you enough time for the onside kick but it helps your stats, what the heck. make a few more dollars on your next contract. >> al: start the drive dinking and dunking and taking too much time. this is a classic case ever two guys throwing for 300 yards. one of them brady who had a

great night. and it's a legit 350. roethlisberger willhrow over 350 yards tonight. but you know why. they have been backed up all evening. th is the way the game ends with a plant by mayo. the new england patriots follow their worst performance of the year with a great performance on the road, they go to 7-2 and remain on top of the afc east with the new york jets. cing up next, the wendy's postgame report. that will follow from heinz field. first, ese messages fm your local nbc station. .

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the steelers 6-3 th a 39-26 victory. three touchdown passes for tom brady, all of them to the young tight end rob gronkowski. these are some other numbers for ady. 30 of 43 for 350 yards. so we have brady's numbers but he certainly has the steelers umber. he is now 6-1 for his career against pittsburgh. he is down on the field along with jerod mayo to join andrea kremer. >> andrea: thank you very much, bob. new england now 23-3 following a loss. so after arguably your worst performance last season, how do you follow up this season with arguably your best? >> well, i just think they executed better. last week, we moved on from that prey quick and we're playing a great steeler team at home. we know what they bring. defense played great. offensive linplayed incredible. guys came up with big plays when we needed it. >> andrea: your offensive line did keep you clean throughout the whole game. no sacks. why were they so effective? >> they are a bunch of tough

guys and i try to feed them well. so hopefully that keeps them happy. >> andrea: what do they get after the game? >> whatever they want. as usual. >> andrea: it sounds funny to say, brady to gronkowski. you had the hat trick tonight. how are you guys in such sync? >> he played a great game. i know it was a tough one for him last week. he came back and showed what he is all about. greaperformance by him. by all of the tight end and by all of the severeds and by the whole defense and by the whole defense. it was definitely a team win. >> andrea: you were especially animated tonight. whyo much emotion throughout the game? >> i'm always emotional! probably too emotional. i don't know. it gets me going. so keeps me focused. one way to play this game is with emotion. >> andrea: thanks for your time. >> hi, mom! >> andrea: jerod mayo what was the differenctonight whenyou got beaten up down the field by cleveland last week? how were you able to turn it around agait a solid pittsburgh offense?

>>e came out being aggressive. i think the guys did a great job up front. >> andrea: five sacks against ben roethlisberger. why so much success getting to him tonight? we brought a little more pressure this week. struggling on third down a little bit. brought a little more pressure this week from different looks and had a great outcome. >> what difference do you think it makes to their offense not having hines ward in there? >> i mean, he is a huge emotional leader for them. . not only he is a great player but he runs at team and him going out was a major factor for us getting the win. >> andrea: thank you. this is the paiots first of three games in 12 days. next week, they host the colts. >> andrea, thanks very much. let's swing things over to 30 rock and check in with tony dungy. before the game during "football night in america" tom brady said he was embarrassed the word he used after patriots were dominated by cleveland last week. . they turned things around in a big way. what do you see as the key to that? >> i think they did a great job

during the week with their game plan. you heard jerod mayo talk about bringing more blitzes and they used the tight ends gronkowski and got himn the game plan. more than that, i thought it was the emotion and the energy they played with. bradyalked about being embarrassed and i think he was the leader in that. i've seen him emotional but never like this tonight where he was after people. i think they realized they had this big game against pittsburgh, they are playi indy next week. and couldn't afford to play like they did last week. i thought that emotion and energy they brought was the key. >> ps now 7-2. first place tie with the jets. who, today, by the way, became the first team in history to win back-to-back overtime games on the road. the jets are, obviously, good. but have they also been just a little bit lucky? >> well, you could say that, but i'll say this. my mom was an english teacher and she used to say once is an aberration, two is a coincidce. if y