Steelers- Patriots Preview – A “Brady-Less” Rematch

For the Pittsburgh Steelers’ third game of the 2025 season, the team will be on the road in Massachusetts to take on the New England Patriots who for the fifth straight year will have a quarterback starting not named Brady. When the future hall of famer Brady was calling the signals for New England and playing the Steelers in a word, it was domination. 

Essentially, the New England Patriots OWNED the series between the Steelers and Pats. In 16 meetings between the two teams from the year Brady was drafted in 2000 until he left for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2020, Brady led the Patriots to 12 victories while losing only four. Some of those game were close, but others were a complete blowout.

The two teams met twice in 2002, first in the regular season then in the playoffs where New England won 24-17. But in the regular season, it was a Patriots 30-14 blowout. Three years later it was the same scenario with opposite results. On September 25, 2005, New England prevailed 23-20. In the postseason, 41-27 was the final as Pittsburgh was sent packing.

In 2013, the Patriots put up a 55 spot on the scoreboard winning a shootout that saw Pittsburgh score 31. Four years later it was a 36-17 final with New England once again on top and another two years after they won again 33-30. The most points scored against a Tom Brady Patriots team was 34 in 2004 when the Steelers won 34-20. Pittsburgh also won 33-10 in 2008. With Tom Brady calling signals there has never been a shutout by either team. 

During Tom Brady’s reign in New England, at one point his Patriots had defeated the Steelers five straight times and then another three straight from 2005-2007. The five game winning streak came between 2013 and 2017 that including a playoff victory by New England. Three of Brady’s victories over the Steelers came in the playoffs the only time these two teams exchanged blows in the offseason while Brady was a Patriot. 

As for the entire history of this series between Pittsburgh and New England, the two teams have met 35 times since the first meeting in 1972, and the Patriots have won 19 of those games losing 16. But when it comes to the playoffs, it’s all New England winning four out of the five games played. Pittsburgh’s sole victory came in 1998 when the Steelers came out the victors in a playoff game played on the road.

As for that very first meeting, the date was October 22, 1972, with the game being played in old Three Rivers Stadium and Pittsburgh prevailed 33-3. At that time the Patriots had an entirely different logo, Chuck Noll was coaching the Steelers, and John Mazur was on the sidelines for New England. Roy Gerela kicked four field goals for the Steelers, and three touchdowns were put on the board by Pittsburgh, one by Ron Shanklin connecting with Terry Bradshaw on a 30-yard pass and catch and the other on the ground from 28 yards out by Steve Davis. Jack Ham added a defensive touchdown picking off a pass and taking it to the house from 32 yards out.

Two years later the Steelers would win the second meeting as well in New England 21-17. The Steelers had their own five game winning streak from 1989 until they lost in the playoffs in 1997. Since the departure of Brady to Tampa, there have been two meetings on September 9, 2022, and again on December 7, 2023, both in Pittsburgh and the Steelers lost both (17-14 and 21-18). In Tom Brady’s last game against the Steelers before skipping town, which took place on September 8, 2019, the result was a New England 33-3 victory. So New England is riding a three-game winning streak. 

For the record, in Tom Brady’s only game versus Pittsburgh while playing for Tampa came on October 16, 2022, and the Steelers edged out the Bucs 20-18 when Brady failed to tie the game with a two point conversion late in the fourth quarter. That brings us to week three in the NFL and the matchup for the Steelers with New England on their turf.

When the Steelers have the ball

Pittsburgh must accomplish two things in this game both offensively and defensively. On offense the run game has to get going. On defense that will be discussed ahead under the when the Patriots have the ball. For Jaylen Warren he has two games in the books, but we still await his first big game rushing. With only 48 yards on Seattle a week before, his 3.4 yards per carry won’t cut it. With Caleb Johnson’s huge mistake on the kickoff return that responsibility has been taken away from him by Head Coach Mike Tomlin. Will that mean more touches out of the backfield? Don’t count on it. Tomlin’s trust in the first year player has been damaged.

Behind Warren is Kenneth Gainwell who has been a big disappointment. That means the pressure is on Jaylen Warren to perform. The Steelers must also clean up the dropped passes which stud DK Metcalf had two of in week two. He’s better than that. Throws to the tight end were supposed to be a feature of this offense in 2025 and against the Seahawks Aaron Rodgers went in that direction 10 times completing eight of them but for only 64 yards with Pat Freiermuth accounting for 31 of them. 

Aaron Rodgers’ numbers dropped dramatically from week one in the game with Seattle, but the man knows how to play. Expect a much cleaner and better game from him this week. The offensive line has to stiffen up and give Rodgers better protection, so we’ll see if they learned anything from the home opener that saw Rodgers throw two picks and got sacked three times. The Steelers have always counted on the run so this will be the key for the offense on the road.

When the Patriots have the ball

New England took care of Miami in week two but that is a Dolphins team that is in disarray. Still, Drake Maye was very efficient in the passing game hitting on but four of his 23 passes for 230 yards and two touchdowns. His passer rating was a solid 137.3. You would think Stefon Diggs would be the Patriots primary weapon but in Miami Rhamondre Stevenson led all receivers with five receptions and 88 yards. Diggs had four catches for just 32 yards.

Stevenson also led the team in week two for rushing yards with 54 with one run of 21 yards. This is where we talk about the Steelers’ defense. Heading into this game Pittsburgh is 28th in yards allowed per game with a mark of 149.5. They are 22nd in yards-per-carry yielded at 4.4. Worse however is their ranking in the missed tackle percentage which is an NFL high at the moment of 18.2%. In the 2024 season their final mark in that category was 10.7%. With all the additions on defense, we must ask, what is wrong? 

The Steelers defense also has the third highest mark for yards after a missed tackle with the first two opponents gaining and additional 160 yards after a Pittsburgh defender whiffed on a tackle. The Steelers’ secondary is where the most significant changes were made in the offseason but thus far opposing teams are attacking the corners and safeties with a high rate of success. They must find a way to keep the Patriots on their side of the field as much as possible in this upcoming game and give Aaron Rodgers good field position to work with.

Intangibles

Last season the Steelers defense was their staple until the collapse at the end of the season. With tougher opponents ahead following the Bengals and Browns games, now is the time to get things right. The Minnesota Vikings are next, and they will be Pittsburgh’s toughest opponent to date. At best they need a split in these next two games and the Patriots are there for the taking. Three weeks from now it will be back-to-back AFC North games first at home for the hapless Browns and then the following week in Cincinnati facing the Joe Burrow-less Bengals. Mike Tomlin would like nothing more than to have a clean sweep of the next four opponents so after six games his team would be 5-1. 



Prediction: Pittsburgh is better than what they have shown, and I believe this is a game where they will regroup and the talent they have starts to show. Steelers 27 Patriots 17.