Patriots sack Steelers; Ward injures neck

Associated Press

pittsburgh

Tom Brady maintained his mastery of the Steelers, throwing three touchdown passes to tight end Rob Gronkowski and scoring once himself, and the Patriots bounced back from an embarrassing 20-point loss by beating the Steelers 39-26 on Sunday night.

No NFL team wins more on its home field than Pittsburgh, but no opposing player wins there like Brady, who has won six of seven overall against the Steelers and four of five at Heinz Field. He was 30 of 43 for 350 yards with no sacks or interceptions, and now has 14 career TD throws and three interceptions against the Steelers.

Pittsburgh (6-3), its normally dominating defense shredded by Brady during its second home-field loss this season, drops back into a first-place tie with Baltimore in the AFC North.

A week after allowing 404 yards in giving up a season high in points in a 34-14 loss at Cleveland, the Patriots (7-2) limited the Steelers to 164 yards through three quarters, including only 12 in the first quarter.

The Steelers had only 35 yards of offense until gaining 52 yards in a two-play span midway through the second quarter to put them into position for Jeff Reed to hit a 22-yard field goal.

But Reed missed a 26-yard field goal in the third quarter, three of Pittsburgh’s eight drives went for negative yardage and at least two touchdown passes were dropped for the Steelers, eliciting boos from the usual sellout crowd at Heinz Field.

Pittsburgh’s Hines Ward left the game with a neck injury after a hit by Patrick Chung and James Sanders jarred the ball loose on a reception that was ruled a drop after a challenge and review late in the first quarter. Ward did not return, meaning his streak of 186 consecutive games with a reception — third-longest in NFL history — would end.