01:00 AM EDT on Tuesday, September 27, 2005

BY TOM E. CURRAN
Journal Sports Writer

PITTSBURGH -- Whoever is calling the plays for the New England Patriots, hats off to him or them.

Whoever it was -- and there still is no exact read on whether its Bill Belichick, quarterbacks coach Josh McDaniels, quarterback Tom Brady, or a combination of the three deciding which play gets run -- realized that the game had changed against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

After 45 minutes of play, the Patriots had a nearly 10-minute edge in time of possession. On a humid night at Heinz Field, the Steelers' relentless blitz wasn't so relentless anymore. Pittsburgh was tired. The heat they applied in what Brady later described as a "blitzathon" was cooling. And the time had come for Brady to increase the tempo and take advantage of the Steelers' defensive weakness -- below-average cornerbacks.

The mastery and magic of Brady is real. But while appreciating his cool and composure, one must also take into account that there are accompanying factors that allow him to do what he does. And what he did Sunday was merely let his superior receivers -- David Givens in particular -- exploit the advantages they had.

"We had the ball quite a bit," Brady said after the game. "We knew they were tired. If we could keep them on the field and keep the tempo up, we could get the pass rush (stopped) and I could have time."

Time enough to go 12-for-12 for 155 yards. Time enough to find mismatches, like Corey Dillon and Kevin Faulk being covered by James Farrior. Time enough to deliver the ball, which led to seven of the completions going for 10 yards or more while the ball rarely traveled more than 7 yards in the air.

But it wasn't just the fourth quarter. The Patriots game plan was to be persistent with the run even against a team that is traditionally one of the NFL's best at stopping it.

"We came in today with the mentality of running the ball," said Givens, who had another one of his monster games that goes curiously underappreciated (9 catches for 130 yards). "We wanted to use the run to open up the pass. The play-calling went very well. We knew we had to complement our passing game with the running game. That was the main thing. It was run a few, pass a few, run a few, pass a few."

The Patriots' rushing stats weren't eye-popping (30 carries, 79 yards, with a long of 9). But the ground game was unmistakably effective.

"I thought the backs played very well," said Belichick. "I thought that Corey [Dillon] ran hard. I thought he made good run reads. I thought that Kevin [Faulk] ran hard and made some good cuts. I thought they had a really good day running the ball for what their opportunities were."

It was enough production to keep the Steelers honest. It was enough persistence to make Pittsburgh realize that Dillon and Faulk might get stacked up, but that the Patriots were going to go back to them. It should also be noted that this was the first game in which the Patriots used Patrick pass as a lead blocker extensively for Dillon. On two runs, including Dillon's 7-yard score in the fourth quarter, Pass was out in front.

The Patriots' time of possession advantage on offense can be traced to three things. First, the running game asserting itself. Second, the Patriots' receivers running well after the catch and holding onto the football. And third, the New England defense flustering the Steelers on third down (Pittsburgh was 3 for 13).

And that set the table for the game's best clutch quarterback to do what he does so well.

"Well, we were ready to go," Brady said when asked what his mindset was when the Steelers tied the game at 20 with 1:25 left. "I was hoping the defense would stop them, but once they didn't, I said 'OK, now it's our turn.' If they're open, I'll find them. It's kind of fun. What more could you ask?"

Brady's first pass - delivered under duress - was behind Faulk who made a brilliant one-handed catch and turned into a 17-yard gain. The next was a crossing pattern to Pass out of the backfield that went for 14 more. On both plays, the Pats worked the ball toward the sideline to maximize clock.

"There were a lot of critical situations in this game where sometimes we needed to stay in (bounds), sometimes we needed to get out of bounds," said Givens. "Coach Belichick does a great job of teaching situational football and this week it came into play the whole game, really."

Two plays and the Patriots had gained 31 yards.

"I think we needed about 30, 35 yards we felt like to get into field goal range," said Belichick. "We didn't have any timeouts. We've worked on that situation in practice. We haven't been particularly productive in two-minute drives this year, but fortunately we were yesterday."

Thanks not just to Brady but to the line, the receivers and the unknown play-caller.