WHEN THE PATRIOTS HAD THE BALL: New England couldn't get much going all day in the cold and wet weather and against the NFL's No. 1 ranked defense. The Patriots went 1 for 13 on third-down conversions and their only touchdown came off a turnover that set up a 14-yard scoring drive. The Patriots had a 49-yard drive in the first half that ended in a field goal, but everything went downhill for New England in the momentum-swinging third quarter, when Pittsburgh outscored New England 13-0 and forced three Patriot turnovers to take command of the game. Matt Cassel fumbled and turned the ball over twice in the third quarter. He finished the game 19 for 39 for 169 yards with two interceptions for a 39.4 quarterback rating. Kevin Faulk was his favorite target. He caught a team-high seven passes for 48 yards. Faulk also led the Patriots in rushing with six carries for 73 yards. New England turned the ball over five times, all in the second half.

WHEN THE STEELERS HAD THE BALL: By taking advantage of good field position in the second half (the Steelers started four of their six second-half possessions in New England territory), Pittsburgh outscored New England 23-0 in the second session. Ben Roethlisberger completed 17 of 33 passes for 179 yards and two touchdowns with one interception for a 75.2 quarterback rating. He led the Steelers on scoring drives of 62, 63, 79, 8, 25, 1 and 40 yards. Pittsburgh's one-two rushing punch of Willie Parker (16 rushes, 87 yards) and Mewelde Moore (12 rushes, 67 yards) led a Pittsburgh rushing attack that amassed 161 yards on the ground.

SPECIAL TEAMS: New England's kickoff return team played a big role in changing the momentum of the game. After Jeff Reed (4 for 5) booted his second field goal of the game, from 25 yards out, to put Pittsburgh ahead 13-10, Matthew Slater botched the ensuing kickoff. The kickoff bounced off Slater's chest, hands and knee before hitting the ground. Pittsburgh linebacker Keyaron Fox recovered the fumble on New England's 8-yard line. Pittsburgh scored two plays later to take a 20-10 lead. The Patriots never recovered. Stephen Gostkowski made 29-yard field goal, but he missed a 27-yarder wide right. New England punter Chris Hanson booted a 50-yard punt and a 55-yarder, and he had two other punts downed inside Pittsburgh's 20-yard-line.

COACHING: Mike Tomlin and Pittsburgh's vaunted defense failed to rattle Cassel in the first half, but they blitzed, pressured and got to him in the second half, making two strip-sacks in the third quarter alone that resulted in turnovers. Pittsburgh forced five New England turnovers in the second half as New England's coaching staff didn't have an answer to Pittsburgh's blitzing attack. Offensively, after trying to establish the run in the first half but having little success, Pittsburgh played a lot of the third quarter in the shotgun spread formation to loosen up New England's defense, which worked. Pittsburgh scored 13 points in the third quarter and forced three New England third-quarter turnovers and 10 points in the fourth quarter, when the Steelers forced two more turnovers. Tomlin is now 1-1 against Bill Belichick and the Patriots.

INTANGIBLES: The deck seemed to be stacked against the Steelers. New England was an NFL-best 48-9 since 2001 in games played on or after Thanksgiving Day; Roethlisberger was 0-3 against the Pats; and New England entered the game 18-2 in its last 20 contests with the temperature 34 degrees or colder (it was 34 degrees at kickoff). But Pittsburgh threw all of those stats out the window and beat the Patriots for the first time since 2004.

roblee@projo.com