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Tuesday, September 10, 2002

By Gerry Dulac, Post-Gazette Sports Writer

FOXBORO, Mass. -- It was the night when the New England Patriots dimmed the lights and celebrated their Super Bowl championship in grand style. Among the pyrotechnics that took place at Gillette Stadium -- the latest football palace on the landscape -- was a laser and fireworks show that was right out of a George Lucas production. Then, the Patriots trotted out former President George H. Bush, just for good measure.

As it was, it might have been a good idea to keep the lights off.

The Steelers were so raggedly inept in their first two possessions of the new season that it was difficult for even Coach Bill Cowher to watch.

Kordell Stewart did on the first two possessions what he did on his last two possessions the previous time he faced the Patriots -- threw interceptions.

Joey Porter jumped offside. Dewayne Washington held. Those were on third-down stops.

Wayne Gandy jumped offside. Plaxico Burress stepped out of bounds. The former negated a Jerome Bettis touchdown, though television replays revealed the only movement on Gandy's part was heavy breathing. The latter deprived Burress of a touchdown in the back of the end zone.

Even Bettis, who hadn't fumbled in 759 rushing attempts, coughed up the football.

Those are the kinds of plays that cripple teams, and so it was that the Steelers hobbled out of Gillette Stadium last night with a 30-14 defeat that was more sound than the whipping they took in the AFC championship last season.

"We can stop making comparisons that they shouldn't have won the AFC championship game," safety Lee Flowers said. "They proved it tonight.

The play that did the Steelers in?

Quarterback Tom Brady's 40-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Donald Hayes, who wasn't even with the Patriots last season when they went through Pittsburgh and won the Super Bowl.

It came four plays into the third quarter, after the Steelers, somewhat miraculously, trailed only 10-7 at halftime.

And it came so quickly, so easily, that the Patriots didn't really need to do much more the rest of the evening.

"I was disappointed the way we responded in the second half," Coach Bill Cowher said. "That took a lot out of us."

On the next series, Bettis fumbled for the first time in three years after a 14-yard run, and safety Victor Green recovered at the Steelers' 49.

Nine plays later, Brady secured the victory with a 22-yard touchdown to Deion Branch, who turned cornerback Deshea Townsend around so badly that Townsend could do little but wave at the rookie wide receiver.

"At that point, everything snowballed," said safety Brent Alexander. "You go out there, try to make plays, and mistakes happen. We're trying to be over-aggressive and we miss tackles."

But the touchdown play to Hayes, and the methodical manner in which the Patriots quickly marched down the field to open the second half, was the convincing moment of this Monday Night Football opener. After that, the Steelers put up little fight against the team that ended their season eight months ago.

They couldn't even blame it on special teams.

"It's our job when you go out there to make plays," Townsend said. "You got to step up and make plays. I can't speak for everybody else, but I can speak for myself -- I didn't do that."

Brady finished with 29 completions in 43 attempts for 294 yards and three touchdowns. By halftime, he had already thrown 25 passes. At one point in the third quarter, Brady had attempted a pass on 23 consecutive plays. Heavens to the St. Louis Rams, what was going on here?

Either Brady had the utmost respect for the Steelers' run defense, which ranked No. 1 in the National Football League in 2001. Or he had little respect for the Steelers' pass defense.

"Defensively, we're used to going out there and making plays,": Washington said. "We didn't make any plays tonight."

They made some, all right. Bad plays.

And it started right away in the second half.

After a first-down sack, Brady completed three consecutive passes to march the Patriots 74 yards in four simple plays.

One was a 37-yarder to wide receiver David Patten; the other was the one that finished it.

On first down at the Steelers' 40, Brady threw a quick sideline pass to Hayes, an unrestricted free agent from the Carolina Panthers. Then, just as quickly, Hayes made a nice inside move at the Steelers' 29 to elude Washington and start down the sideline.

He picked up a crushing block from the 193-pound Branch on strong safety Flowers, then outran Alexander to the corner of the end zone.

"We got to get better at making tackles," Washington said.

Sure, the touchdown only gave the Patriots a 10-point lead. And there were still 28 1/2 minutes remaining in the game.

But when they started checking pulses, when they started looking in eyes for some kind of life, the Steelers had none.

"That's when you got to gather yourself," Alexander said. "Concentrate on technique.

Instead of turning out the lights.