The Patriots will remind everyone that there are two teams on the field on Sunday

Do you know what the New York Jets told me last week? Ben Roethlisberger, that Pittsburgh quarterback, well he’s a rookie. Tough to believe considering he’s a staunch 14-0 as a starter this year. His off the field behavior doesn’t make sense either. Often times, young athletes fall into the trap of the females, fame and fortune. Not Big Ben. In a time where people are realizing that there is nothing more precious on the planet than life itself, the 22 year old rookie out of Miami of Ohio donated his entire eighteen thousand dollar paycheck from last Sunday’s playoff game to the tsunami relief fund. This young man is wise beyond his years. In a few weeks, Roethlisberger will be done with his rookie season, and nobody will ever call him one again. Unfortunately, he’s going to have to bear the label for one more week.

The Patriots have probably piled more football analysts onto their bandwagon in one week than any other team in history. They went from being left for dead against the Colts last week where the only formality was that they still had to actually play the game, even though everyone already knew who was going to win; to the can’t miss favorites to win Super Bowl XXXIX. Unfortunately for the Steelers, none of this matters to the Patriots. They are the most well prepared team in the NFL every week. They overcome injuries and adversity better than anyone. And they seem to have a new hero every week. There is a reason the Patriots won a record 21 straight games, 30 of their last 32 and two of the last three Super Bowls. And there are many reasons why the Patriots will win this Sunday against the Steelers and make it to their third Super Bowl in four years.

The Steelers have the best run defense in the NFL. The Patriots found this out the hard way on Halloween when they managed just five rushing yards on six carries in the game that ended their historic and record setting win streak. This week however, the Patriots will be bringing something new to the table in the form of Corey Dillon. Dillon, did not disappoint last week playing in his first postseason football game since the Holiday Bowl while playing college football at Washington. So on Sunday against the Colts all he did was rush for 144 hard fought yards on the ground to help the Patriots control the ball for over fifteen minutes in the second half alone.

In the first meeting this season between the Patriots and Steelers, Pittsburg controlled the ball for over 43 minutes. Clearly, if either team could accomplish that feat this weekend, the game would be all but theirs. But this game is a matter of strength on strength. Both teams feature good run offenses, and even better run defenses with Pittsburgh coming in first in the regular season in rush defense, and the Patriots not far behind at sixth in the league. If New England can accomplish more on the ground this time around, the rushing attacks from both teams can potentially cancel each other out. Strength on strength, remember, and when that happens, the defenses usually come out on top.

Thus, leaving us with the passing game in the snow. As a Patriots fan, I hope the Patriots do everything they can to put the ball in young Ben Roethlisberger’s hands today. Now, I’m not hating on Big Ben, he is a good young QB, and will only get better. But the Steelers this year are a very solid team everywhere but the QB position. They have won this year in spite of Roethlisberger, not because of him. He is still a rookie, and thanks to the New York Jets last week, we saw, that despite his record, Big Ben is still capable of playing like a rookie. And rookie or no rookie, Belichick is 13-0 since 2001 when facing a quarterback for the second time in a season.

Adding Corey Dillon this week to the game plan changes the dynamics. Dillon in the backfield can help even out the time of possession in the game. I don’t think I’ve seen a Prima Donna athlete fit in with a team so well since the Yankees last season. I mean, Alex Rodriguez, Gary Sheffield, and Kevin Brown, all bought into the Yankees whole philosophy of being overpaid to act like individuals and not play like a team so well. And they proved it as well, with Brown breaking his hand against the wall in frustration, and then having a catastrophic emotional meltdown in the playoffs, and then A-rod’s base running “slap” blunder on Bronson Arroyo at Yankee Stadium that essentially lost the series for the Yankees for the third time in three games. Just as these players fit in perfectly in New York, Dillon fits in perfectly in New England. Twenty points were scored last week, and Dillon didn’t score any of them. He fought hard for 144 yards on the ground, including a 27 yard scamper in which he just missed being inside the pylon for a touchdown. On the next play, Tom Brady got the call, and the touchdown. And nobody was happier than Corey Dillon taking a breather on the sidelines.

This is a team game, and that’s how the Patriots play. They are a solid team throughout, and their depth will show against the Steelers. From their linebackers to their battered secondary, to their young defensive line, the defense can be downright stifling at times, and Jerome Bettis, Duce Staley, and Ben Roethlisberger will have all they can handle with the ball. The Patriots frustrated Peyton Manning to the extent he was yelling at his receivers last week for dropping balls he forced in, he started to blame other people. If a Belichick coached defense can do that to Manning, all they need to do is slow down the Steelers rushing attack, and imagine what the defense can do to a rookie quarterback. And on the offense, Tom Brady leads his unit with the authority of General Patton. When he talks in the huddle, people listen. There’s something about him, he doesn’t put up the magnificent passing numbers of a Peyton Manning or a Daunte Culpepper, but he puts up wins. And in the playoffs, that’s all that matters. Corey Dillon will grind it out, David Givens will stretch the field, and when all else fails, old reliable might even make it in for a few offensive plays over the middle while he’s not busy returning punts or playing nickel back.

So for all the analysts who still don’t believe in the Patriots, for all the writers, who don’t agree with Chris Mortensen that even if the Patriots lose today, they should still be considered one of the best teams ever, just sit back and enjoy the game. The Patriots will show one more time that they do belong in that elite category. Just like they did for 21 straight games, and 30 out of their last 32. It was luck that New England won Super Bowl XXXVI, so just to prove how lucky they were, they won it again, two years later. Doubt a Patriots victory all you want, why not, people have been doing it for the last three and a half seasons, they’re used to it, but while you’re busy worrying about what the other teams bring to the table to beat the Patriots, they will quietly, and methodically remind you what they bring to the table.