Oct 21, 2016 4 min read

It’s all doom and gloom in Pittsburgh this week as the Steelers will host the Patriots – a game everyone in the NFL had circled on their calendar – without the services of Ben Roethlisberger.

Pretty much everyone would say the Steelers have no chance in this game. Yet, around the team’s locker room, there was optimism.

Yes, beating the Patriots and Tom Brady is a tall task. After all, he owns a 174-53 career record.

But Brady is 76-37 on the road in his career. That’s still outstanding by any standards – NFL teams are 39-53 in road games this season – but not quite as good as his 98-16 record at home.

So there’s that.

The Steelers also are pretty confident in Landry Jones at home, even if fans are not. There’s good reason for that.

While Jones has thrown just 22 passes at Heinz Field, he has completed 15 of them (68.2 percent) for 270 yards and two touchdowns. That’s a 140.3 passer rating.

The Steelers also have Le’Veon Bell, who like a burglar, is recession proof. What do I mean by that?

Wide receivers are entirely reliant on their quarterback. As we saw with New England tight end Rob Grokowski earlier this season when he played without Brady, he wasn’t the factor he has been with Brady in the lineup. Gronk was dealing with an injury, as well, but he was a non-factor.

Antonio Brown had the same issues at times last season with Mike Vick and Jones at quarterback.

But Bell thrived. And he should do so in this game.

Bell is averaging 146.7 yards from scrimmage in his three games this season and will be a big part of Pittsburgh’s attack in this game. And the Steelers are 24-14 in games in which he plays, including 14-5 at home.

That’s not quite Bradyesque, but it’s pretty good.

The Patriots will likely load the box to stop Bell, but that could create some opportunities down the field.

So if Jones takes care of the ball, hits a big play or two and Bell controls the game Pittsburgh will have a chance to win, right?

Maybe.

The Patriots haven’t forced a lot of turnovers this season. They have just four interceptions and four fumble recoveries. But, as usual, they take good care of the ball themselves. They haven’t thrown an interception this season – incredible, actually since Brady missed the first four games – and have lost four fumbles.

But they also have put the ball on the ground 12 times. You’d think if you put it on the ground 12 times, it would work out to around 50-50 in terms of recovering the ball, so the Steelers might have some chances there.

The Patriots also have just 11 sacks this season. The Steelers only have eight, which isn’t good, but New England’s pass rush hasn’t been good, either. And opposing quarterbacks have an 89.9 passer rating against the Patriots. They’re at 90.0 against the Steelers and everyone in Pittsburgh knows the team’s secondary isn’t a strength.

So while these Patriots are very good, they aren’t unbeatable – if the Steelers don’t make it easy.

That’s what happened lsat season in New England, when the Steelers inexplicably didn’t have 11 defenders on the field on a couple of occasions and left Gronkowski uncovered on a couple of others.

Despite all of that, it added up to a 28-21 loss for the Steelers.

Many people said after that game that the Patriots could have named their score. But don’t buy that for a second.

The Patriots are always a team that scores as many points as they can. If they can put up 50, they’ll put up 50. They don’t mind embarrassing an opponent. And Brady threw more passes in the fourth quarter of that game than the Patriots had rushing attempts.

They were still trying to score. They just didn’t.

The Steelers are 9-point underdog in this game, so obviously Las Vegas isn’t buying any of these arguments.

Know what? Neither am I. While I don’t expect this to be the massacre many Steelers fans are expecting, in the end, Brady will be too good for the Steelers to overcome, even at Heinz Field.

Take New England, 34-16

• The NFL did not take any action against Miami’s Ndamukong Suh for what the Steelers felt was a deliberate kick to Roethlisberger’s knee last week.