Pittsburgh Steelers: Facing the Tom Brady-less Patriots

Now that training camp has started, everyone is counting the days until the regular season begins. And for the Pittsburgh Steelers, it appears the regular season will almost definitely be against a Tom Brady-less New England Patriots.

On Tuesday, the NFL announced that Tom Brady’s four-game suspension for “DeflateGate” was upheld.

ALSO ON SPIN ZONE: NFL Power Rankings: 30 Greatest QBs Of All-Time

Of course, Brady had said that if he didn’t win the appeal, he would take the fight to federal court, and maybe – just maybe – he would ultimately be on the field for Week 1.

Alas, it doesn’t look good for Tom Terrific. And now the Steelers will play the Patriots in the NFL’s season opener without New England’s star quarterback.

Depending on what type of Steelers fan you are, you may have different thoughts on this. First, you may think, “Yes! Brady’s out for Week 1! Bring on Garoppolo! Our defense is going to destroy him and we’ll get an easy W!” Or, you may be on the other side of the argument and say, “We want to face the real New England Patriots and beat them fair and square! We’re good enough to, so let us show you!”

The Steelers as a team is on the latter side of those thoughts.

Ed Bouchette of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette wrote an article Sunday saying the Steelers hope Brady indeed wins his appeal. Defensive end Cameron Heyward told Bouchette that the Steelers want to face the best team out on the field. He added, “We might have a better chance [without Brady], but when you look at playing these teams and seeing them in the playoffs you want your guys to be ready to go into that situation. So if guys can prepare against playing against the best early, it’s going to help us later down the road.”

Nov 3, 2013; Foxborough, MA, USA; New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady (12) calls out a play against the Pittsburgh Steelers in the second half at Gillette Stadium. The Patriots defeated the Steelers 55-31. Mandatory Credit: David Butler II-USA TODAY Sports

Looking down the road to this year’s playoffs by looking back at Pittsburgh’s history against Brady in the postseason, the Steelers have only faced the Patriots quarterback twice. Both games were losses. And both years New England won the Super Bowl.

But what about when the Steelers face Brady during the regular season? Since Brady took over the starting role in New England in 2001, the Steelers have faced him seen times. Each of those seasons, except for 2013, the Black and Gold have made it to the postseason. So perhaps Heyward is right. Facing Brady does help them prepare for later down the road.

More from Pittsburgh Steelers

But honestly, it may be good for Pittsburgh’s young secondary to build up some confidence against Jimmy Garoppolo. No, he’s no Tom Brady, but he’ll still be throwing to Rob Gronkowski and Julian Edelman.

Plus, the Steelers are without one of their own studs for Thursday night’s game: Le’Veon Bell. Being down a Killer B for a big game like this will put a dent in Pittsburgh’s offense. I’m not saying Bell is equivalent to Brady but Bell is clearly not the Steelers’ playcaller and doesn’t touch the ball on every single play on offense, but Bell is a HUGE part of Pittsburgh’s gameplan. And no offense, but DeAngelo Williams is no Le’Veon Bell when it comes to carrying the ball.

We’ll see what happens next in the Tom Brady “DeflateGate” saga, but as of now expect to see a shell of the game the NFL was expecting for kickoff on September 10th.

Next: New England Patriots: If…And…But for 2015

More from NFL Spin Zone

Home/Pittsburgh Steelers