Most Valuable Patriot
PITTSBURGH – With the score tied at 20-20 in the fourth quarter and 1:25 remaining for the New England Patriots' offense, Willie McGinest jogged off the field, planted himself on the Patriots' bench and didn't bother looking at the field.
He was too drained to watch. Besides, New England had the ball, and McGinest figured 85 seconds later Tom Brady would deliver the game, too.
"He's done it on more than one occasion, you know," said McGinest, moments after Brady drove the Patriots 37 yards to set up Adam Vinatieri's game-winning, 43-yard field goal with one second remaining.
Indeed, we've seen this before from the Patriots, and in a way, Sunday's 23-20 road win was a buffet of what we've come to expect from them: masterful defense, backups filling in for Pro Bowlers and an offense pulling together when it matters most. But the victory might have revealed a new twist.
New England still has the game's best coach and the best clutch kicker in NFL history, but there are injuries and vulnerabilities that may linger long into this season. And the team without any superstars in the regular season now depends on its one true star more than ever.
Tom Brady.
Earlier in the week, Ben Roethlisberger referred to Brady as "by far, the best quarterback in the NFL." It was a statement that – in the absence of towering statistics – surely conjured scoffs in a few league circles, where some continue to lavish credit to the Patriots' coaching staff and team concept. But after watching the defense falter late in Sunday's game, the win over Pittsburgh belonged to a Brady-driven offense. After a pivotal fourth quarter that saw him complete all 12 of his passes, Brady walked off the field with the game-winning drive and 372 of the Patriots' 425 total yards.
Through three games, his play has been paramount. In the season opener, Brady pieced together scoring drives that kept New England ahead of Oakland, but he also committed a pair of turnovers that would be the Patriots' undoing against Carolina. He has become opposing defenses' No. 1 target, enduring over 60 blitzes during the Patriots' 2-1 start. Yet Brady has maintained his composure and gotten off to one of the most gluttonous beginnings of his career with 948 passing yards.
It's a number that – when the game is in doubt – tells exactly where the offense is going to come from.
"When [Pittsburgh] tied the score and there was [1:25] left, we were calm," wide receiver Deion Branch said. "We've come to expect that with Tom. We have that confidence that we can go down the field in all of those situations."
But that doesn't mean New England will always win these tight games. The Patriots continue to make mistakes and place themselves in jeopardy – evidenced by a pair of costly fumbles by running back Kevin Faulk on Sunday and a defense that is no longer impervious to giving up big plays. Despite shutting down Pittsburgh's running game and holding the Steelers to 269 total yards, a crumbling Patriots secondary allowed an 85-yard touchdown to Hines Ward and a 49-yard catch to Antwaan Randle El.
The latter reception could have proved seriously damaging, had Randle El not foolishly tried to lateral the ball to Ward at New England's 11-yard line. The ensuing fumble cost the Steelers at least three points and, quite possibly, the game – particularly when Pittsburgh's shotgun offense sliced through the Patriots on a nine-play drive that culminated in Ward's second touchdown of the night and a 20-20 tie. New England's Chad Scott also committed a costly pass interference penalty on fourth-and-11 to give the Steelers first-and-goal at the 4-yard line to aid the tying drive.
The mistakes prompted McGinest to insist the win "just means that we've got a lot of work to do."
Depending on the status of Harrison, the scale of the work that lies ahead could be massive. He had to be carted off the field after suffering what appeared to be a devastating knee injury (one Patriots player said it was a torn ligament) and was later wearing a cast on his left leg. Coach Bill Belichick didn't reveal the extent of the injury, but there seemed to be little optimism in New England's locker room over Harrison, who's considered one of the Patriots' most emotional players – or, as defensive end Jarvis Green put it, "the guy that holds [the secondary] together."
The uncertainty over Harrison created a subdued feeling beneath what should have been an electrifying win.
"It's not good," Green said. "Obviously, [Harrison] was taking it really hard. I feel so bad for him."
"He's a little down," McGinest added. "The guy works hard, man. He puts a lot into the game. … One of our soldiers went down today."
Harrison wasn't the only loss, either. The Patriots had already scratched cornerbacks Randall Gay and Tyrone Poole with injuries, and they saw starting left tackle Matt Light – the best player on New England's offensive line – carted off Sunday with what appeared to be an ankle injury. Light was replaced with rookie Nick Kaczur, while Harrison, Gay and Poole gave way to a lineup of safety Guss Scott and cornerbacks Asante Samuel, Duane Starks and Chad Scott.
"Every time [an injury] happens, it's an opportunity for the next person," Belichick said. "We prepare hard and we come into the game with 45 guys, so everyone needs to be ready to go."
In some ways, it sounds like the same old, team-first story. One star goes down, a backup jumps in. The defense is flipping in and out of 3-4 and 4-3 alignments, Vinatieri is winning games in the waning seconds, and Belichick is walking around stone-faced. But that equation is changing. It's beginning to lean more than ever on a single player. Tedy Bruschi is gone, and Rodney Harrison may be sidelined as well. The running game is struggling, and the defense is making uncharacteristic mistakes.
In a nutshell, the season has been a lot like Sunday's game.
And how did it end? With Brady taking the field with 1:21 left and a 20-20 tie on the road, and thinking "What more could you want?"
With so many uncertainties, that alone might explain why New England needs Tom Brady the Superstar more than ever.
