The Steelers Brought Out A Ravenous Mindset From Tom Brady: 'I Wanted To Kill You'

The Pittsburgh Steelers have been on the winning side of many of their rivalries since the turn of the century. They have consistently dominated two of their divisional opponents in the Cincinnati Bengals and Cleveland Browns, and have won seven of their last eight against the Baltimore Ravens. One rivalry Pittsburgh wasn't able to be on top of was with the New England Patriots and Tom Brady. New England consistently finished ahead of Pittsburgh in the standings, and even ended their season on a few occasions.

Brady dominated Pittsburgh for the most part, as he did with the rest of the NFL. In his career, he had a record of 11-4 against Pittsburgh while he was with the Patriots, including the playoffs. He never lost to Pittsburgh in the postseason, and often dominated them when seeing them on the way to the Super Bowl. In a recent appearance on The Pivot, which is hosted by former Steelers safety, Ryan Clark, Brady discussed his killer mindset when facing Pittsburgh and Clark.

"I could not look at you on the field. Ryan [Clark] off the field when you take your stuff off is great, but on the field, you wanted to kill me and I wanted to kill you. That's just how it was. Not literally, but I wanted to make sure that we did our job. When you're out there on the field, that was that gladiator persona for all of us."

Clark played with the Steelers from 2006 through 2013, and he only managed to beat Brady once during the 2011 season. Pittsburgh won the game 25-17, and Clark led the team with 8 total tackles. Clark lost the other three matchups when squaring up against Brady, but he did help the Steelers beat the Patriots 38-10 during the 2008 season when Brady didn't play due to suffering a torn ACL at the beginning of the season. 

It's no question that Brady is one of the most successful NFL players of all-time. He alone has more Super Bowl victories than any organization after winning six with New England and one with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He took down Pittsburgh on his way to three of those championship rings, defeating them in the postseason during the 2001, 2004, and 2016 NFL seasons. 

The Steelers were quarterbacked by Ben Roethlisberger during two of those playoff losses that came at the hands of Brady, both games being the AFC Championship. Roethlisberger had the chance to out-duel Brady during his rookie season in 2004, but the Steelers lost 41-27 and New England went on to beat the Philadelphia Eagles to win Super Bowl XXXIX. In 2016, Pittsburgh lost again by a large margin, 36-17. The Patriots would go on to complete a 28-3 comeback over the Atlanta Falcons in Super Bowl LI. 

Brady stopped the Steelers from advancing to two Super Bowls during the Roethlisberger-era, and ultimately led the Patriots to tying the Steelers with six Super Bowl victories, the most in NFL history. 

Steelers Still Have Issues With The Patriots

Despite Brady leaving the Patriots organization following the 2019 season, Pittsburgh has still struggled when facing New England. They have played the Patriots twice since the Brady departure, and have lost both games despite being expected to win. During the 2022 season, Pittsburgh lost in Week 2 by a score of 17-14. They lost once again in 2023 by a score of 21-18.

Both games were at home for Pittsburgh, and the team put forth a disappointing performance in each outing. Mitch Trubisky started in both games for the Steelers, which essentially puts an asterisk next to the final result. He had similar performances in each game, throwing for under 200 yards while throwing a touchdown and an interception in each contest. 

Thankfully, Pittsburgh won't need to face New England during the 2024 season, who seem to be their kryptonite even in a post-Brady world.