Brady completed 32 of 46 passes and threw for four touchdowns, bringing his total to 45, four shy of Peyton Manning's NFL record.
"We came out and took care of business," said Jabar Gaffney, part of a Patriots wide receiving corps that combined for 24 catches for 344 yards and four touchdowns. "They were doing a lot of talking, guaranteeing victory, saying that our receiving corps wasn't that good, so we went out there and showed them."
The mouthy Steelers made the mistake of prodding the Patriots with inflammatory rhetoric courtesy of second-year safety Anthony Smith, who guaranteed a Pittsburgh victory.
Brady chastised Smith after his first TD toss, a 4-yarder to Randy Moss, vigorously pointing at him.
"I don't care to repeat it, especially if my mother read it," said Brady, who went over the 4,000-yard mark for the season (4,095) for the second time in his career. "She wouldn't be very happy with what I said."
Late in the game Patriots fans mocked the safety with chants of "Guarantee!" Afterwards, the Patriots mocked Smith as well.
"We've played against a lot better safeties than him," said Bill Belichick, who picked up his 100th win, including the postseason, as Patriots coach.
As usual, the Patriots proved their point with points. New England scored 20 unanswered points, starting with a 42-yard Stephen Gostkowski field goal that gave them a 17-13 halftime lead and ending with 28-yard field goal by Gostkowski with seven minutes left in the game.
In between the Patriots pulled off some passing prestidigitation to take a 24-13 lead. On its first possession of the second half, New England lined up with three receivers to Brady's right. The quarterback threw a lateral to Moss who dropped the ball, picked it up, and lateraled it across the field to Brady. No. 12 uncorked a 56-yard parabola that landed in the arms of Gaffney. The last Pittsburgh defender on the play was Mr. Guarantee, Smith.
