The presence of the “evil” Belichick is probably reason #1 why many media types were reluctant to give the Pats enough credit after their first two Super Bowl wins, and because it was Belichick, and not Tony Dungy or any other coach the media likes, Spygate became a hugely overblown issue, and also provided a crutch for Belichick (and Patriots) haters in the media and elsewhere to discredit everything they had accomplished prior to that.

Funny how, like I said before, none of these articles praising the Steelers from head to toe after Sunday’s game mentions their Steroid abuse in the 70s (before it was that common across the league) or the PED-supplying allegations against their ex-team doctor, who just left the team recently. Heck, there are Steelers’ fans trolling Patriots boards this very minute saying that all of the Steelers’ titles are “legitimate” while calling all of the Pats’ titles fake or unearned because of Spygate. It’s truly amazing how provincial loyalty can cause such tunnel vision.

The Manning brothers and The Steelers have won the last 4 Super Bowls…now that is a tough pill to swallow.

Hey, it was a fun game to watch. Nothing else.

Cannot wait for the Brett Favre watch.

That was my main point, that the media seems to be jumping the gun on Pittsburgh, whereas with the Pats, they were going out of their way to be cautious about labeling them a dynasty, or whatever. It took that 3rd Super Bowl win, which made them only the 2nd team in history to win 3 out of 4, before the media committed to the notion that the Pats were a special team.

I’d also bring up the loser’s lament that the Pats/Steelers game at Foxboro this season was very close in the first half (tied 10-10 at the half, I believe), and that the Pats dropped 2 or 3 passes that could have led to at least another 7, if not 10 points for them by halftime. True, the game got out of hand during the second half, but it largely turned into a rout after Slater dropped that kickoff at the Pats’ 1-yard line and it turned into a Pittsburgh TD two plays later.

Pittsburgh pretty much “dominated” only the second half in that game, and the Pats gave them a lot of help along the way.

They’ve earned their championship this year and I’m not trying to deny them anything, but for the media to suddenly anoint them as the next big thing (especially given the weak post-season schedule they faced this year) is a bit premature IMO…..remember, the Giants, Philly, Indy and Tennessee all beat Pittsburgh this year, and somehow the Steelers managed to avoid facing any of them a second time around.

Tony,
The Steelers dominated the Patriots at Gilette during the regular season. If the Patriots had won this “meaningless because it was a regular season game”, they would have made the playoffs. I’m pretty sure this was a game that counted pretty big this year.