Steelers Throwback Thursday: Keisel strip of Brady seals win with a safety

Steel City Underground presents “Steelers Throwback Thursday” featuring plays from recent seasons which you may have forgotten about! Now we’re “bringing them back!”

During the 2011-12 NFL season, the Pittsburgh Steelers were on a three-game win streak in October when they hosted the New England Patriots at Heinz Field. Looking for their sixth win in eight games, the Steelers understood that beating the 5-1 Patriots would be key in their run of the AFC and a possible Super Bowl appearance.

The Steelers keyed in on quarterback Tom Brady, limiting him to just 24 completions on 35 attempts for 198 yards and two touchdowns. Pittsburgh’s defense was key in creating three sacks on Brady for a combined 28 negative yards.

After pitching a shutout in the first quarter and then repeating it in the third, holding the Patriots to just 213 yards of total offense, it was Brett Keisel who helped seal the win for the Steelers.

With just over two minutes left in the game, the Steelers offense stalled after Isaac Redman could not grab much yardage and the Patriots sacked Ben Roethlisberger on back-to-back plays. After receiving the punt from Dan Sepulveda, New England’s offense lined up with enough time to make one of their infamous comebacks.

On the very first play, however, with pressure coming from the blindside, Brady took the snap in the shotgun formation. Keisel was able to get off the block from the right side and swat the ball out of Brady’s hands as the Patriots quarterback stepped up in the pocket. The ball loose, Troy Polamalu hit it as two Patriots linemen did, the ball squirting towards the end zone. In the end, it was Ziggy Hood who fell on the ball as it rolled out of the back of the end zone. The result: a safety and a 25-17 home win for the black and gold.

The Steelers would go on to finish the season 12-4-0 and get knocked out of the playoffs with a Wild Card loss to the Denver Broncos, 23-29. New England beat Denver to win the divisional round, then beat the Baltimore Ravens to get to the Super Bowl where they were handed a 17-21 loss by the New York Giants.