Steelers defensive line hopes to make Patriots, Brady hurry

of seven sacks. They only have two in their past two games against him.

Defensive coordinator Keith Butler knows how important pressure is to limiting the Patriots offense.

“I think that’s a big key to it, but it’s also the coverage part, too,” Butler said. “You have to have both. I think the coverage has to be good and the rush has to be good so the combination of both. I’ve said that before. I think that’s exactly what it is. “You have to have a good rush. You have to have good coverage, and, if you do, then maybe you can make it hard on them and hopefully get a pick or two, even though he hasn’t thrown very many.”

Brady leads the NFL with 3,865 passing yards and has thrown 27 touchdowns against just six interceptions. In the past three games, however, Brady hasn’t been as effective. In those games, he has completed 62 percent of his passes for an average of 239 yards per game. In the first 10 games, he completed 69 percent of his passes for an average of 314 yards per game.

Four of his six interceptions have come in the past three games, including two Monday night in Miami when the Patriots had their eight-game winning streak snapped by the Dolphins.

The Steelers enter the game second in the league with 41 sacks. Heyward leads them with nine. Inside linebacker Vince Williams is next with seven followed by rookie outside linebacker T.J. Watt, who picked up his sixth last week against the Baltimore Ravens.

The Patriots have had some issues protecting Brady in recent weeks. The Dolphins sacked Brady twice, and he was hit six times. Brady has been sacked five times in the past three games.

The Patriots are starting a third-string right tackle after Marcus Cannon was placed on injured reserve this week, and the interior of their line has allowed many of the pressures.

The Steelers had only one sack against the Ravens, but much of that had to do with the Ravens running the ball so well.

The Ravens and Cincinnati Bengals each rushed for more than 100 yards against the Steelers, which opened up play-action passing. Butler knows the same thing will happen against Brady Sunday if the Steelers don’t do a better job against the run.

“We’ll take pressure anytime,” Butler said. “It doesn’t matter whether it’s the first [play] of the game or not.

“Of course, you want to be able to keep them from having the weapons that they have. What I mean by that is being able to run the ball and pass the ball both. If they are able to run the ball, then, obviously, their play-action is going to be good.

“If their play-action is good, it makes everything easy for them. We have to be able to stop the run again first and then put them in passing situations and, hopefully, get them in situations where we can put pressure on the quarterback.”