[AP photos]
The Patriots' Troy Brown (80) returns a Steeler punt 55 yards for a touchdown in the first quarter of Sunday's AFC Championship game in Pittsburgh.

By ROGER MILLS, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published January 28, 2002

PITTSBURGH -- New Orleans, site of the Super Bowl, is a city of voodoo and potions and, considering how they have won 10 of 11 games, it seems the AFC champion Patriots belong there.

Who in NFL, after all, has more mojo?

Pats QB Tom Brady is helped off in the second quarter. The team said Brady could have returned, but they didn't want to take the risk.

These Patriots, 24-17 winners against the Steelers in the AFC title game Sunday, are playing like they took a team bath at Lourdes or like they're wearing Miss Cleo patches on the inside of their shirts.

Whatever it is, it's working.

"We have come a long way," coach Bill Belichick said. "The guys that believe in this team are the guys standing in that (locker) room. The guys in the room believe in themselves and in each other and that's really all that matters.

"The bottom line is that those guys, they are tough, they are competitive and just want to. They love football and they want to play hard. I think that helps us on Sunday."

The Patriots are going to their second Super Bowl in six seasons because they have executed on offense, defense and special teams and made big plays at critical times.

In Sunday's win, New England's eighth in a row, the precision and mojo were there again.

The Patriots needed a spectacular effort from receiver/returner Troy Brown, a gutsy performance from quarterback Drew Bledsoe, who hadn't played since the second game of the season, and a defensive game plan that held the NFL's best running game in check.

Patriots quarterback Drew Bledsoe (11) is hit by Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker Joey Porter (55) as Bledsoe gets off a pass in the third quarter. Bledsoe, who hadn't played since the second game of the season, came in for the injured Tom Brady.

They also needed a few more things: a blocked field goal and a lateral returned for a touchdown, a drop of an apparent fourth-quarter interception by linebacker Jason Gildon and game-sealing interceptions by safeties Tebucky Jones and Lawyer Milloy with 2:54 and 2:11 left in the fourth quarter, respectively.

"I don't care what people say," Brown said. "They can say what they want to say. They can broadcast, talk about what we don't have, call us Cinderella and lucky, whatever else they want to call us."

As games go, this may not have been one for the photo album. But for Brown, Bledsoe and Steelers running back Jerome Bettis, it won't be forgotten, and for different reasons.

Brown, who has made game-altering plays for the Patriots all season, proved his value again against one of the nastiest defenses in the league. He finished with a game-high eight catches for 121 yards, had 80 punt-return yards, including a 55-yard return for a touchdown for the first score of the game, and he scooped up a blocked punt and shoveled it to safety Antwan Harris, who went 49 yards for another touchdown.

"He's the MVP of our team," Milloy said.

Brown may have made his biggest contribution late in the fourth quarter, squashing a furious Steelers charge. With the Patriots ahead 24-17 and facing third and 11 at their 19, Brown came up with an 18-yard reception that Bledsoe lobbed over the linebackers. It kept the chains moving and kept the Patriots defense off the field.

"That was huge," Belichick said. "(Offensive coordinator) Charlie (Weis) and I talked about it at that point. We said, 'Look, we have to get a couple first downs and get the defense some rest.' "

The man who helped them get some of those first downs was Bledsoe. What has been an empty season suddenly got brighter when Tom Brady left with an ankle injury with 1:59 remaining in the second quarter.

The veteran, who lost his starting position to Brady after an early-season injury, completed his first four passes, the last being an 11-yard touchdown to David Patten that gave the Patriots a 14-3 halftime lead.

"I've done this for a long time and at times at a pretty high level," said the first overall pick in the 1993 draft out of Washington State, who finished 10-for-21 for 102 yards and one score. "I felt confident coming back out. But, obviously, when you haven't played in a long time, you know there can be some rust and so on.

"But like I've said, I've been working hard and preparing for this exact scenario. ... I knew if this scenario came up, I was going to come in and play well."

The game also will be remembered for what the Steelers could not do. Entering with an NFL-high 2,774 rushing yards in the regular season, they expected to be buoyed by the return of Bettis, who had missed the team's past six games.

Instead they seemed incapable of gaining ground on the Patriots' 3-4 defense.

"We just didn't have any answers," Bettis said. "It was frustrating but they beat us, make no mistake about that."

The Steelers managed 58 yards on 22 carries for an average of 2.6 yards. In the regular season, they averaged 4.8 yards.

"I don't think it was as much our running backs," Steelers coach Bill Cowher said. "They just did a great job of taking away our running game."

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