The ugliness of Miami is completely behind the Patriots.

Bill Belichick met with the media on Wednesday as preparations for Pittsburgh ramp up with the first day practice this week.

Mac Jones was on hand for the media portion of practice which was obviously a good sign. It seemed for years that the Patriots and Steelers were always guaranteed to play a big game against one another, maybe more, but that hasn’t been the case.

This is the first time in three years the Pats and Steelers will go head-to-head.

“I can’t remember the last time we’ve gone three years without playing the Steelers. It seems like it’s been — a team we use to play every year. But, obviously, it’s been a little while,” Belichick said to open up his press conference.

“Some definite changes since the last time we saw them,” Belichick added. “Big win for Pittsburgh on the road against Cincinnati, went all the way down to the wire. Won it after five full quarters. Made a big play. They had big plays in all areas. Obviously, a big day defensively in turnovers. Had some big plays offensively. Had a couple critical plays, obviously the blocked field goal, game winning field goal. Just pretty solid effort. Good football team and home opener. I’m sure there will be a lot of energy in Pittsburgh on Sunday. So, we have to be ready to deal with that, but we’ll need a good football game in all three phases to be competitive and that’s what we’re working towards. So that’s where we’re at today. ”

The Steelers defense isn’t the same old “do what they do” defense that the Patriots tortured during the Brady era. Things are different, but most notably they’re much more aggressive going to the ball. Pittsburgh forced Joe Burrow and the defending AFC Champion Bengals into five turnovers last weekend.

“They had a couple of big plays on the pass rush, strip sacks, sacks, [T.J.] Watt had an interception, batted the ball down. Then their coverage was good,” Belichick said. “Most of it was zone coverage. They broke on the ball well. Had a couple very good athletic intercepting plays, got their hands on the ball and finished them. Obviously, [Minkah] Fitzpatrick’s return for a pick-six there on the second play of the game which was set up by [Cameron] Heyward’s sack on the first down put them at second-and-long.

“So, just overall a good complimentary defense. Linebackers were fast. They have a good front. They play a lot of people. Their secondary is kind of a ball hawking secondary. They go after the ball, read the quarterback well, do a good job of breaking on the throw and closing space quickly.”

T.J. Watt is a huge loss for Pittsburgh and makes life a bit easier for Mac Jones and the offense, but Belichick is still fully aware of how difficult things could be for a work-in-progress offense like the Patriots currently are and he doesn’t expect the Steelers to completely revamp things just because of the injury.

“Look, they’re a good defensive team. They’re obviously better with [T.J.] Watt, but it is what it is. I can’t imagine they’re going to revamp their whole defense in one week,” he said. “I don’t know why they would. They play a lot of people anyway. They played a lot of people in the Cincinnati game. They played over 100 plays on defense. So I think they’re probably pretty comfortable with what they have because they played those guys, and they played pretty well against, obviously, a good offense. So I wouldn’t expect to see a lot of dramatic changes, like go to a whole big new scheme or anything. I don’t think that’s really their style. But we’ll see. I don’t know.”

Offensively, there’s a bit of unknown with the Steelers since Mitch Trubisky is now under center. Trubisky gave the Patriots some problems when they faced the Bears a few years ago and as usual, the Steelers still have receivers that can make you pay for mistakes.

“Well I think you have to look at the whole group. [Najee] Harris is a problem. Tight ends are a problem. Receivers are a problem. Athletic quarterback, he’s scrambled against us,” added Belichick. “He had a couple big scrambles against Cincinnati, not necessarily for long yardage, but to extend plays, get away from the blitz, things like that. It’s really everything. You can’t just go into this game and say we’re just going to shut down one guy. That’s simply not going to be the answer. [Diontae] Johnson’s an explosive player. [Chase] Claypool, big, fast good with the ball in his hands. Obviously [Pat] Freiermuth. They use Gunner [Olszewski] in there.

“So they’ve got a bunch of guys that are explosive. The quarterback himself, you can’t let him run around. We saw him in Chicago do a number on us in the scramble. So we have to make sure we account for him, too.”

The last regular season meeting between these two franchises was September 8, 2019 at Gillette, a 33-3 ass kicking by the Pats. It’s safe to assume the score won’t be nearly as lopsided for either team given the questions both organizations currently have, but there was a legitimate sense of excitement in the building on Wednesday as the team prepared for a true rival again.