By Mason Sousa

With the Heinz Field era coming to an end I thought it would be fitting to revisit some of the best times had in that stadium.
Bane blowing it up as Hines Ward took an opening kickoff to the house comes to mind.

But let’s focus on the top 3 times the New England Patriots went in there and had their best games against the Steelers.

Week 10, 2010
It was another day at the office for Tom Brady against the Steelers in the middle of his 2nd MVP season.
350 passing yards, no interceptions, and 3 TDs all of them going to a Rookie Rob Gronkowski which would be Gronk’s first of four 3 Touchdown games in his illustrious career.
Brady also had his only rushing score of the season in this game as well; a 3-yard QB sneak that would have Joe Judge salivating like he was Steve Belichick.

2004 AFC Championship Game
The Steelers had snapped a then NFL record 21 game win streak held by Patriots at Heinz Field earlier in the season but come January it was the Patriots punching their ticket at Heinz to go to their 3rd Super Bowl in 4 years and solidify themselves as a dynasty.
This game was not close from the start.
It would be rookie Ben Roethlisberger’s first loss as a starter in the NFL as he was intercepted 3 times that included a long Rodney Harrison Pick 6.

Even though the Patriots had won 2 Super Bowls already and went on that incredible win streak, this dominating effort against the team that snapped their streak finally proved to the rest of the league that no one was in New England’s class.

2001 AFC Championship Game
All the diehards, I’d even say majority of casuals, know this story. Tom Brady would limp to the locker room late in the 2nd Quarter after getting hit low. Drew Bledsoe would relieve him and on his 4th play throw a strike to David Patten for six.

Troy Brown was the true story of this game. The Patriot Hall of Famer got the scoring started with a punt return TD as up the middle as you can get staying in between the hashmarks for 99% of the play to give the Patriots the 7-0 lead.

Then Brown had the audacity/brilliance to lateral a blocked FG made by Defensive Tackle Brandon Mitchell to Antwan Harris that resulted in another special teams TD where the late great Patriots play-by-play broadcaster Gil Santos called it spectacularly.

The Patriots would shock the country as 10 point underdogs and win 24-17 at Heinz Field then shock the world two weeks later to win their first world championship.

Thanks for the memories Heinz Field! 🥂🍻