Patriots rev up the intensity

FOXBOROUGH – For a while Sunday, it looked as if this Patriots game would be the reverse of the one a week earlier in which New England came back from a two-touchdown deficit to defeat the Miami Dolphins.This time, it was the Pittsburgh Steelers coming back in the second half. The Patriots were reeling, having seen a two-touchdown lead (24-10) evaporate in the third quarter with two Steeler touchdowns. Along the way, the Patriots also lost defensive stalwart Rob Ninkovich (foot) and defensive back Stephen Gregory (hand) for the game.Even after Stephen Gostkowski?s 32-yard field goal gave the Patriots their lead back (27-24), they still looked shaky. Then, despite the paucity of first-string players on defense, they forced the Steelers to punt from their own 36. Speedy return man Julian Edelman fielded the punt at his own 23, found a couple of holes and ended up returning the kick to the Pittsburgh 34, good for a 43-yard runback.From that point on, it was all New England, as the Patriots outscored the Steelers 28-7 in the fourth quarter en route to a 55-31 victory.?It was definitely good to get that,” said Edelman. “I wish I could have finished it. There were a lot of yards left on that field.”He didn?t … but the Patriots did. A 17-yard pass to Aaron Dobson, on the fourth play of the final quarter, made it 34-24 and the Patriots never looked back.?(The return) was a big play for us, after they?d tied the game,” coach Bill Belichick said. “We were able to make a couple of plays there and get ahead by 10 points. The returns were obviously big. We also had good kickoff coverage.”It was a week where, finally, some of the old Patriots standbys started looking like themselves.Tom Brady had his fifth career 400-plus yard game (432) and threw two touchdown passes to Dobson (including an 81-yard bomb in the fourth quarter) and one each to Rob Gronkowski and Danny Amendola.Gronkowski caught nine passes for 143 yards while Amendola had four catches for 122 yards. And Dobson, one of the much-maligned rookies, had five receptions to go along with his two TDs, good for 130 yards — the first 100-yard day of his career.?When (Gronkowski?s) healthy and on the field, he?s tough to stop,” said Brady, who hit the big tight end on several third-down conversions. “He?s a great run blocker and he does it for us in the passing game.”The Patriots weren?t just efficient through the air either. They racked up 197 yards on the ground, with Stevan Ridley getting 115 of them on 26 carries.Things went so well for the Patriots that Belichick even excused Ridley?s fumble on a pass reception.?(Troy) Polamalu just made a great play on that,” said Belichick. “Sometimes, unfortunately, you have to attribute a play like that to a good defensive play … and that was one of those times.”?(This one) feels good,” said Brady. “They don?t always go like that. That was a fun day.”The Patriots jumped out to a 14-0 lead on Brady TD passes to Amendola (34 yard) and Gronkowski (19).Pittsburgh?s Shaun Suisham and the Patriots? Steve Gostkowski traded field goals before the Steelers? Antonio Brown caught a 27-yard TD toss from Ben Roethlisberger to make it 17-10.Just before the half ended, Ridley scored on a one-yard run to make it 24-10.However, two passes from Roethlisberger to Jerricho Cotchery (20 and 8 yards) tied the score in the third quarter before the Patriots got the field goal by Gostkowski and the reception by Dobson to go up 34-24.The Patriots poured it on in the fourth, getting another TD pass to Dobson, plus runs by Ridley and LeGarrette Blount. Cotchery also had his third TD of the day.NOTES: Several members of the World Series-winning Red Sox were on hand to show off the trophy, including Jon Lester, Clay Buchholz, Shane Victorino, Jonny Gomes, Stephen Drew and David Ross … The Patriots head into their bye week at 7-2, two games ahead of the New York Jets, winners over New Orleans Sunday; and 21/2 ahead of the 4-4 Miami Dolphins. The Jets also have a bye