The New England Patriots simply did what they do on Thursday night.  They won another big football game over the Pittsburgh Steelers, while infuriating them and a good part of America in the process.

Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin addressed a report that the Pittsburgh headsets malfunctioned in the first quarter.

“We were listening to the Patriots radio broadcast for the majority of the first half on our headsets, coach to coach,” Tomlin recounted.

Tomlin also said that it’s “always the case” that the Steelers have trouble with their in-stadium communications when they play in New England. He said that eventually the problem got fixed.

“We let the league officials on site handle it,” Tomlin said.

The Steelers own website displayed the chain of events in a subheading titled “NO SURPRISE AT ALL.”

Tomlin wasn’t the only Steeler complaining after the game.  In a key goal-line sequence, the Patriots defensive line shifted, causing a false start by the Pittsburgh offense.

“In my years of playing, a defensive guy can’t bark stuff or move in the middle of a cadence,” Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger said. “I was arguing the fact that he shifted in the middle of a cadence and I thought that there was a rule against it. Maybe there’s not – maybe it’s a written rule – I don’t really know. So, that’s what I was upset about.

“They do that. We saw it on film that the Patriots do that,” he said. “They shift and slide and do stuff on the goal line knowing that it’s an itchy trigger-finger type of down.”

Perhaps the Steelers are taking cues from their leader?

Maybe the Patriots did mess with the Pittsburgh headsets in the first quarter like the Steelers website claims?

The New England defensive line certainly shifted on that goal-line stand, but let’s look at what it actually amounted to.

The score was tied, 0-0 after the first quarter and Pittsburgh was outscored the rest of the way, WITH functioning communication devices.

As far as the line shift, it’s completely legal.  When did the NFL turn into Major League Baseball where there’s a separate set of unwritten rules?  Here’s the thing, don’t jump early in an “itchy trigger-finger type of down.”

Although the Pittsburgh offense was mostly effective, despite leaving points on the scoreboard, the bigger issue that Tomlin should be concerned about is his atrocious defense.

Gone are the days of Casey Hampton and Brett Keisel clogging up the middle while Troy Polamalu makes big plays when the team needs them most.

Now, the Steelers defensive line is blown off the ball with New England starting two rookies on their offensive line.  Dion Lewis, playing in his first game in three years gained 69 yards on 15 carries, as many yards as he’s had cumulatively since the 2011 season ended.

Rob Gronkowski, the best tight end in the game and one of the very best ever, was consistently getting free releases off the line of scrimmage and running wide open en route to five catches, for 94 yards and a hat trick of touchdowns.

“Anytime they don’t cover Gronk, he usually gets it,” Patriots three-time Super Bowl MVP Tom Brady said after the game.

It didn’t take a legend like Brady to shred the Steelers defense, but he was certainly up to the task, as seemingly everyone wearing blue was uncovered Thursday night.  Brady had just seven incompletions on 32 pass attempts, en route to a 143.8 passer rating.  Julian Edelman, caught 11 of those passes.

“We’ve got to finish a few instances better,” coach Mike Tomlin said. “I thought we got a little frazzled at times. Some of the young people have got to get better in a hurry.”

Everyone has to get better in a hurry in Pittsburgh, including the head coach and new defensive coordinator Kevin Butler.

It’s nice to blame headsets malfunctioning and trick formations, but the Steelers earned this loss all on their own.  Less whining to the media about cheating from the head coach couldn’t hurt their situation.  Especially considering he once made his way to the field during a special teams play and tried to trip a return man.