Shalise Manza Young and Monique Walker of the Boston Globe write about multiple headlines from Sunday's game, including the role running back Kevin Faulk played in his return. Faulk lead the team in touches with 11 (6 rush, 5 receptions). "It's great. He's such a sparkplug for our offense, and he does so many things well,'' Tom Brady said. "For a guy that hasn't played football in a year, it didn't look like it. He played hard, he played well. He made some big plays. I'm sure he's going to be sore tomorrow; he took some big hits. It's great to have him back.''

Jeff Howe of NESN.com writes about the return of linebacker Jerod Mayo from a knee injury. Mayo totaled two tackles in limited time. "It is good to be back, just to be around the fellas, be around the coaches," Mayo said. "Too bad it was under these circumstances, but back to the drawing board."

Chris Forsberg of ESPNBoston.com writes about Patriots players' response to their inability to sustain offensive drives. "It's our own fault that we were on the sideline," guard Brian Waters said. "When we had an opportunity to make something happen, we didn't. There's no faulting our defense. They did their job; they held them. Not only did they hold them, they kept them out of the end zone."

Monique Walker of the Boston Globe writes about how changes in the Pittsburgh defense affected the Patriots on Sunday. In years past Pittsburgh was known for a complex zone blitzing style of defense. On Sunday Pittsburgh played a man-to-man, blitz heavy defense. When asked how the Pittsburgh defense changed the Patriots game plan, Tom Brady said, ""We never really played with the lead and we never really played the game on our terms. They played very well defensively. They have a lot of good players over there - great scheme, great coaching. We certainly give them a lot of credit.''

Mike Reiss of ESPNBoston.com looks at the Patriots special teams units. Sergio Brown, Matthew Slater and Tracy White were present on all four units while starters like Gary Guyton, James Ihedigbo, Antwaun Molden and Rob Ninkovich were present on two units.