PITTSBURGH - The Pittsburgh Steelers have two losses in 53 weeks, both to New England. Ben Roethlisberger has two losses in 18 NFL starts, both to the Patriots.

The Steelers have been one home victory away from the Super Bowl twice since the 2001 season. Both times they lost to the Patriots.

Again, as the Patriots showed Sunday in a 23-20, last-second victory in Pittsburgh they pulled off despite being without a cast of injured players, they are everything the Steelers want to be.

They are the Super Bowl champs. They are the AFC team to beat. They are the NFL winning streak record-holders. They are the team that, as an opponent, you dare not give a chance to beat you in the fourth quarter.

"There are a lot of things we can learn from this game," coach Bill Cowher said after the Steelers' 16-game, regular-season winning streak ended two victories short of the Patriots' NFL record.

Most of all, the Steelers learned no lead is safe when Tom Brady and Adam Vinatieri have a sliver of time and a dash of hope to pull out a game.

"They showed why they're the champs," Steelers linebacker Larry Foote said.

And why the Steelers are not.

The Steelers (2-1), off to one of the best starts in franchise history with a pair of 20 points-plus victories, led much of the game before Corey Dillon's second touchdown run put New England up 17-13 with 3:19 remaining.

That the Patriots (2-1) were still in the game, much less in the lead, after twice failing to score from inside the Steelers 10 and losing key regulars Rodney Harrison (strong safety) and Matt Light (left tackle) to apparently serious leg injuries was remarkable enough. Their winning drive was even more so.

With no timeouts remaining after getting the ball with 1:21 remaining at his 38, Brady hit three consecutive passes for 37 yards - all on pass routes underneath the Steelers' coverage - to set up Vinatieri's decisive 43-yard field goal with a second left. Vinatieri had hit earlier from 48 and 35 yards, missing only from 53 yards.

"I love it! I love the guy!" tight end Christian Fauria said of Brady, who, shouldering most of the offense, completed his final 12 passes to finish 31-of-41 for 372 yards. "There's no other guy you want in that position, hands down."

Roethlisberger said much the same thing last week when, sounding like an admiring fan rather than an opposing quarterback, he called Brady easily the best in the league. The Steelers' fourth loss to the Patriots in five games since January 2002 didn't change his opinion."I told Tom that if I was a coach, that's who I'd want on the field," Roethlisberger said. "But I had all the confidence in the world in our defense, and I'd still take our defense the next time."The Steelers, taking advantage of a pass-interference penalty on former Pittsburgh cornerback Chad Scott on a fourth-and-11 play, had tied it at 20 on Roethlisberger's second TD pass of the game to Hines Ward.But in an ineffective performance reminiscent of that during a 41-27 AFC title game loss to New England eight months ago, Roethlisberger didn't do much else. He went 12-of-28 for 216 yards against a depleted secondary that was without three injured players, with much of the yardage on an 85-yard TD pass to Ward and a 49-yarder to Antwaan Randle El.That play ended with what Randle El called a "bonehead" mistake when, trapped at the Patriots 11, he attempted an ill-advised lateral to Ward.Ward, not expecting the ball, fumbled with New England recovering, costing the Steelers a chance to go up 14-7 - a potentially pivotal score considering New England was held to 10 points until the fourth quarter."In hindsight, obviously you wouldn't want to do that in a game like this," Steelers coach Bill Cowher said. "Against this caliber of a team, you cannot ruin opportunities like this."Or, exactly what the Steelers said after the Patriots beat them in January."All this loss means is we can't go undefeated," Roethlisberger said.And, he might have added, that the Steelers still haven't solved the puzzle that is the Patriots."We have a lot of confidence that, if we can keep it close, we can win it in the end," Patriots linebacker Mike Vrabel said.