He always shoulders the load

PITTSBURGH -- It is that time again for Tom Brady.

Time for another chance to add to his legend. Time for another chance to keep climbing to the heights reached by Joe Montana.

Time to do what everyone expects -- make key plays at key times to lead the New England Patriots past the Pittsburgh Steelers and advance to the Super Bowl for the third time in four seasons.

What a burden to bear.

Pittsburgh rookie Ben Roethlisberger may begin to feel it tonight, but Brady has been here and done it, and now the expectations are that he will always succeed. For Brady, failure would be a shock to everyone in Patriots Nation.

When experts sort out the key aspects of a game, the common denominator is Brady's ability to make the big play, while Roethlisberger is still unproven. Jets coach Herm Edwards said it. Bills coach Mike Mularkey and Titans defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz echoed it.

"I have been anxious all week," Brady said Friday. "Since we won the last game, I remember walking out of [Gillette Stadium] last Sunday night and seeing Coach Belichick and saying, `Well, it's time to get ready for the toughest game of the year.'

"It's one of those weeks where you're trying to put as much into it as you can because you're going to need to play your best. You don't want to be taken by surprise by anything. I want to -- need to -- make sure I know what I'm doing inside and out."

Brady isn't infallible. He makes mistakes. He misreads defenses. He misses open receivers. He even throws interceptions.

He just doesn't do it very often or at critical times. When he does have a hiccup, he atones as well as any quarterback in history. He goes right back to the drawing board. He analyzes the mistakes, figures out what went wrong, and rarely makes the same mistake again.

Inclement weather has never bothered the kid from the ideal climes of northern California. Whether he wears a glove on his throwing hand or not, Brady gets the job done.

Before the season, coordinator Charlie Weis changed the offense upon the arrival of Corey Dillon to feature more downfield passing. Brady adapted without a hitch. When the Patriots have had to go to the short-passing game because of the weather, Brady has adjusted accordingly.

When defenses unveil new wrinkles -- such as the Steelers' vaunted zone blitz -- Brady seems to be able to identify it more readily than most quarterbacks. Those recognition skills and his ability to take advantage of resulting one-on-one matchups is what could turn the game one way or another.

"You don't fool Tom Brady too often," said Edwards. "If you do, you're doing one tremendous job on defense."

Most of the burden to pick up those defensive wrinkles will fall on Brady.

In the Halloween loss in Pittsburgh, Brady had problems with the zone blitz. But he's had time to study the scheme and nobody makes adjustments better than Brady.

The quarterback gives much of the credit for his ability to read defenses to his coaching staff.

"I think for myself and this team, and as the coaches have been here and tried to implement more of their style, I think the players have taken to it more. There's much more trust between the players and the coaches [than there was in New England's first Super Bowl]. We're much farther along as a team."

Brady won't walk onto Heinz Field with "S" on his chest, but he will walk in with a bull's-eye on his back. Everyone knows that to beat the Patriots, you must stop Brady.

It's a burden he's carried every week since taking over for Drew Bledsoe in Week 2 of the 2001 season.

Since then, Brady has won a pair of Super Bowls while posting a 7-0 postseason record.

It is dealing with that burden that separates Brady from everyone else and makes him, without much argument, the best money quarterback of his generation.

It's a burden he will feel again this evening.