Tom Brady was kaput as New England's quarterback. He was so used up at age 37 — especially after a 27-point loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 4 — that talk radio in Boston and beyond crackled with suggestions the Patriots should trade him.
The Pittsburgh Steelers were history too. They were so erratic during their 3-3 start that their offensive coordinator cringed when he was recognized in public.
In a testament to the wild unpredictability of the NFL, Brady is back to his record-breaking form and fresh off a 43-21 rout of the mighty Denver Broncos, and the Steelers have won three in a row, including blowouts of the Indianapolis Colts and Baltimore Ravens in consecutive weeks.
While the doubters recede back into the shadows, the second half of the season has begun with some sense of familiar order restored: The Patriots and Steelers are once again among the league's best teams.
Said Brady: "It's a lot of guys working hard who believe in each other, have confidence in each other and then when you get your one day a week to go out there, you go out there and you let it rip."
It wasn't so long ago that some Patriots fans were letting it rip, airing their displeasure with the quarterback who has led the franchise to five of the past 13 Super Bowls.
Scott Zolak, a former backup quarterback to Drew Bledsoe in New England and now a color analyst for the team's flagship radio station, said the water-cooler chatter of trading Brady — perhaps to the Houston Texans for a first-round pick or two — was "ridiculous."
"I thought it was embarrassing," Zolak said. "Reporters were asking [Coach] Bill Belichick, 'Are you going to reevaluate your quarterback position this week?'… The sky was falling around here."
The sky was falling, and now the records are. Brady threw for 333 yards and four touchdowns against the Broncos, giving him 51,541 yards for his career and moving him past Hall of Famer John Elway (51,475) for the fifth-most passing yards in NFL history.
And the people who had written off Brady and the Patriots?
"We never listened to it," receiver Brandon LaFell said. "We just kept doing what we do — make plays, continue to work our butt off and continue to believe in each other. And eventually, it started to click."
The Steelers know the feeling. They had some flashes of offensive brilliance early — 27 points in the first two quarters of the opener against the Cleveland Browns; 37 points at Carolina against the Panthers in Week 3 — and some real stinkers, including one offensive touchdown per game against the Jacksonville Jaguars and the Browns in consecutive weeks.
That has improved dramatically in recent weeks, with Ben Roethlisberger throwing six touchdown passes in a victory over red-hot Indianapolis in Week 8, then throwing six more in Sunday night's win over Baltimore. That's an NFL record for touchdown passes in consecutive games.
For those keeping score, in the past three games — home victories over Houston, Indianapolis and Baltimore — the Steelers have scored 124 points in 180 minutes.
Eight of the past nine times they have ventured into the red zone, the Steelers have come away with a touchdown.
"I think everybody has a part in it," rookie receiver Martavis Bryant told reporters Sunday. "Everybody looks at their game. Everybody works hard in practice. And everybody takes more emphasis in the red zone. So it's just a whole team thing. Everybody is just working."
Antonio Brown (eight touchdowns) is the star receiver in a Pittsburgh offense that's ranked third in total yards, and the Steelers have a ground game that's led by bruisers Le'Veon Bell and LeGarrette Blount.
Another change from earlier in the season is that the Steelers are increasingly less reliant on their no-huddle offense. They used it only briefly in each of the past two games. Offensive coordinator Todd Haley said it's good to have the no-huddle in the toolbox, but he doesn't want to build the entire offense with that as the foundation.
The Steelers' early struggles had Haley appreciating anonymity off the field. That's why he enjoyed Halloween, when he dressed up as Batman, and his wife, Chrissy, was Catwoman.
"She had a mask on, there was no way to tell who I was, so we had a great time," Haley said. "We could have stayed out all night. I had a lot of Jokers who wanted to pose with me because it was such a good costume, and I thought, 'If they only knew who they were really posing with.'"
Those Jokers sure wouldn't mind now.
sam.farmer@latimes.com
Twitter: @LATimesfarmer
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