Patriots 55, Steelers 31: Tom Brady threw for 432 yards and four touchdowns - both season highs - and host New England used a 28-point fourth quarter to rout Pittsburgh.

Brady finished 23-of-33 in his fifth career 400-yard game, connecting with rookie Aaron Dobson (five catches, 130 yards) for two scores and tight end Rob Gronkowski and Danny Amendola for one each as the Patriots (7-2) remained two games ahead of the New York Jets atop the AFC East. Gronkowski had a career-high nine catches for 143 yards, Amendola had four receptions for 122 yards and Stevan Ridley rushed for 115 yards and two TDs.

Ben Roethlisberger threw for 400 yards with four touchdowns and two interceptions for the Steelers (2-6), but it went for naught as Pittsburgh allowed the most points in franchise history. Jerricho Cotchery had three touchdown receptions among his seven catches for 96 yards as the teams combined for 1,089 yards - 610 by New England.

Brady threw scoring passes of 34 yards to Amendola and 19 to Gronkowski to stake the Patriots to a 14-0 lead 4 1/2 minutes into the second quarter, and Ridley scored from a yard out with nine seconds left in the half for a 24-10 edge. Roethlisberger rallied the Steelers by throwing two TD passes to Cotchery in under a four-minute span to deadlock it at 24-24 with 7:10 left in the third quarter.

New England responded with 17 unanswered points as Dobson hauled in a 17-yard scoring pass and Ridley bulled in from 5 yards out to make it 41-24 with 9:16 to play. Roethlisberger gave Pittsburgh life with his third scoring strike to Cotchery with 6:15 to play, but the Patriots quickly snuffed out any comeback hopes when Brady found Dobson on an 81-yard bomb down the left sideline one minute later.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Gronkowski's nine receptions moved him past 200 (206) in his 46th career game and his 39 scoring passes tied him with Randy Moss for the most caught from Brady. He has 21 catches for 209 yards and three TDs in three games against the Steelers. ... Roethlisberger joined Terry Bradshaw (212) as the only players in franchise history with 200 TD passes and became the sixth QB in league history that has reached that milestone and won two Super Bowls. ... Brady has 347 career TD passes to move into fourth place on the all-time list. ... The Patriots have forced a turnover in 36 consecutive games - the longest active streak in the league.