Steelers' Shazier: Entire league has a 'Patriots problem'

The New England Patriots are officially in the heads of everyone in the NFL - if they weren't already there before.

After Ndamukong Suh claimed that the Miami Dolphins have never been scared of the Patriots Thursday morning, Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker Ryan Shazier went on the offensive to defend his team's record against the reigning Super Bowl champs.

When asked if the Steelers have a "Patriots problem" after four straight losses to New England, including a 36-17 playoff defeat, Shazier told ESPN's Jeremy Fowler "if you look at it that way, the NFL has a Patriots problem," though he believes it's solvable.

"They've been a great team, they have a great leader, and they just find a way to win," Shazier said. "They have a good strategy in what they want to do. But I feel we are going to be prepared for them this year.

"I feel we are going to get them when we need to get them. And at any day I feel we can win the Super Bowl. We might have had a problem in the past but I think we are going to be ready this time."

Steelers defensive coordinator Keith Butler agrees with Shazier and believes he knows what needs to be done to stop the Patriots, particularly Tom Brady, after experiencing some limited success in Week 7 last season.

"If we would have gotten some pressure on him and sacked him a couple of times and get him to cuss his dadgum offensive linemen out, hey man, it's a beautiful world for us," Butler told Fowler on Wednesday. "We have to be able to develop a four-man rush and not just blitz all the time.

"This year we have to be able to play conventional coverages with conventional people playing those coverages and conventional people rushing the passer. We've got to be able to do that in order to advance defensively, in my opinion."

The Steelers will have some time to figure out their game plan versus Brady and the Patriots, as they don't meet until Week 15 of this season.