Coach Tomlin has the Steelers preparing for Super Bowl champs New England

PITTSBURGH — The "process" continues for Mike Tomlin and the Steelers as they begin preparations for the season opener against the New England Patriots Sunday night in Foxboro.

"We are appropriately focused on a lot of things relative to us," Tomlin said. "We know what's waiting on us at the end of the week, and we will focus on things that are under our control."

You can catch all the game's action on Sunday night starting at 6 p.m. with the Black & Gold Zone right here on WPXI Channel 11.  Stick around after the game for the Final Word as we break down what we saw.

It's the fifth straight season the Steelers open the season on the road, but meeting their long time nemesis this early adds a bit of intrigue.

"In Week 1, if you focus more on your opponent, there is more gray because there is no establishment of those things," Tomlin said. "We need to focus on the establishment of ours, and I'm sure New England is focused on the establishment of theirs, and the quality with which we do that will determine the quality of our play."

Tom Brady has won five-straight against Pittsburgh at Gillette Stadium and his numbers are off the charts. He's thrown 18 touchdowns, 0 interceptions and completes more than 70% of his passes. Even at age 42, the Steelers will have their work cut out for them.

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"We can't warm up to the competition like the way we did a year ago," Tomlin said. "We settled in and played better. Particularly in their environment, you can't play football like that."

Devin Bush was drafted to help combat speedy offenses, much like the one New England possesses, but there's going to be a learning curve, especially when it's unknown how many snaps he will play in his NFL debut.

"I don't have an answer to that. In the long term, those answers will be based on how he performs based on amount of work we give him. I'm comfortable with that. There's lot of things you can't answer on Tuesday before you've been in a stadium. We'll learn more about ourselves as we walk out of that stadium."

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