Matt Cassel has been the feel-good story of the 2008 season.

You know the plot: the plucky little back-up who hadn’t started a game since high school is thrust into the starting role and performs surprisingly well, carrying his team into the thick of the playoff race in the wake of a catastrophic injury to the team’s Hall-of-Fame-bound starting quarterback.

But feel-good stories are only nice if you enjoy “The View” in the morning and chocolate chip cookies and a warm glass of milk in the evening.

But if you prefer “The Departed” to “The View” and choose a tall glass of bourbon over a warm glass of milk as your late-night elixir, then you’re not interested in feel-good stories.

You’re far more interested in do-good stories. You want results.

All of which brings us around to Cassel and New England’s impending showdown with the AFC North-leading Steelers on Sunday.

This is show-me-the-money, do-good time for Cassel, at least if he’s to legitimize the comparisons to a certain record-setting quarterback and fill the legend void created by Tom Brady’s injury back in September.

The Steelers come to town Sunday fighting tooth and nail for playoff positioning and – stop me if you heard this story before – armed again with plenty of big talkers and the top-ranked defense in the NFL.

It’s the same situation Brady faced time and again – only to silence the big talkers and shred the top-ranked defense every time it counted with legend-building performances, breaking the will of Pittsburgh so often that even die-hard Steelers fans admit that they fear facing him.

Brady’s Patriots were a sterling 5-1 vs. the Steelers – perhaps the NFL’s second best team here in the 21st-century and certainly one of the league’s most consistent winners. New England’s lone loss, meanwhile, came at Pittsburgh in October 2004. Considering the Patriots had won their previous 21 games, an NFL record, and the Steelers went on to a 15-1 season, it’s hardly a source of shame. The Steelers were bound to win one of those games, weren’t they?

But in the three meetings since then, the Steelers entered the game much like they do this weekend: with tons of momentum and one of the league’s most formidable defenses.

And in the three meetings since then, the Steelers exited the game humbled by one of Brady’s greatest big-game performances. Here’s the refresher course:

Dec. 9, 2007 – Patriots 34, Steelers 13

One year ago, Pittsburgh represented a major hurdle for the Patriots in their quest to become the first 16-0 team in NFL history.

The Steelers entered the contest with a 9-3 record and a defense that ranked No. 1 in the NFL in every major category, including yards per play (4.1), yards per game (230.8) and points per game (12.9).

It was a classic battle of immovable object vs. irresistible force. It proved no contest, as Pittsburgh’s defense was shredded like cabbage in a sauerkraut factory.

Brady was at his near-perfect, big-game best, completing 32 of 46 passes for 399 yards, 4 TDs, 0 INTs and a 125.2 passer rating against the toughest defense the NFL could throw his way. He also torched Pittsburgh’s Anthony Smith, and then got up in his grill, after the defensive back had been mouthing off in the days leading up to the game.

The 399 yards stand as the second-highest output of Brady’s career and, naturally, one of his most productive days came against one of his toughest opponents.

Sept. 25, 2005 – Patriots 23, Steelers 20

The Steelers ended the 2004 regular season with a 15-1 record and the top-ranked defense in the NFL. They continued right where they left off in 2005, beating their first two opponents by a combined score of 61-14. The Patriots stumbled out of the blocks with a 1-1 record.

Brady ended the charade of the Pittsburgh defense with one of his greatest fourth-quarter performances. He completed 12 of 12 passes for 167 yards in the final stanza, leading the Patriots to scoring drives on each of their three fourth-quarter possessions to pull out the come-from-behind victory.

He ended the day with 372 yards through the air – again, one of the most prolific outputs of his career, and again against a vaunted Pittsburgh defense and a pretty good team: the Steelers, you might remember, went on to win the Super Bowl that season.

Jan. 23, 2005 – Patriots 41, Steelers 27

If you’re looking for Brady’s signature performance – his greatest game in a Hall of Fame career – consider this Exhibit A.

The 15-1 Steelers took the field in front of a raucous crowd during the coldest home game in Pittsburgh history (-1 with the wind chill) and with a unit that ranked No. 1 in scoring defense (15.7 PPG) and No. 1 in total defense (258.4 YPG).

Oh, and just to make it fair, Brady spent the night before the game bed-ridden with the flu.

Again it was no contest.

Brady was cruelly efficient, as he so often is in the biggest games, completing 14 of 21 passes (66.7 percent) for 207 yards, 2 TDs, 0 INTs and a 130.5 passer rating against the league’s top defense. He set the tone early with a majestic 60-yard first-quarter scoring strike to Deion Branch that gave the Patriots a 10-0 lead, while skewering the Pittsburgh defense for 34 offensive points (one TD was scored by Rodney Harrison on defense).

You have to go back to the last week of 1999 – a period of 150 games – to find the last time a team scored more than 41 against the Steelers and their traditionally tough defense. But Brady led the Patriots to 41 points against Pittsburgh on the road on a sub-zero night with a trip to the Super Bowl on the line.

Needless to say, Cassel has a lot to live up to as we fast forward to Nov. 30, 2008, and his first clash with the Steelers.

Pittsburgh’s defense – once again – provides a formidable challenge, especially its pass defense.

The Steelers are No. 1 in scoring defense (14.5 PPG) and No. 1 in total defense (235.4 YPG). They’re also No. 1 against the pass, allowing just 5.6 yards per attempt through the air (perhaps the single greatest statistical indicator of a pass defense’s toughness).

The Steelers aren’t too shabby in run defense, either. They allow just 2.89 yards per attempt and 66.5 yards per game – both marks the best in the league.

They’re daunting obstacles, for sure.

But Brady didn’t make his mark as the NFL’s Golden Boy with great performances against lousy teams in the September sunshine. He paved his road to Canton by consistently coming up big against the best teams and the best defenses the NFL could throw his way. Pittsburgh was often the victim.

Now it’s time for Cassel to step up and prove he can overcome these obstacles, too. It’s time for Cassel to turn the feel-good story of 2008 into the do-good story of 2008.

Kerry J. Byrne is the publisher of ColdHardFootballFacts.com . His self-congratulatory column will appear here each Wednesday during football season. Send fawning praise, death threats or pictures of your 19-year-old sister to contact@coldhardfootballfacts.com.