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FOXBORO - Matt Cassel will have nightmares of James Harrison all week after the outside linebacker's two-sack, two-forced fumble performance.

But he can take solace in the fact that he isn't the only quarterback whose dreams are haunted by the six-foot, 242-pound sack artist.

Harrison has been a terror all season in opposing backfields. The fifth-year player out of Kent State now has 14 sacks on the season and six forced fumbles, both lead the team.

The 14 sacks are a career-high, surpassing his previous high of eight set last year during his first Pro Bowl season. His two sacks Sunday moved him up to third in the NFL.

"Not to take it for granted, but that's what we've come to expect from him because that's what he's capable of," Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said. "He's got tremendous talent, he's got a tremendous work ethic, and he's a heck of a football player." But no one expected this out of Harrison when he came out of college five years ago. Harrison went undrafted as an All-MAC First Team linebacker and was signed as a rookie free agent for the Steelers. But it took Pittsburgh some time to realize the potential in the linebacker, as the Steelers released him briefly in both 2002 and 2003 before he finally cracked the roster for good in 2004, making four starts.

But it wasn't until 2007 that he became a full-time starter on the talented Steeler defense. Now, opposing teams can only long for the days when Harrison rode the bench.

"You see him in the weight room working hard everyday," said fellow outside linebacker LaMarr Woodley. "He just has that commitment like that and that attitude, to go out there and play with that attitude like no one can stop him."

After the Steelers went up 20-10 it was as if Harrison became unstoppable. On the next play from scrimmage Harrison sprinted around the left side of the Patriots line and hit Cassel on his blindside, forcing a fumble that the Steelers recovered and turned into three points. On the Patriots' next possession Harrison repeated the feat, speeding around the left edge to hit Cassel and force yet another fumble that was recovered by the Steelers, this one also leading to a field goal.

"That's just something I try to do," Harrison said of the forced fumbles. "When you get on the blindside of the quarterback you want to reach for the ball and wrap the arm and I just happened to be able to get through."

Harrison's six forced fumbles lead the league, but the Steeler swears there's nothing special to his ability to cause turnovers.

"It's not really something that you perfect, anybody can do it," he said. "It's just a matter of reaching for the ball; it's just a matter of instincts trying to make a play."

While he may not pride himself on his fumble-causing prowess, the linebacker does acknowledge his biggest asset as a pass-rusher - his speed off the edge that can leave left tackles in the dust.

"I feel like that against basically any tackle that I go against, eventually I'm going to be able to get around the corner a little bit," Harrison said.

"In the first half I just did a lot of bull-rushing to (Patriots' left tackle Matt Light), the second half we started to get up a little bit and we could just pin our ears back, we didn't have to worry about screens and all that stuff and we were able to get to him." And in doing just that, Harrison has made a statement that last year was no accident.

"He is great," cornerback Deshea Townsend said. "If he keeps doing that, the sky is the limit. This year is just a true testament of what he did last year was not a fluke."