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PITTSBURGH -- The Pittsburgh Steelers have more Super Bowl victories than any other NFL franchise. But how many more could they have if not for their nemesis, the New England Patriots? The Steelers fell to 0-3 against the Patriots in AFC championship games. The other two losses came in 2001 and 2004. The Patriots went on to win the Super Bowl after each year.
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It was the same old story for the Steelers against Tom Brady. They couldn't figure out a way to slow Tom Brady down. Brady threw for a postseason franchise-record 384 yards and three touchdowns. Brady had all day to survey the defense because Pittsburgh could not get pressure on him.
For much of the game the Steelers decided to rush just three defenders, and the Patriots picked it up easily.
"They did a great job finding the blitzes," linebacker Ryan Shazier said. "I guess they figured we'd come up the middle."
The Patriots had been vulnerable in pass protection in their divisional round win over Houston. The Steelers sacked Brady twice, but they didn't get consistent pressure when it mattered.
Pittsburgh's offense couldn't keep up, and the coaches did a poor job of altering the game plan once Le'Veon Bell exited the game with a groin injury. The Steelers had planned to use Bell a lot in hopes of controlling the clock, but he injured his groin on the second play of the game and finished with 20 yards on just six carries.
"A lot of guys were feeling good about this game," tackle Marcus Gilbert said. "Then the whole climate changed."
Without the threat of a running game the Steelers struggled to score through the passing game. Ben Roethlisberger threw for 314 yards, but he was plagued by several drops by his young receivers.
The Patriots forced Pittsburgh to go away from All-Pro receiver Antonio Brown by doubling him. When players such as fellow wideouts Cobi Hamilton and Sammie Coates had opportunities to make plays, they didn't make them consistently enough.
"You get combat catch opportunities, you got to make them when you're a championship-caliber team," Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said.
The young receivers did not. And because of it, along with the sieve-like pass defense, Pittsburgh will watch Super Bowl LI instead of participating in it.
"Hopefully, this is a learning game for guys to understand this isn't promised to anybody," quarterback Ben Roethlisberger said. "Tomorrow isn't promised. Just to make the playoffs isn't enough. A lot of guys have been in the league for a long time and haven't been to any of these.
"I hope they understand the importance and relish the opportunity if it comes again."
REPORT CARD VS. PATRIOTS
PASSING OFFENSE: C -- Ben Roethlisberger threw for 314 yards, but he and his young receivers couldn't make the necessary big plays to keep the Steelers in the game. Cobi Hamilton dropped a touchdown pass and had another touchdown negated when he stepped out of bounds over the end line before he caught the pass. Sammie Coates failed to catch a deep ball on the Steelers' first series of the game. Eli Rogers was more effective, but he lost a fumble in the second half that set up a New England touchdown. The Patriots double-covered Antonio Brown, forcing Roethlisberger to look to his secondary receivers. And those secondary receivers didn't play well enough for the Steelers to win.
RUSHING OFFENSE: C -- Le'Veon Bell injured his groin on the second play of the game. He tried to play through the injury for a short while, but he took himself out of the game when he realized he was hurting the team more than helping it. Bell finished with 20 yards on six carries. DeAngelo Williams finished the game for Bell and had 34 yards on 14 carries. The Steelers had to abandon the running game when they fell behind, which is the biggest reason they finished the game with just 54 rushing yards.
PASS DEFENSE: F-minus -- Patriots quarterback Tom Brady set a franchise record with 384 passing yards in a postseason game, making it look easy against a Steelers secondary that looked overmatched from the outset of the game. Brady completed 32 of 42 passes and had three touchdowns with no interceptions. Brady had plenty of time as the Steelers decided to rush three players for much of the game. When the Steelers did bring four or more players on the pass rush, the Patriots picked it up with ease. Chris Hogan had nine catches for 180 yards and two touchdowns and Julian Edelman had eight catches for 118 yards and a touchdown.
RUSH DEFENSE: B -- When the Patriots beat the Steelers during the regular season, LeGarrette Blount rushed for 127 yards. He only had 47 on 16 carries Sunday. The Steelers did a much better job stopping the run, but it didn't matter because the Patriots could throw against the Steelers whenever he wanted.
SPECIAL TEAMS: B -- Place kicker Chris Boswell set an NFL record by making his first 15 field goal attempts in the postseason. But it wasn't a perfect day for Boswell, who missed an extra point early in the game, killing some momentum for the Steelers after they scored a touchdown. Punter Jordan Berry had several opportunities to pin the Patriots deep in their territory, but he could not execute his kicks. He punted four times for a 38.5 average. Sammie Coates returned two kickoffs for 45 yards, but the return units could not provide any big plays on a night the Steelers desperately needed them.
COACHING: F-minus -- The Steelers knew they had to pressure Tom Brady to have any chance at beating the Patriots. So the decision to rush three and four players for most of the night was a puzzling one by head coach Mike Tomlin and defensive coordinator Keith Butler. Butler never made an adjustment even after Brady was making it looked ridiculously easy against his overmatched secondary. The defensive performance is the main reason the Steelers lost, but the offensive game plan wasn't effective, either. The Steelers were 1-for-3 in the red zone and failed to score a touchdown after having first-and-goal from the 1-foot line late in the second quarter. The Steelers went into halftime trailing 17-9 when it could have been 17-13 had the offense been able to simply execute a quarterback sneak. But a sneak wasn't called. The Steelers lost four yards on two runs by DeAngelo Williams before a third-down pass fell incomplete. For a team that pays its quarterback $20 million a year and has plenty more invested in Antonio Brown and its offensive line, the execution has to be much better than it was in the championship game.
