Steelers outplayed, outcoached, outclassed
FOXBORO, Ma. — Outplayed. Outcoached. Outclassed.
If the New England Patriots are nearing the end of a 15-year dynasty, they sure have a funny way of showing it.
Tom Brady picked apart the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday night just as he has his entire life, this time with a postseason franchise-record 384 passing yards in a 36-17 win in the AFC Conference Championship Game.
Brady and the Patriots picked the Steelers apart without Rob Gronkowski, but the big tight end’s absence didn’t matter because Chris Hogan, an underrated and heretofore unknown fourth-year pro out of Monmouth, caught nine passes for a franchise-record 180 yards and touchdowns of 16 and 34 yards.
If Brady wasn’t finding Hogan, he was connecting with Julian Edelman, who caught eight passes for 118 yards and a 10-yard touchdown.
For the 39-year-old Brady, it was his 10th win in 12 meetings against the Steelers, who couldn’t penetrate a supposedly soft Patriots offensive line.
That line had been beaten badly the previous week by the Houston Texans, and Brady put heat on his group at practice last week. He was sacked twice by the Steelers but hit only three times.
“Yeah, he picked us apart,” said a distraught Stephon Tuitt. “We didn’t get there and he picked us apart.”
“They did a great job of finding our blitzes,” said Ryan Shazier. “I guess they figured we were going to attack the middle because last week they didn’t do a good job of protecting him up the middle. This week they emphasized that in practice and they made sure they were ready.”
Brady beat a fire-X blitz for his first touchdown pass, another blitz on the flea-flicker for his second touchdown pass, and his 39-yarder to Hogan, at 20-9, which set up the back-breaking touchdown, beat another blitz.
n The Steelers played most of the game without Le’Veon Bell, who left in the first quarter with a groin injury and said he had been “micro-managing” the sore groin “throughout the whole thing, just kind of keeping it to myself, not really trying to scare anybody.”
Bell didn’t provide specifics about how long it’s bothered him, but said “today it just kind of broke the camel’s back and I couldn’t go.”
After breaking franchise postseason rushing records in each of the two previous playoff games, Bell rushed for only 20 yards on six carries (3.3) Sunday.
DeAngelo Williams replaced Bell and gained 34 yards on 14 carries with seven catches for 51 yards. Williams’ 5-yard touchdown run cut the Patriots’ early lead to 10-6 before Chris Boswell missed the extra point.
Mike Tomlin was asked if the loss of Bell caused him to change offensive philosophies.
“No question,” he said.
n The Steelers defense is taking plenty of heat, but the offense’s failure to score a touchdown after a first-and-goal at the one-foot line late in the first half was critical. Williams carried twice for a loss of four yards, followed by an incompletion and a 23-yard field goal.
Tomlin said he’s not opposed to sneaking, even though Ben Roethlisberger rarely does it.
“We ran a play that worked all year,” explained David DeCastro. “Maybe they were ready for it. Give them credit. They made a play that pushed us back. Second time they brought a funky blitz and we weren’t on the same page. Like I said, man, you had to be perfect (to beat them). We weren’t. Give them credit.”
Tomlin was asked if settling for a field goal and a 17-9 halftime deficit had a psychological effect on the team.
“I don’t know about psychologically,” he said. “We would’ve liked to have scored a touchdown there. We weren’t able to do it. It still would’ve been a one-score game, but it would’ve been significant right there to get the seven. We didn’t.”
n The Steelers were predominantly a cover-3 team under Dick LeBeau and have since incorporated more cover-2. Regardless, the last 15 years their zone defenses have never been a good matchup for Brady.
Tomlin was asked if he considered playing more press man Sunday night.
“Obviously you weigh those options in preparation,” he said. “We stand by what we did in the game. We just didn’t do it well enough.”
The aforementioned 39-yard Brady pass that set up a 27-9 lead — just before Eli Rogers’ fumble gave the Patriots another third-quarter touchdown — occurred against man-to-man defense with aging cornerback Will Gay beaten badly by Hogan.
n No one was in a good mood in the Steelers locker room, and James Harrison might have been the last person to ask if the Patriots had won the line of scrimmage. That’s what one reporter wanted to know.
“Nothing was won on the line of scrimmage,” said Harrison. “They out-executed us. They did not out-physical us. They did not push us around. They did not got out there and just dog us. They out-executed us. They sped up the tempo and did what they had to do to get the win.”
The Patriots rushed for 57 yards on 27 carries (2.1 avg.). LeGarrette Blount was 16-for-47 and Pitt’s Dion Lewis was 6-for-11. The Patriots are 16-0 when Lewis plays.
n The general feeling of exasperation in playing, and losing to, the Patriots was, the Steelers hoped, a thing of the past. But DeCastro just shook his head and said that “playing them is so weird.”
Why?
“They just make plays,” he said. “They’re always in the spot, never bust anything. You’re the ones making mistakes. But you’ve got to give them credit because they force you into those situations. They’re a good team.”
n Lawrence Timmons was the Steelers’ runaway tackles leader with 14, including two tackles-for-loss. His contract is up, but in summing up the loss he indicated his plan is to return.
“We’re just going to take it on the chin, learn from it and get ready for next year,” Timmons said.
What did the Steelers want to do against the Patriots that they couldn’t?
“We really wanted to go to the Super Bowl,” he said.
The Patriots will instead go for a record ninth time.