Steelers turn over top seed in loss
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three They with were 52 seconds trailing left by at their 21 when JuJu Smith-Schuster (6 receptions, 114 yards) took a short pass and ran through New England’s defense for a 69-yard reception to the 10 with 34 seconds left.
On the next play, Roethlisberger hit James over the middle for a touchdown that was overturned on review because he did not complete the catch, dropping the ball after he hit the end zone.
“That’s just the way they ruled it,’’ James said. “My knee was down, I reached the ball out, I felt good about it. But that’s the National Football League.”
After a 3-yard pass to Darrius Heyward-Bey and the clock running with no timeouts, there was confusion what to do on third down. Roethlisberger got to the line of scrimmage expecting to spike the ball and then said he heard coaches tell him to run a play.
“At that time, everyone thinks it’s ‘clock’ so you don’t have time to get everyone lined up,’’ Roethlisberger said. “Eli [Rogers] ran a quick slant. I didn’t make a good enough throw.”
The ball was tipped into the hands of safety Duron Harmon, ending the improbable comeback.
Instead New England’s earlier comeback did it and Steelers killer Rob Gronkowski (nine catches, 168 yards) was at its core.
The Steelers offense failed to put the game away when it took over at its 19 with 3:52 left and leading 24-16. They came up short on three downs and punted. New England started its winning drive at the 23 with 2:06 left. That’s when Tom Brady completed three consecutive passes over the middle to Gronkowski that covered 26, 26 and 17 yards to put the ball at the Steelers 8 with one minute left. On the next play, Dion Lewis ran 8 yards for a touchdown with 56 seconds left and Gronkowski caught the 2-point conversion.
The winning drive covered 77 yards and took just five plays and 70 seconds
Safety Sean Davis had the unenviable job of covering the 6- 6, 285- pound Gronkowski most of the game. “He’s just a big dude,’’ said 6-1, 202-pound Davis. “I don’t know how you cover him. I played to my leverage for the most part the whole game. He just kept running away from me with those over routes.” The Steelers tied the score, 7-7, in the first quarter on Roethlisberger’s 18-yard pass to Rogers after Rex Burkhead’s 1-yard touchdown run for the Patriots.
Chris Boswell kicked a 52-yard field goal in the second quarter and Stephen Gostkowski booted one from 32 for the Patriots to make it 10-10. Martavis Bryant used one hand to haul in a 4-yard touchdown pass from Roethlisberger to put the Steelers ahead, 17-10, at halftime.
New England scored on the first series of the second half on Brandin Cook’s 4yard catch from Brady, but Gostkowski missed the point and it was 17-16.
Vince Williams and Javon Hargrave then combined on what might have been the defensive play of the game. Hargrave-pressured Brady up the middle into a bad throw and Williams picked it off, returning it 13 yards to New England’s 22.
It paid off in Le’Veon Bell’s 3-yard touchdown run late in the third quarter and a 24-16 lead. Bell (24-117) finished with his first 100-yard rushing game since Oct. 22.
A Gostkowski field goal put the Patriots within five with 3:56 to go, setting up four minutes of sizzling emotion on both sides.
“What a roller-coaster, huh?” Roethlisberger said. “To have that play and feel like you score and then come back and it’s not a touchdown. ... Man it would have been fun for it to turn out a different way.”
Until they meet again?