Brady, receivers get party off to early start
Fireworks cracked overhead. Tom Brady slipped on an oversized parka the Internet made fun of and sat on the bench, doling out all the fist bumps that came his way. The fans here, as the Jumbotron showed recording artist Jon Bon Jovi dancing in owner Robert Kraft’s suite, belted out Livin’ On A Prayer.
This was all during a TV timeout with 2:44 left to play in the third quarter, but by this point they were merely waiting on formalities.
The New England Patriots were on their way to the seventh Super Bowl of the Brady-Bill Belichick era.
The Patriots thumped the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday night in the AFC Championship Game 36-17 to secure their date in Super Bowl LI against the Atlanta Falcons. It will be New England’s NFL-record ninth trip to the championship game.
Brady carved apart Pittsburgh’s secondary, completing 32 of 42 passes for 384 yards with three touchdowns. He didn’t have an interception. This marked Brady’s ninth postseason game with at least three passing TDs, tying Joe Montana for most in NFL history.
The Steelers could not generate a pass rush.
During New England’s first touchdown drive of the game — which culminated with a 16yard dart to receiver Chris Hogan in the back of the end zone — Brady bounced around the pocket long enough to scan the field, go through his progressions and find wide-open Ho- gan. After that, it didn’t get much better for Pittsburgh.
The Steelers stuck with a defensive strategy predicated on zone coverage. They rushed three defenders a good portion of the game. This put pressure on players in the secondary to hold their assignments for long periods of time and forced them to make plays. They didn’t.
Hogan was left uncovered on several big plays. He caught nine passes for 180 yards with two touchdowns. Fellow receiver Julian Edelman caught eight passes for 118 yards with a TD.
Through three quarters — the point at which the game was pretty much wrapped up — the Patriots had run the ball 16 times for 31 yards. That compared with Brady’s 36 passing attempts during the same period.
The Steelers were without star running back Le’Veon Bell for most of the game, as he suffered a left groin injury late in the first quarter. He came back, for one carry in the second quarter, but left immediately after.