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FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- Someone cover Chris Hogan. In the biggest game of the season, featuring two storied franchises, the Pittsburgh Steelers let a secondary receiver torch them for 180 yards and two touchdowns; the former is a New England Patriots playoff record. But really, pass-coverage struggles were simply emblematic of the Steelers' sloppy performance in their 36-17 AFC Championship Game loss to the Patriots that negated the positive energy of a nine-game winning streak.  Forget slaying the dragon. The Steelers slayed themselves.
"They played the type of ball that they normally play, and we didn’t play the type of ball that we normally play," coach Mike Tomlin said. "We didn’t put our guys in as good enough of a position consistently. We failed collectively." Steelers RB Le'Veon Bell got hurt early in the game (a left groin injury), which "of course" hurt the Steelers' game plan, said guard David DeCastro, especially "for as much as we've leaned on him" at times during the season. But Bell had nothing to do with the Patriots converting nine of 12 third downs to open the game or with QB Tom Brady's performance. He now has 22 touchdowns and zero interceptions in his past seven games against the Steelers. "[Brady] ripped us apart," defensive end Stephon Tuitt said. Brady saw minimal pressure from a Steelers defense that didn't penetrate with traditional rushes. And the margin kept widening. The Steelers tried blitzing Brady but "it wasn't effective," Tomlin said. This stat is numbing: Brady completed nine of his first 10 passes targeting Hogan, who was wide open 25 yards downfield on the only incompletion, a Brady misfire (according to ESPN Stats & Info). All week, Steelers players said they had to play near-perfect football to beat the Patriots. Instead, they entered the nastiest storm Gillette Stadium has to offer, with the Patriots' offense brimming with confidence and the Steelers swimming in their own missed opportunities. The Steelers' offense and QB Ben Roethlisberger, who nearly went back-to-back playoff games without a touchdown pass before a late score to receiver Cobi Hamilton, needed their "other guys" to emerge. But the lack of an established No. 2 receiver on the outside opposite star Antonio Brown finally caught up to them. Receiver Eli Rogers and tight end Jesse James had a few bright moments, but it wasn't nearly enough. A near-touchdown pass in the second quarter hit Hamilton right in the belly for naught. He also negated a fourth-quarter score by stepping out of bounds before catching the ball. "We've got to score touchdowns in the red zone," Hamilton said. Patriots coach Bill Belichick is the master of taking away the top option, which, in this case, was Brown, who finished with seven catches for 77 yards. With Bell out, no one else had an answer. Despite an early flash, the running game went stagnant (54 yards on 20 carries). Roethlisberger wondered if the moment was too big for some of the younger players but said overall his receivers did a "great job." "We need to make every single play in a game like this against an opponent like this," Roethlisberger said. Roethlisberger turned to a shotgun, no-huddle attack that worked in spurts, with Pittsburgh breaking off multiple drives of double-digit plays. But this game followed the Steelers' road-game blueprint: decent yardage, not enough points. That was only a start. Rogers had a costly fumble, and the Patriots quickly converted for a TD. Early in the second quarter, the Steelers had the ball on the half-yard line and couldn't punch in a touchdown. There was the flea-flicker that left safety Mike Mitchell futilely chasing Hogan on a touchdown play after biting on the run. On the game's first touchdown, Brady appeared to look off safety Robert Golden to hit a wide-open Hogan in the back of the end zone. The Steelers' defensive front didn't get to Brady, and in pass coverage Hogan seemed to continually run free without cornerbacks or safeties getting help. Mitchell said the Steelers hadn't seen the Patriots' flea-flicker in film study and expected other trickery instead. Brady is "no joke, man," Mitchell said. "They did a really good job of just keeping us kind of off balance with the tempo," Mitchell said. "Tom's elite. Every time we weren't on the guy in the flat, he was able to find it, and when we weren't pressuring, he was very poised and patient. Did a good job of finding the open man." The only team that stopped the Patriots was the Patriots. And to think this fight was supposed to be epic. The Steelers looked and sounded and acted like a team that would turn locker room buzz into a winning edge. Antonio Brown's Facebook Live incident seemed to galvanize them. That they came out this flat is a bit stunning, considering the momentum. But the Patriots had the upper hand -- again. "When you get a chance to make plays and opportunities, you’ve got to make them in championship-level football," Tomlin said.
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