2017 Recall: Steelers robbed of victory when “Jesse Caught It”
Steel City Underground presents our 2017 Recall: a brief look back at Pittsburgh Steelers games from last season.
It was and still is, difficult to remain fair and objective when talking about a game the Steelers had all but won, to have the rug pulled from underneath them.
All eyes were focused on the Week 15 afternoon tilt between the Patriots and Steelers. The top playoff seed was on the line with the winner securing home-field advantage throughout the postseason. New England had owned Pittsburgh in previous seasons, but this year would be different.
Or so that was the hope.
Still reeling from the loss of Ryan Shazier, the Steelers had to compensate for ways to not only stop Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski but overcome their own weakness in the middle of the defense.
A majority of the game was kept close. The Patriots jumped out to a 7-0 lead on their first possession of the game, following a flub by the aggressive Steelers who took the ball first but punted it to the Patriots following six plays. The offense would answer, however, tying the game 7-all midway through the first quarter. The Steelers briefly took a 3-point lead on a 51-yard Chris Boswell field goal before New England kicker Stephen Gostkowski hit his own 32-yard attempt to make the game 10-all.
The Steelers would then mount a 15-play, 78-yard drive which consumed eight-and-a-half minutes off the game clock. That drive would finish with a Ben Roethlisberger touchdown pass to Martavis Bryant, sending the Steelers into the locker room with a 17-10 edge.
However, that would be without Antonio Brown, who was hurt in the second quarter and would not return. (The injury was severe enough to keep him out until the playoffs.) The Patriots would begin the third quarter with their own big drive, going 75 yards in a little over six minutes, capping the series off with a Tom Brady touchdown pass to Brandin Cooks.
Yet the Steelers would stay on top, as Gostkowski made an uncharacteristic error by pissing his extra point attempt.
Each team would trade possessions, first with the Steelers punting and then Vince Williams picking off Tom Brady and setting up the Steelers offense on the Patriots 22-yard line. Five plays later Pittsburgh would add to their one-point lead and go up 24-16 with 1:33 remaining in the third.
The Steelers defense would once again answer the call, forcing the Patriots to punt. The offense entered the fourth quarter with the ball on their own 11-yard line after receiving it on the 3 to end the third quarter. In an odd series of plays, the Steelers would hold the ball for over seven minutes while only reaching their own 34: a total of 23 yards gained over the course of 13 plays, including two offensive penalties.
The Heinz Field faithful felt nauseous as they watched Tom Brady orchestrate two scoring drives within six minutes, including three straight completions to Rob Gronkowski and a fourth which resulted in a successful two-point conversion to put the Pats up by three, 27-24.
The outlook was bleak as the Steelers got the ball back with 52 seconds left, but it only took two plays to regain the lead, or so it seemed. Steelers rookie WR JuJu Smith-Schuster took a short Big Ben pass for 69 yards, leading to the controversial Jesse James touchdown catch which would be overturned by replay.
The officials further swallowed their whistles as Roethlisberger got back to the line of scrimmage after a short pass to Darrius Heyward-Bey kept the ball in-bounds and the clock running: Big Ben would attempt a pass for Eli Rogers, who was mugged by his defender. The football popped up for grabs, turning it over to the Patriots.
The Steelers eight-game winning streak would be snapped in the 27-24 loss.
What Stood Out
Missing in Action
The Steelers were missing quite a few role players against the Patriots. They would play two-and-a-half quarters without Antonio Brown, but also started this game without starting RT Marcus Gilbert or starting CB Joe Haden. That’s in addition to losing backup RB James Conner during the game as well as the absence of LB Ryan Shazier and his backup Tyler Matakevich.
Ben continues to show up big
Ben Roethlisberger had a passer rating of 110.6, which was his 2nd-best rating against New England during his career. The only time he bested that rating was as a rookie in 2004, when he finished with a passer rating of 126.4
The Steelers quarterback completed 73.3% of his passes this week, his best mark against the Patriots in games that he threw for greater than 25 passes during his career.
Ringing the Bell
Bell gained 117 yards on the ground, a 4.9 average as he came up big when the Steelers needed him. With Brown out, Bell got his first touchdown against the Patriots, behind a Steelers offensive line featuring backup RT Chris Hubbard paving the way.
Gronk Factor
The Steelers surrendered 9 catches and 168 yards to Patriots All-Pro TE Rob Gronkowski, including several key receptions in the final stretch of the fourth quarter.
D-Fence
The run defense was still weak without Ryan Shazier, as the Steelers relinquished 5.2 yards per carry and a rushing touchdown to Patriots RB Dion Lewis. The Steelers also gave up 360 total yards against New England: making 6 out of the last 7 games they had given up 300+ yards on defense.
By comparison they only gave up 300+ yards twice over their first 7 games of the 2017 season.
AB for MVP
Before going down with an injury, Antonio Brown notched his 100th catch of the 2017 season, making him the first player in NFL history to have 5-straight seasons of 100+ receptions.
AB was also closing in on 10,000 career receiving yards (needing only 90 more) and was well in front of all NFL receivers in most major receiving categories. Unfortunately, his bid to be league MVP would end in the second quarter as Brown not only left the game, but would not return until the postseason (missing the final two weeks of the regular season).
For the first time in awhile
Cam Heyward notched his 10th sack of the season, making him the first Steelers defender with 10+ sacks in a season since 2010: when James Harrison (10.5) and LaMarr Woodley (10) both broke the double-digit threshold.
What was more impressive about Cam Heyward breaking reaching this mark?
It was the most sacks by a Steelers defensive lineman since 1986, when Keith Willis had 12.
Brady’s Interception
Tom Brady threw an interception against Pittsburgh for the first time since 2005.
Coincidentally, it would be the first career interception for Steelers LB Vince Williams.
It was about time
The Steelers had the ball for 35:07 in Week 15, the 4th time during the 2017 season they held the ball for 35+ minutes.
Each of the previous games resulted in a Steelers win.
Play of the Game
The forgotten play against the Patriots…
With 30 seconds left in the first half, the Steelers offense was staring down a 3rd-and-goal from the New England four-yard line. Ben Roethlisberger steps back to pass, looks for his target and finds Martavis Bryant, who somehow makes a miraculous one-handed grab for the touchdown.
Upon review, you can see that Bryant is grabbed, held, and harassed throughout the entire play. Heck, he was forced to make a one-handed catch because his other hand was pinned behind him by Patriots CB Stephon Gilmore.
The reason this play is “forgotten” is because the fix was always in: there was no flag on this play. If Bryant doesn’t score, the Steelers are forced into a difficult 4th and goal situation from the 4-yard line, rather than accepting a penalty which gives them a new set of downs from the 1-yard line with 25 seconds and two timeouts to work with.
We all know that “Jesse Caught It”, but as that play did not technically count, I couldn’t make that the “Play of the Game” here.
