Pittsburgh’s drama-filled season ended shockingly. A final
Jim Kelly Jersey , forgettable act.
No shot at the Patriots. No seventh Super Bowl trophy. No tomorrow.
And when it ended following a game no one expected, Ben Roethlisberger, Le’Veon Bell, Antonio Brown and the rest of the dejected Steelers searched to find words to describe all that had gone wrong.
This was a struggle from the start.
”It wasn’t our day,” Roethlisberger said. ”It wasn’t our year.”
Doomed by two first-half turnovers and a pair of head-scratching play calls on fourth down, Pittsburgh was stunned in the AFC playoffs by the Jacksonville Jaguars, who outslugged the Steelers 45-42 on Sunday to earn a trip to New England for next week’s conference championship.
Roethlisberger, who had wondered if he was washed up after throwing five interceptions in a loss to the Jags on Oct. 9, set a franchise postseason record with five touchdown passes but it wasn’t enough as the Steelers (13-4) couldn’t stop a Jacksonville offense that was supposedly weak.
”It’s disheartening,” said Brown, who caught two TD passes and played at his All-Pro level while battling a calf injury. ”I thought we had the right guys. As a player, you live for these moments. Now we start all over.”
As Roethlisberger dressed at one end of Pittsburgh’s locker room, a few of his teammates sat at their stalls in disbelief.
This wasn’t the plan.
Cam Heyward handled wave after wave of questions about the team’s numerous defensive lapses. Bell downplayed that his messy contract situation created an unnecessary distraction in the days leading up to the game, and cornerback Artie Burns sat in his uniform and stared blankly at the floor.
The Steelers never recovered from a 21-0 first-half deficit and are now left to wonder what might have been. Twice they got within seven in the second half only to give up back-breaking plays to the Jaguars, who rushed for 168 yards and seemed to come up with a big play whenever they needed one.
”It’s crazy that we couldn’t get off the field,” Heyward said. ”They played better than us – simple as that.”
The Jaguars had the Steelers out of step early on. After rookie Leonard Fournette’s second TD, the score set up by linebacker Myles Jack’s interception of Roethlisberger
Thurman Thomas Jersey , Jacksonville was up 14-0 and Pittsburgh’s rowdy fans were using their Terrible Towels to muffle their disgust.
The Steelers seemed to panic when coach Mike Tomlin elected to go on fourth-and-inches and then inexplicably ran a sweep to Bell that got snuffed. Later, Roethlisberger threw an incompletion on fourth down when a simple sneak might have moved the chains.
”We didn’t execute well enough and they did,” Tomlin said when asked about his decisions.
Roethlisberger went 37 of 58 for 469 yards and the five TDs, the last coming with 1 second left.
It was a sobering moment for the star quarterback who has orchestrated so many comeback wins during a 14-year career. Roethlisberger found some solace in his final throw.
”Nobody quit and that speaks volumes about this team,” he said.
Roethlisberger also dismissed any talk the Steelers were looking past the Jaguars and a rematch with the Patriots, who handed Pittsburgh its only loss in the last 11 games.
”We were dialed in,” he said. ”I know I wasn’t looking forward.”
Bell finished with 155 total yards and afterward sidestepped much talk about his contract. He was franchise tagged by the team for $12 million this season and has made it clear he wants more money.
”I wasn’t thinking about it,” he said. ”All I was thinking about was getting to the Super Bowl.”
As for his own future, Roethlisberger indicated that he intends to return next season. The 35-year-old has hinted at retirement, but that seemed far from his mind as he swallowed a loss few saw coming.
”I don’t know what’s going on with people’s contracts,” he said. ”I don’t know how many years guys have left. I know the guys up front are all under contract and that’s a good feeling. I definitely have a desire to play football. I love this game. I love these guys. It’s tough. It stings.
”You hate losing at home. I feel bad because I feel like I let the fans down and my teammates down. I feel like I let a lot of people down and I’ll take it all myself. I look forward to next year with those guys.”
—
Atlanta Braves pitcher Mike Foltynewicz was beginning to emerge as a top-of-the-rotation type starter when he experienced some tightness in his right tricep.
After spending 10 days on the disabled list, he will try to regain that form in the series opener against the streaking Cincinnati Reds.
Foltynewicz (5-4, 2.16 ERA) will be opposed by Cincinnati’s Tyler Mahle (6-6, 3.89) in the first game of a three-game set at SunTrust Park.
It won’t be an easy assignment for Foltynewicz. The Reds have won seven straight — 10 of their last 11 — and are coming off a sweep of the Chicago Cubs. On Sunday, the Reds scored seven runs in the seventh inning and swept the Cubs in a four-game series for the first time since 1983.
Since Jim Riggleman became the team’s manager, Cincinnati is 29-30 and the Reds have won 24 of their last 42.
The Braves and Reds split a four-game series in April in Cincinnati.
Foltynewicz has only pitched five innings in the two starts after his complete-game shutout against the Washington Nationals on June 1. He threw five scoreless innings against the New York Mets before leaving with the arm issues on June 12.
The former first-round draft choice, who was acquired from the Houston Astros in 2015
Josh Allen Jersey , has made 14 starts this season and allowed two or fewer earned runs in 13 of them. He has had four scoreless starts. He ranks fourth in the National League in ERA.
Foltynewicz received no decision in his April 23 start against the Reds. He left after 4 2/3 innings, having allowed two runs on three hits and four walks, with seven strikeouts. In four career starts against the Reds, he is 1-0 with a 2.31 ERA.
Mahle has been hot, going 3-0 with a 1.61 ERA over his last four starts. The Reds have won all four of his starts in June, in which he has allowed four runs in 22 1/3 innings. He beat the Detroit Tigers in his most recent start, giving up two runs and fanning eight in six innings.
“Tyler did a great job,” Riggleman said after Mahle’s last start. “It seems like we’ve got six and eight innings from a lot of our starters. You’ve got a chance to win the ballgame. When you do that, you get a chance to use your bullpen the way it should be used and a lot of times good things are going to happen.”
Mahle started against the Braves on April 24 and gave up three runs in six innings with a career-high 11 strikeouts. Mahle took a no-hitter into the seventh before losing it on a leadoff homer by Atlanta’s Freddie Freeman. The Reds eventually lost that game in 12 innings.
The Braves’ bullpen took a jolt on Sunday when closer Arodys Vizcaino was placed on the 10-day disabled list with right shoulder soreness. Vizcaino, who had not pitched since June 17, had a cortisone shot earlier in the week and still wasn’t feeling well enough to pitch by the weekend.
“His shoulder is not responding like we wanted it to,” Atlanta manager Brian Snitker said. “It was one of those situations where if he wasn’t ready to pitch (Sunday), we had to back off it and get it right, because it wasn’t working.”
Atlanta activated right-hander Evan Phillips to take Vizcaino’s spot on the roster. Phillips had 50 strikeouts in 35 innings and a 2.33 ERA for Triple-A Gwinnett.