A sense of déjà vu flooded over Steelers fans watching the NFC Championship game on Sunday as Tom Brady threw interception after interception.
It’s almost as if the defense — after allowing points off Brady’s first turnover — said, OK, if Tom’s gonna throw picks, we’ve got to make sure Green Bay doesn’t score off them.
Obviously, that’s the defense’s job, but the task is made twice as difficult when the turnover is in your own territory. Brady’s second and third picks, one at Green Bay’s 28-yard line and the final at the Tampa Bay 46, both found the Packers punting.
Ben Roethlisberger not only threw one more interception than Brady, but three of them were also in Pittsburgh territory and resulted in points. Only the third interception — in Cleveland territory — resulted in a punt.
The Buccaneers defense starting coming on at the right time — the season’s final stretch. And it’s showing.
Unfortunately, for Pittsburgh, as the season dragged on, so did its defense. They couldn’t keep Baker Mayfield and the Browns from taking full advantage of Roethlisberger’s miscues.
The Steelers elimination in the wild-card round is just as much on the defense as it is Big Ben. Whereas the Bucs defense hung tough, the Black and Gold could not.
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