Ben Roethlisberger turned what looked like a sure touchdown into an interception after Eric Berry caught a tipped ball in the end zone.
A big reason the Pittsburgh Steelers are one of the best teams in the NFL is because they have arguably the best offensive trio. Ben Roethlisberger, Le’Veon Bell, and Antonio Brown powered the Steelers to their win against the Miami Dolphins and will be key throughout this playoff run.
While they’ve been effective against the Kansas City Chiefs all night, they’ve gotten into the red zone on all of their drives, they haven’t been able to turn them into touchdowns. With the game still at 9-7 in the second, they had a golden opportunity to extend their lead to nine when Ryan Shazier picked off Alex Smith at mid-field:
Smith is hit as he throws...@RyanShazier with the PICK. #PITvsKC #NFLPlayoffs https://t.co/PsCfx1CC6X
— NFL (@NFL) January 16, 2017
Roethlisberger was able to get down to the five-yard line when he hooked up with Jesse James, but when he tried to find Brown in the end zone, this happened:
ANOTHER INT!
— NFL (@NFL) January 16, 2017
Eric Berry picks off Big Ben! #PITvsKC #NFLPlayoffs https://t.co/ELM5th02aN
You can’t really blame Roethlisberger for that — that was an incredibly athletic play by Eric Berry. The biggest strength for the Chiefs is their secondary, but Berry became an incredible story last year when he beat cancer and earned a spot on the All-Pro team. This interception was just the second in the postseason of his career.
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Neither quarterback has played well so far, and everyone knew this game would be won in the trenches. That was the case before a storm pushed this game back seven hours, and has been the case so far. While the Chiefs’ secondary has done a great job containing Pittsburgh’s weapons in the red zone, they can only play with fire so long before they get burned.