Steelers outsmart themselves, lose controversial game to Patriots

The Steelers and Patriots battled in a matchup of the AFC’s best two teams with major playoff implications. Who came out on top in Pittsburgh?

These two teams were guaranteed to have the game of the week, but the Pittsburgh Steelers and New England Patriots didn’t disappoint on Sunday afternoon in their Week 15 matchup.

After the Steelers took control for most of the game both in possession time and the scoreboard, the Patriots had Tom Brady lead another game-winning drive that resulted in a winning touchdown for Dion Lewis with 55 seconds left in the game.

Despite the Steelers’ best efforts, including a 69-yard catch from JuJu Smith-Schuster and an almost-touchdown on 1st and goal, the Patriots sealed the deal with an interception from Duron Harmon on a fake spike for a 27-24 win.

There were a ton of highlights in this one, which you can check out below if you missed the action:

Three Stars

1. Rob Gronkowski

The Patriots tight end bounced back from his suspension in a big way, pacing the Patriots’ receiving corps and accounting for 69 yards on their game-winning drive, along with a two-point conversion, to really give his team the boost in the win.

2. LeVeon Bell

The Steelers running back had himself a day, even in a loss, and likely would’ve been the top star if they could’ve pulled it out. He found pay dirt on the ground, ran for 117 yards and caught for 48 more as well to provide a spark when Antonio Brown went down early in the game.

3. Tom Brady

Although he didn’t look like a star in the first half, Brady delivered in the second half when it mattered, engineering a game-winning drive with a bunch of passes to Rob Gronkowski to help seal the deal in the Patriots’ AFC East division win.

Next week

The Patriots will move on to play the Buffalo Bills in Foxboro on Christmas Eve next week, while the Steelers will get a Christmas Day showdown with the Houston Texans on the road for the holiday.