New England Patriots wide receiver Danny Amendola, left, stiff-arms Pittsburgh Steelers strong safety Sean Davis (28) during the first half of the hard-fought game. Photo / AP
New England Patriots wide receiver Danny Amendola, left, stiff-arms Pittsburgh Steelers strong safety Sean Davis (28) during the first half of the hard-fought game. Photo / AP
The rain fell steadily and the emotions swung wildly Sunday at Heinz Field for the Pittsburgh Steelers and their fans.
Spirits were buoyed by the appearance of injured linebacker Ryan Shazier at the game. Hopes sagged when wide receiver Antonio Brown was helped from the field and subsequently taken to a hospital with what was described as a calf injury.
In between and all around that, the Steelers squandered a fourth-quarter lead and lost the most significant game of the NFL season so far. They fell to the New England Patriots, 27-24, by succumbing to the late-game magic of Tom Brady and a controversial instant replay reversal.
Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, left, and New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady meet on the field following the game. Photo / AP
Brady, to that point losing his quarterback duel with the Steelers' Ben Roethlisberger, took the Patriots down the field when it mattered most. He led a 77-yard touchdown drive that culminated with an eight-yard touchdown run by Dion Lewis with 56 seconds remaining. Brady then threw a two-point conversion pass to tight end Rob Gronkowski, and the New England defense held on from there - barely - as the Patriots regained the upper hand in the race for the top seed in the AFC playoffs.
The Patriots, coming off a stunning loss Monday night at Miami, improved their record to 11-3. They are tied with the Steelers but now hold the head-to-head tiebreaker.
The Steelers appeared to answer the Patriots' late-game touchdown with one of their own. Roethlisberger followed a 69-yard catch and run by rookie wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster with an apparent 10-yard touchdown pass to tight end Jesse James with 28 seconds left. But a replay review concluded that James did not have control of the football as he went to the turf, resulting in an incompletion.
The wild final sequence ended with Roethlisberger throwing a tipped-pass interception to New England's Duron Harmon with five seconds to go after faking a clock-stopping spike on third down.
Roethlisberger threw for two touchdowns. Tailback Le'Veon Bell added a touchdown run as the Steelers had to compensate for the loss of Brown from their offense.
Fans gave a loud ovation when Shazier, who suffered a spinal cord injury while making a tackle during a game against the Cincinnati Bengals earlier this month, was shown on the stadium video board. He appeared to be sitting in a suite in the stadium. Shazier underwent spinal stabilisation surgery and has begun rehabilitation, and the Steelers placed him on the season-ending injured reserve list.
That moment of inspiration for the Steelers and their fans was accompanied, however, by wariness over the on-field ramifications of Brown getting hurt. He is having a dominant season, so much so that he is being mentioned in the league MVP conversation with ever-increasing prominence.
He was hurt amid of tangle of bodies - and legs - on an incompletion in the end zone. Brown remained on the turf and had to be helped by members of the Steelers' medical staff to the sideline. He appeared to be putting no weight on his left leg. He was taken to the medical tent on the Steelers' sideline and then, soon after, to the locker room.
Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Martavis Bryant dives to make a catch. Photo / AP
The team initially announced that Brown had suffered a calf injury and his return to the game was questionable. There were reports that Brown had suffered a bruised calf. But he was taken to a hospital soon thereafter, and the Steelers declared him out for the game.
Brown had two catches for 24 yards before his exit. But the Steelers remained productive on offense without him, and Roethlisberger was matching Brady completion for completion. In the first half alone, Roethlisberger connected on 15 of 19 passes for 182 yards, while Brady was 10 for 13 for 132 yards.
Roethlisberger threw first-half touchdown passes to wideouts Eli Rogers and Martavis Bryant as the Steelers led 17-10 at the break. The throw to Bryant was a beautifully lofted touch pass in the final minute of the half. Bryant, who asked to be traded earlier this season because of his diminished role in the offense as Smith-Schuster emerged, made a terrific one-handed catch.
The Patriots, after scoring a touchdown on their opening drive of the day on a one-yard run by tailback Rex Burkhead, had to play from behind. Brady threw a four-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Brandin Cooks in the third quarter. But kicker Stephen Gostkowski pulled the extra point wide left and, when the Patriots got the ball back with a chance to take the lead, Brady threw an interception on a pass that went awry as he was being hit.
That led to Bell's three-yard touchdown run and an eight-point Steelers advantage entering the fourth quarter. Gostkowski connected on a 46-yard field goal with just less than four minutes remaining after Brady was sacked on third down.
