{"id":11218,"date":"2017-01-23T15:59:54","date_gmt":"2017-01-23T20:59:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonprofootball.com\/?p=11218"},"modified":"2017-01-23T15:59:54","modified_gmt":"2017-01-23T20:59:54","slug":"pittsburgh-steelers-postgame-positional-grades-conference-championship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2017\/01\/23\/pittsburgh-steelers-postgame-positional-grades-conference-championship\/","title":{"rendered":"Pittsburgh Steelers Postgame Positional Grades: AFC Championship"},"content":{"rendered":"

This was a tough pill to swallow. The Pittsburgh Steelers ended their 2016 season with a 36-17 loss in the AFC Championship Game to the New England Patriots.\u00a0The only thing that Steelers fans can do now is look forward to next season.\u00a0Here are the postgame positional grades for the AFC Championship Game:<\/span><\/p>\n

Pittsburgh Steelers Postgame Positional Grades:\u00a0AFC Championship<\/h2>\n

Quarterback: B-<\/h3>\n

The final stat line for <\/span>Ben Roethlisberger<\/b><\/a> reads 31 for 47 for 314 yards with a touchdown and a pick.\u00a0Roethlisberger wasn\u2019t the only one at fault for the loss, but he certainly was far from spectacular, with his\u00a0lone touchdown coming late in the fourth quarter with the game far out of reach.\u00a0Furthermore, his\u00a0pick was thrown right to the defender, and he should\u2019ve had another pass picked off earlier, but <\/span>Antonio Brown<\/b><\/a> caused enough disruption that <\/span>Malcolm Butler<\/b><\/a> dropped a pass that was in his hands.\u00a0Like I said, Roethlisberger wasn\u2019t the only one at fault for the Steelers, but he wasn\u2019t the quarterback they needed him to be.<\/span><\/p>\n

Running Back: B-<\/h3>\n

Steelers running backs were also far from spectacular.\u00a0<\/span>Le\u2019Veon Bell<\/b><\/a> suffered a groin injury early in the game and just wasn\u2019t himself, finishing with just 20 yards on six carries. <\/span>DeAngelo Williams<\/b><\/a> took over and wasn\u2019t good himself in the run, game finishing with 34 yards on 14 carries and a short yardage touchdown. With that said, he\u00a0was a pretty reliable receiver though, finishing with seven receptions for 51 yards.\u00a0<\/span>Roosevelt Nix<\/b><\/a> even squandered his chance to be on the stat sheet when he dropped a pass early in the game.<\/span><\/p>\n

Wide Receiver: C-<\/h3>\n

Steelers receivers were flat out bad.\u00a0For starters, they couldn\u2019t get open as often as they needed to.\u00a0When they did get open, they seemed to forget how to catch. Too many drops to even be considered an \u201cokay\u201d day. Brown finished the game with seven receptions for 77 yards.\u00a0<\/span>Eli Rogers<\/b><\/a> had seven receptions for 66 yards and a costly fumble. <\/span>Cobi Hamilton<\/b><\/a> finished the game with 37 yards on two grabs, and a garbage time touchdown, and <\/span>Sammie Coates<\/b><\/a> finished with two grabs for 34 yards among what seemed to be many drops.\u00a0This group has played better, but today might have been their worst game of the season. Hopefully the return of <\/span>Martavis Bryant<\/b><\/a> will prevent more performances like this one next season.<\/span><\/p>\n

Tight End: B<\/h3>\n

Jesse James <\/b><\/a>had a nice day receiving, finishing with five receptions for 48 yards and setting up Williams\u2019 touchdown. Unfortunately,, he was a liability blocking as he failed to assist the offensive line in making holes for the running game.\u00a0<\/span>David Johnson<\/b><\/a> was great blocking, but he only logged one catch for a yard, so he wasn\u2019t a big difference maker in that category.<\/span><\/p>\n

Offensive Line: B-<\/h3>\n

The line did a good job keeping Roethlisberger upright, but they did not open up enough holes for the running game. The Patriots defensive line got enough penetration to render the run game ineffective. Pass blocking was great, run blocking was a different story.<\/span><\/p>\n

Defensive Line: A-<\/h3>\n

The defensive line only held the Patriots to 57 total rushing yards and was able to get some penetration to rush <\/span>Tom Brady<\/b><\/a>.\u00a0<\/span>Javon Hargrave<\/b><\/a> even got a sack.\u00a0The defensive line had a good game as a group on a bad day for the Steelers as an overall team.<\/span><\/p>\n

Line Backers: C+<\/h3>\n

Lawrence Timmons<\/b><\/a> and <\/span>Ryan Shazier<\/b><\/a> were flying across the field recording 21 tackles between them, but other than that, linebackers weren\u2019t very good.\u00a0<\/span>James Harrison<\/b><\/a> got some penetration in the run game, but not very much pressure off the edge.\u00a0<\/span>Bud Dupree<\/b><\/a> and <\/span>Jarvis Jones<\/b><\/a> were non-factors off the edge and were not very good in the run game. The sad part is, the linebackers weren\u2019t even the worst position group on defense.<\/span><\/p>\n

Defensive Backs: D-<\/h3>\n

There\u2019s no way to spin this, these guys did awful.\u00a0The only highlight of the game for the secondary was when <\/span>Sean Davis<\/b><\/a> got a sack.\u00a0Other than that they allowed <\/span>Chris Hogan<\/b><\/a> and <\/span>Julian Edelman<\/b><\/a> to carve them up.\u00a0Hogan finished the game with 180 yards and two touchdowns, and Edelman had 118 yards and a score for himself. 298 yards and three touchdowns between two receivers is abysmal, and this secondary must look back at this game and use it as motivation to only get better, because they looked like a high school team out there.<\/span><\/p>\n

Special Teams: D<\/h3>\n

Chris Boswell<\/b><\/a> missed an extra point after the first touchdown which pretty much set the tone for the game. To be fair, he made his only field goal attempt.\u00a0<\/span>Jordan Berry<\/b><\/a> was called on to punt four times and yielded a 38.5 yard average, and no returns. The coverage on kickoffs was decent, yielding only one return for 18 yards.\u00a0In turn, the Steelers return game was subpar yet again. Sammie Coates returned two kicks for 45 yards with a long of 31. That means his other return was only 14 yards long. <\/span><\/p>\n

Justin Gilbert<\/b><\/a> also wasn\u2019t very good with one return for 17 yards. To cap it off, Antonio Brown was a non-factor with punt returning as he only had one return for 10 yards. With a missed extra point, below average punting, and subpar returning, a change may be forthcoming regarding Pittsburgh\u2019s special teams coordinator.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Steelers were flat out beaten by the Patriots. The run game was smothered, and any spark in the pass game was answered with a stop in the defense. There\u2019s no sense dwelling in the past, and now all the Steelers can do is start preparations for the NFL Draft and next season. This season was a successful one; the Steelers just came up one game short.<\/span><\/p>\n

Main Photo:<\/p>\n

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Embed from Getty Images<\/a><\/div>\n