FOXBOROUGH, Mass. _ Another AFC championship game against the New England Patriots, another failure by the Steelers.
New England will go to the Super Bowl for a record ninth time after crushing the Steelers, 36-17, Gillette Stadium on Sunday night.
Tom Brady passed for three touchdowns and 384 yards for the Patriots, who are now 3-0 against the Steelers in AFC title games, all in this century, all with Brady at quarterback. This was their most lopsided win of the three.
No quarterback or coach has won five Super Bowls. New England's Brady and Bill Belichick can become the first.
The Steelers were on their way to tying their second-worst loss ever in the playoffs until Cobi Hamilton caught a 30-yard TD pass from Ben Roethlisberger with 3:36 left in the game. A two-point pass after the TD to DeAngelo Williams made it 36-17.
While the Steelers defense gave up all those yards passing, Ben Roethlisberger and his offense could not produce touchdowns. They had a first down at the one foot line in the second quarter and wound up with a field goal. They reached the New England two in the fourth quarter and came away with nothing.
Their offense lost halfback Le'Veon Bell late in the first quarter with a groin injury and he did not play after that. Williams replaced him.
Also, Roethlisberger got little help from his receives. Hamilton dropped one pass in the end zone and when he caught another in the fourth quarter, it was discounted because he had run out of bounds and back in first.
Eli Rogers lost a fumble that led to a New England score and there were other drops by the Steelers' receivers, including a deep one by Sammie Coates. Roethlisberger completed 31 of 47 passes for 314 yards, one touchdown, one interception and he was let down by his receivers. The Steelers managed just 54 yards rushing.
New England, which led 17-9 at halftime, stretched it to 20-9 when Stephen Gostkowski nailed a 47-yard field goal with 9:59 to go in the third quarter.
LeGarrette Blount, who rushed for 18 touchdowns during the regular season, pounded home from the one with 2:44 to go in the third to pump the Patriots' lead to 27-9. On that eight-play, 88-yard drive, Brady completed a perfect crossing pass to Chris Hogan for a 39-yard gain. Blount carried nearly all the Steelers defense with him to the one on the next play after they stopped him at the nine.
After the kickoff, Eli Rogers caught a three-yard pass from Ben Roethlisberger and promptly fumbled at the Steelers 28. Four plays later, Brady threw a 10-yard touchdown pass to Julian Edelman and it was 33-9 New England after a missed PAT.
Gostkowski's 26-yard field goal with 6:24 left made it 36-9.
The Steelers squandered a touchdown late in the second quarter and trailed 17-9 at halftime.
Brady had an open field day against the Steelers in the first half when he threw for 222 yards. He threw two touchdown passes to Chris Hogan, one in each quarter. Hogan had nine catches for a post-season New England record of 180 yards after three quarters.
His second TD carried 34 yards and came on a flea-flicker. Brady handed off to Dion Lewis up the middle, Lewis turned and pitched it back to Brady. With safety Mike Mitchell biting on the play, Hogan was wide open to catch the touchdown pass.
New England led 17-6 with 7:43 to go.
The Steelers had scored earlier in the second quarter on a five-yard touchdown run up the middle by DeAngelo Williams, who replaced Bell.
It appeared they scored again when Ben Roethlisberger threw a third-down pass to Jesse James from the 19. The officials ruled touchdown, but replay showed he was down at the one-foot line.
With the injured Bell still on the sideline, Williams ran to the left for a one-yard loss. On second down, he had no chance as the Patriots collapsed the Steelers line and Williams lost three yards. A third-down pass to Rogers was off the mark and Chris Boswell, who earlier missed an extra point, kicked a 23-yard field goal with 1:39 left in the first half.
Brady threw a touchdown pass to Hogan and Stephen Gostkowski kicked a 31-yard field goal as the Patriots ran out to a 10-0 lead after one quarter.
The Patriots made it look easy on the first series of the game. Brady, who had all time to throw, picked apart the Steelers, including a 41-yarder to Julian Edelman, who stiff-armed Artie Burns to elude one tackle and got around Lawrence Timmons for another.
However, on third down at the 13, Malcolm Mitchell dropped Brady's pass smack in his hands that would have been a first down and New England turned to Gostkowski, who kicked a 31-yard field goal for a 3-0 lead.
The Steelers did nothing on their first two drives and the Patriots made it 10-0 when Brady, having all day to throw, found Hogan wide open in the end zone for a 16-yard touchdown with 2:47 to go in the opening quarter. Brady was 6-for-6 on that drive for 66 yards.
