Pittsburgh tied a record by accepting 28 points in the first quarter of the loss to Cleveland.
The Pittsburgh Steelers came in as big favorites to beat the Cleveland Browns in the American Conference Wild Card Round, but the story on the field was very different than expected.
According to the “Football Power Index” of ESPNPittsburgh had a 67.9 percent chance of winning the game, while the sportsbooks had them as favorites with 6 points.
But the opposite happened, with one The nightmare started after center Maurkice Pouncey made a mistake on the serve and the ball went over quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, who couldn’t stop Karl Joseph from recovering it in the diagonals. to score the first touchdown after 14 seconds of play.
In the next offensive series Roethlisberger threw an interception – the first of four – at MJ Stewart Jr. and the Browns took advantage of the delivery with a touchdown pass from Baker Mayfield to Jarvis Landry..
Before the end of the first quarter, with the Browns leading 21-0, Roethlisberger had his second pitch when Sheldrick Redwine stole a pass aimed at Diontae Johnson, Cleveland’s reaction was a score run by Kareem Hunt to go 28-0 .
Roethlisberger’s third interception came over 10:11 in the second quarter when he was looking for Vance McDonald, but after a deflection the ball ended up in the hands of defensive goal Porter Gustin. In the fourth quarter, Roethlisberger was intercepted by Sione Takitaki to close the loss. This is the first time in Roethlisberger’s career that he has thrown four interceptions in a playoff game..
Roethlisberger finished the game with 47 completes for 501 yards, became the leader in pass attempts in a playoff game, surpassed Steve Young’s 65 passes, and became the second quarterback in history to exceed 500 yards in a single match after the season, behind Tom Brady’s 505 yards against the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LII.
However, this collapse for the Steelers was only confirmation of their horrible season finale in which they lost five of their last six games after starting the season 11-0. After unexpectedly losing unbeaten in week 13 against Washington (23-17), PIttsburgh fell twice against the Buffalo Bills, Cincinnati Bengals and Browns, their only win in week 16, 28-24, over the Indianapolis Colts.
Cleveland’s 28 runs scored are the most scored points in NFL history since the 1970 merger and rival those of the Oakland Raiders who scored 28 points against the Houston Oilers in the first quarter of their 56-7 win on May 21 . December 1969 in the AFL Divisional Round.
It also marks the first time the Steelers beat 28 points in a quarter against the Kansas City Chiefs since October 1971.
For the Browns, it’s the first time they’ve enforced four turnovers in a playoff game since the 1968 Division Round against the Dallas Cowboys, and Kareem Hunt became the first Cleveland player to have two touchdown carries in a postseason game since Earnest. Byner in the 1985 Divisional Round against the Miami Dolphins.