TMQ looks at the conference championship games

Some keypoints about the New England-Pittsburgh game:

Flying Elvii leading 3-0 in the first quarter, Pittsburgh faced fourth-and-a-foot on the New England 39. This is the Maroon Zone, where it's too close to punt but too far for a field-goal attempt. The Steelers, properly, went for it. Before the play, Bill Belichick motioned Ted Johnson over and whispered something to him. TMQ bets what Belichick whispered -- okay, this was at Heinz Field, actually Belichick shouted this at the top of his lungs -- was to forget the sneak, the ball was going to Bettis. Belichick would have known from film study that although it's nearly impossible to stop a quarterback sneak for a foot, the Steelers rarely sneak. Belichick even seemed to be able to tell Johnson which direction the handoff would go. Sure enough the ball was handed to Bettis, and something went badly wrong. Bettis ran toward the left guard position, behind the Steelers' best blocker, Alan Faneca. But Faneca pulled right, leaving no blocker in the very place Bettis was headed. Sometimes a guard pulls away from the action as a misdirection tactic -- but a guard would never pull from the very place a runner was going on short yardage. Bettis was hit in the backfield and fumbled, an omen of the Pittsburgh collapse that was to follow.
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Tuesday Morning Quarterback's Rule of Comebacks: Defense starts them, offense stops them. Down 24-3 at halftime, Pittsburgh had a fighting chance in the second half -- the Steelers had as much time available to come back as the Patriots used to get ahead. But it was essential the No. 1-ranked Steelers defense not allow New England to score again. Instead, after the Steelers made it 24-10 and Ketchup Field was shaking, the No. 1-ranked Steelers defense allowed New England to drive the length of the field for the touchdown that put the home team in deep trouble. Then in the fourth quarter, score 31-20, the No. 1-ranked Steelers defense allowed New England to stage a clock-killing 10-play drive that made it 34-20 with eight minutes remaining. The Steelers defense saved its worst game of the year for last.
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The Flying Elvii knew Ben Roethlisberger was shaky, and expected Pittsburgh to run. So New England spent the first half in an obvious run "overstack," daring Roethlisberger to throw. Again and again the Steelers ran straight at the overstack, with scant results. When Roethlisberger came to the line and saw a rush defense, he didn't audible to a play-fake -- for instance on one second-and-9 in the first half, New England was in a run overstack, Roethlisberger didn't audible to a pass, Jerome Bettis went straight ahead for just one yard. Pittsburgh coaches did not react to the New England defensive strategy by calling passes on first down. To the point at which the Steelers fell behind 24-3 and had to start passing, Pittsburgh ran 10 times on first down for a total of 31 yards, and passed twice on first down for a total of 47 yards. Coaches have good or bad games just like players, and Pittsburgh coaches had a terrible game -- they did not adjust to what New England was doing, endlessly calling first-down rushes. If Pittsburgh coaches had lost confidence in Roethlisberger, then he should not have been on the field. If he was going to be the quarterback, he needed the green light to take what New England was offering. Instead through the first half, Roethlisberger kept handing off into run defenses on first and second downs, then passing from the shotgun on third down. This was a coaching failure, not Roethlisberger's fault.