Coming into the 2017 NFL playoffs, the thought was that the Steelers and Patriots would be playing each other in the AFC title game, and based on some comments before their playoff game against Jacksonville, a few players from the Steelers thought they would play the Patriots, too.
For example, you had Steelers RB Le’Veon Bell tweet this out before their Divisional Round match-up with the Jaguars:
https://twitter.com/LeVeonBell/status/952402718555017217
Also, a few days before the game, then Steelers S Mike Mitchell told SI.COM the following:
“We’re going to play [the Patriots] again. We can play them in hell, we can play them in Haiti, we can play them in New England. … We’re gonna win,” Mitchell said.
So, the Steelers were confident, but so were the Jaguars, who dominated the Steelers in Pittsburgh 30-9 in the regular season, and ultimately would beat Pittsburgh at Heinz Field in the playoffs 45-42. However, many believe the Steelers overlooked the Jaguars, but according to Jaguars WR Dede Westbrook, that was just an excuse:
‘I don’t feel like they overlooked us at all. I just think that’s an excuse for them,” Westbrook told Go4it podcast host Paul Gant. “People always get into that, ‘oh, we weren’t really expecting the Jaguars to beat us.’ At the end of the day, that’s something they gotta live with. I don’t want that to be the excuse of why we so-called won because they wasn’t ready. They thought they were going to blow past us and go play the Patriots, but at the end of the day, you gotta come out play every game.”
Did the Steelers overlook Jacksonville? I think they probably did, but it was pretty clear that the Jaguars had the Steelers number in 2017.
Listen to Westbrook talk Steelers at the 40:52 mark: