Divisional Round: Pittsburgh Steelers at New England Patriots (Foxboro Stadium), with a Conference Championship spot at stake. Kickoff: Sun January 5, 1997 at 12:30pm. Winner advances to the Conference Championship. The losing team's season is over.[1][2]
The divisional round is where the bracket is supposed to take its real shape. Pittsburgh Steelers traveling to New England Patriots at Foxboro Stadium, with the league watching to see whether the better team or the better matchup wins. Bye-week home favorites carry the weight of expectation; the visiting wild-card winner walks in with no one expecting them and nothing to lose.
The bracket has narrowed to the teams that survived the regular season. Pittsburgh Steelers and New England Patriots are two of them; the rest of the league is in scouting mode for the offseason. What happens in Foxboro Stadium shifts the rest of the tree: a road favorite winning rearranges seeding expectations; a home upset shows the bracket math underweights heart.
Pittsburgh Steelers versus New England Patriots in the Divisional Round. The teams who reach this round have already proven they survive a long schedule; the stats that matter most now are the ones that compress: scoring differential, red-zone efficiency, turnover margin. At this stage of the year, the simple math is that defenses tighten and the team that protects the ball wins more often than the team that scores the most. Whichever side of Pittsburgh Steelers-New England Patriots cleans up the careless plays first usually walks out with the result. Conservative-game expectations should not surprise the reader; both staffs know exactly what worked all season and will lean hard on what travels. The early answer is the kicking game, where any swing of field position compounds.
| Team | Rec | Strk |
|---|---|---|
| Pittsburgh Steelers | 10-6 | L2 |
| Jacksonville Jaguars | 9-7 | W5 |
| Cincinnati Bengals | 8-8 | W3 |
| Houston Oilers | 8-8 | W1 |
| Baltimore Ravens | 4-12 | L3 |
| Team | Rec | Strk |
|---|---|---|
| New England Patriots | 11-5 | W1 |
| Buffalo Bills | 10-6 | W1 |
| Indianapolis Colts | 9-7 | L1 |
| Miami Dolphins | 8-8 | W2 |
| New York Jets | 1-15 | L7 |
| Team | Rec | Strk |
|---|---|---|
| Denver Broncos | 13-3 | L1 |
| Kansas City Chiefs | 9-7 | L3 |
| San Diego Chargers | 8-8 | W1 |
| Oakland Raiders | 7-9 | L2 |
| Seattle Seahawks | 7-9 | W1 |
| Team | Rec | Strk |
|---|---|---|
| Carolina Panthers | 12-4 | W7 |
| San Francisco 49ers | 12-4 | W2 |
| St. Louis Rams | 6-10 | W2 |
| Atlanta Falcons | 3-13 | L2 |
| New Orleans Saints | 3-13 | L1 |
| Team | Rec | Strk |
|---|---|---|
| Green Bay Packers | 13-3 | W5 |
| Minnesota Vikings | 9-7 | L1 |
| Chicago Bears | 7-9 | L1 |
| Tampa Bay Buccaneers | 6-10 | W1 |
| Detroit Lions | 5-11 | L5 |
| Team | Rec | Strk |
|---|---|---|
| Dallas Cowboys | 10-6 | L1 |
| Philadelphia Eagles | 10-6 | W2 |
| Washington Redskins | 9-7 | W1 |
| Arizona Cardinals | 7-9 | -- |
| New York Giants | 6-10 | L2 |
1996 - Divisional - Pittsburgh @ New England
1996 AFC Divisional Playoff / Pittsburgh Steelers @ The New England Patriots
1997 Divisional Playoff - New England at Pittsburgh
1996 AFC Divisional Playoff Pittsburgh v New England
#nfl #playoffs #1996 #throwback #steelers #patriots #fog #rain #cold #perfect #footballweather
1996 NFL Countdown Divisional Round Steelers Vs Patriots
1996 Afc Div Playoffs Steelers@pats T Johnson sack1
1995 AFC Divisional Playoff Buffalo Bills vs Pittsburgh Steelers Jan 6, 1996. Full Game on NBC NFLPittsburgh Steelers None, New England Patriots None
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | T | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pittsburgh Steelers | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 00333 |
| New England Patriots | 14 | 7 | 0 | 7 | 1421212828 |
| Team | Play | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Patriots | Curtis Martin 2 yard rush ( Adam Vinatieri kick) | 0-7 |
| Patriots | Keith Byars 34 yard pass from Drew Bledsoe ( Adam Vinatieri kick) | 0-14 |
| Team | Play | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Patriots | Curtis Martin 78 yard rush ( Adam Vinatieri kick) | 0-21 |
| Team | Play | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Steelers | Norm Johnson 29 yard field goal | 3-21 |
| Team | Play | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Patriots | Curtis Martin 23 yard rush ( Adam Vinatieri kick) | 3-28 |
New England Patriots defeated Pittsburgh Steelers 28-3 at Foxboro Stadium in the Divisional Round. The final scoring play was Patriots: Curtis Martin 23 yard rush ( Adam Vinatieri kick). The 25-point margin made it a one-sided afternoon. Top line of the day: Drew Bledsoe: 164 pass yards on 14-of-24, 1 TD, 2 INT. New England Patriots move on to the conference final.[1][2]
New England Patriots walked out of Foxboro Stadium as the team that survived a Divisional Round Pittsburgh Steelers will replay in its head for the entire offseason. The scoreboard says 28-3. This was a 25-point margin, which is unusual for this round of the postseason and tells a story about which staff out-prepared the other from the opening series. The final scoring play came from Patriots: Curtis Martin 23 yard rush ( Adam Vinatieri kick). Whether it was the game-decider or just the period at the end of the sentence depends on what the camera caught earlier. New England Patriots move on to a conference championship.
New England Patriots 28, Pittsburgh Steelers 3. Round: Divisional Round. Attendance: 60188. Q1: 2 scoring plays. Q2: 1 scoring play. Q3: 1 scoring play. Q4: 1 scoring play. Top performers:
- Drew Bledsoe: 164 pass yards on 14-of-24, 1 TD, 2 INT
- Curtis Martin: 166 rush yards on 19 carries
- Terry Glenn: 3 catches for 69 yards
Divisional Round, played at Foxboro Stadium. Final: Pittsburgh Steelers 3, New England Patriots 28, with New England Patriots taking the result by 25. **First quarter**
- Patriots: Curtis Martin 2 yard rush ( Adam Vinatieri kick)
- Patriots: Keith Byars 34 yard pass from Drew Bledsoe ( Adam Vinatieri kick)
Second quarter
- Patriots: Curtis Martin 78 yard rush ( Adam Vinatieri kick)
Third quarter
- Steelers: Norm Johnson 29 yard field goal
Fourth quarter
- Patriots: Curtis Martin 23 yard rush ( Adam Vinatieri kick)
Top performers
- Drew Bledsoe: 164 pass yards on 14-of-24, 1 TD, 2 INT
- Curtis Martin: 166 rush yards on 19 carries
- Terry Glenn: 3 catches for 69 yards
The 25-point margin says most of what needs saying about how the day went; the box score is the rest.
| Steelers | Patriots | |
|---|---|---|
| Team totals | ||
| First Downs | 12 | 17 |
| Total Yards | 213 | 346 |
| Turnovers | 2 | 2 |
| Passing | ||
| Comp/Att | 16/39 | 15/26 |
| Pass yards | 110 | 167 |
| Pass TD | 0 | 1 |
| Interceptions | 2 | 2 |
| Sacks taken | 3 | 2 |
| Sack yards lost | 20 | 15 |
| Net pass yards | 90 | 152 |
| Rushing | ||
| Rushes | 27 | 32 |
| Rush yards | 123 | 194 |
| Rush TD | 0 | 3 |
| Discipline | ||
| Fumbles | 0 | 0 |
| Fumbles lost | 0 | 0 |
| Penalties | 3 | 2 |
| Penalty yards | 15 | 21 |
| Player | C/A | Yds | TD | Int | Rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PIT | |||||
| Mike Tomczak | 16/29 | 110 | 0 | 2 | |
| Kordell Stewart | 0/10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| NWE | |||||
| Drew Bledsoe | 14/24 | 164 | 1 | 2 | |
| Scott Zolak | 1/2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | |
| Player | Att | Yds | TD | Long |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PIT | ||||
| Jerome Bettis | 13 | 43 | 0 | 11 |
| Fred McAfee | 5 | 30 | 0 | 10 |
| Mike Tomczak | 2 | 20 | 0 | 10 |
| Kordell Stewart | 4 | 19 | 0 | 10 |
| Jon Witman | 3 | 11 | 0 | 14 |
| NWE | ||||
| Curtis Martin | 19 | 166 | 3 | 78 |
| Dave Meggett | 2 | 18 | 0 | 14 |
| Keith Byars | 2 | 8 | 0 | 7 |
| Marrio Grier | 5 | 7 | 0 | 4 |
| Drew Bledsoe | 1 | -1 | 0 | -1 |
| Scott Zolak | 3 | -4 | 0 | -1 |
| Player | Rec | Yds | TD | Long |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PIT | ||||
| Andre Hastings | 5 | 55 | 0 | 23 |
| Kirk Botkin | 2 | 20 | 0 | 11 |
| Jahine Arnold | 2 | 16 | 0 | 11 |
| Ernie Mills | 2 | 15 | 0 | 8 |
| Fred McAfee | 2 | 7 | 0 | 9 |
| Jerome Bettis | 2 | -1 | 0 | 2 |
| Jon Witman | 1 | -2 | 0 | -2 |
| NWE | ||||
| Terry Glenn | 3 | 69 | 0 | 53 |
| Keith Byars | 4 | 53 | 1 | 34 |
| Shawn Jefferson | 3 | 18 | 0 | 9 |
| Ben Coates | 3 | 18 | 0 | 8 |
| Curtis Martin | 2 | 9 | 0 | 6 |
Find or start the canonical thread for this game on r/49ers. The thread title is deterministic so anyone running this Rewatch lands on the same place.
Find the thread Start the threadCanonical title: [Rewatch Party] 1996 Divisional Round - Pittsburgh Steelers at New England Patriots - Game Thread
