That may not be entirely accurate with regards to Pitta. I've charted his receptions in that postseason before for my own interest. Here's the breakdown of his 14 catches for 163 yards and 3 scores in the 4 games:
Against the Colts, he ran a 5 yard out with the MIKE failing to follow and the SS too far to close, and he ran a slant on the TD and was wide open due to the SAM selling out on Ray Rice's wheel route, both seemingly against the Cover 3, both without a defender within several yards at the catch point. Against the Broncos, he shook loose of the SAM on the shake route against man coverage with a failed attempt by the LB to dive for a deflection while trailing. He ran a corner route against zone and made a sideline grab with the SAM and SS trailing by several yards. He did fail to reel in a difficult reception on slant route against an SS on the 4th and 5 preceding the Jacoby Jones catch, and it stalled a drive kept alive by one of Boldin's 3rd and long conversations. However, he finished on a solid note as his last catch of the afternoon was a beautiful back-shoulder grab against the SS on a seam route on a 3rd and 13. The drive was sadly led to a halt, but it was terrific execution on his end nonetheless. Against the Patriots, he was left alone on a hitch route with the safety responsible biting on the hitch route on the opposite hash mark, converting a 3rd and 4 on a drive that led to a score. He ran a slant, losing the LB on the stutter during the break point. He took an absolute missile of a shot from the MIKE after separating against the SAM and somehow had the stones to hold onto the football. He followed up the play with the TD on a 5 yard out route after shaking free of the SS at the break point. It was by far his most involved drive of the postseason, and definitely an important one given that it led to a lead change. He finished the game with a drag route in front of two LBs almost a handful of yards away at the catch point. Against the 49ers, he made a sideline reception on a comeback off of a wheel route, separating from the SS after the cut. He lost the same defender on a hitch in the end zone after faking an out route for the TD. That play was sandwiched by his other two receptions that were flat routes that were basically unaccounted for due to the SAM blitzing on both occasions.
There are two takeaways in this scenario. One is that the lack of contested catches was due in no minor role to his ability to separate. He seldom took wasted steps in his route running and his cuts and shimmers made it difficult to predict where the breaks were going. His understanding of separating was so well nuanced. Obviously the drive against the Patriots was huge as he was highly involved in the change that was never overcome by the opposing team. That being said, it was also the game that was iced by two TDs by Boldin on difficult grabs. All-in-all, Pitta converted two 3rd downs the entire postseason, one leading to a score and the other leading to a punt. He had one grab that was contested at the catch point, and another where he was blasted immediately after the catch. Most, if not all, of the remaining catches weren't contested. We all know that in his prime and at his best, Pitta was outstanding in his timing and execution in contested situations. We just didn't see much of those opportunities during the SuperBowl run. In comparison, Boldin had twice as many 3rd down conversion in the SuperBowl alone, three of which led to scores on those drives. He also had as many contested catches in the title game as Pitta had during the postseason. That's not to take away from Pitta playing well during the playoffs by any means. He was obviously of significant help. But if we're comparing the two performances, Pitta's is arguably a distant second to Boldin's.
