Could have been a defect...maybe, maybe not.
Every year I read of guys losing fish, breaking tackle, breaking rod/reels...
Been fishing with the inexpensive stuff ...the best I have is 15 year old Penn SS series on the same vintage Ugly Sticks or even older cheaper stuff.....
Been on or near the water my whole life and have had boats all my adult life...not a 5 day a week fisherman...but I get my use out of the tackle and I fish for MUCH bigger than most on most of my tackle....rom Alaska to Florida to NJ...and a lot of points in between.
The recurring problem I think is most really don't use the reel drag to their advantage....it is the first piece of gear that should feel the pressure...NOTHING...but NOTHING should ever break unless it is a defect or line that gets hung up/nicked. That's what the drag is for...it starts slipping BEFORE anything else gives....with even minimal pressure (ask any flyfisherman) and ample line and fishing room....GIANTS can be landed on almost any tackle....
Now I understand for structure fishing those rules go out the window....but the drag should still be lower than the braking strength of either a rod or reel...
Of course I'm not saying it happened in the initial posters case...but after another season of broken tackle stories...I'll bet it is true a lot of the time that it's setting the drag is the real (maybe reel) problem...