AFC Championship Preview

Many say that the Super Bowl is the most important game of an NFL season. It completely overshadows all of the other playoff games, as it is the payoff of watching the wonderful sport of football all season long. However, there are certain playoff games that prove that the build up to the Super Bowl is just as awesome as the end-of-season spectacular itself. The following is a preview for what could be one of the best playoff games we see this year.

Pittsburgh Steelers vs. New England Patriots – Sunday 6:40 pm ET

The Steelers are coming into Gillette Stadium on Sunday night for an AFC showdown that will determine who ends up making it to the Super Bowl. Neither team looked particularly good in their victories last week, but it is extremely rare for either of these organizations to have two bad games in a row. The nearly perfect Patriots turned the ball over on three separate occasions against the Texans and the Steelers couldn’t find the endzone ONCE during their game with the Chiefs. While I don’t expect either of these trends to continue, it did show that these teams do have weaknesses.

Firstly, the Patriots showed that a defense could stop their efficient, machine-like offense. Through a few poorly-run routes by Michael Floyd and a few throws that could’ve been placed better, the Patriots showed that they weren’t exactly perfect. While this looked bad, the biggest question mark in the offense was by far the offensive line. Brady wasn’t getting enough time to throw and receivers never had a chance to get open. While the pass protection was bad, it did not compare to the atrocious way the line performed when given the task of run-blocking. The unit couldn’t get any push in the trenches and quite frankly looked like amateurs after getting stopped on the goal line thrice in a row. Now while these mistakes are all bad, the defense at least played well enough and the special teams scored a touchdown. If the play by these units can carry into Sunday, and if a game plan is made to take on the Steelers, the Patriots should be golden. If there’s one thing about the Patriots that’s consistent, it’s the fact that they don’t make the same mistakes twice in a row.

The Steelers are truly a team to be afraid of. That’s what most people think at least. Between the Killer B squad of Big Ben, Bell, and Brown, it seems like this should be the highest scoring offense in the NFL. Between this and a defense that has looked pretty good the past few weeks, especially on the defensive line, the Steelers definitely are capable of making it to the Super Bowl. However, sometimes the team that you signed up to watch doesn’t end up showing their faces at all. Some surprising stats that I’ve seen this season about the so-called Killer B’s include the following: Roethlisberger at home threw for 20 touchdowns and 5 interceptions. During away games he has thrown for a comparatively abysmal 9 touchdowns and 8 interceptions. Also when comparing the stats, DeAngelo Williams, the Steelers backup, has scored more touchdowns than Bell has per touch, despite Bell having almost three times the amount of attempts and receptions (Williams has 6 touchdowns on 116 touches, Bell has 9 touchdowns on 336 touches). Combine this with the fact that the Steelers couldn’t even score a single touchdown last week, and quite frankly they don’t look as great as they did from the initial glance. They can certainly beat the Patriots, but only if they find their weaknesses and exploit them early. If they aren’t leading this game by halftime, I don’t like their chances, but if they can find out the Patriots’ weaknesses and exploit it thoroughly, they could be going to the Super Bowl.

As for the Patriots, their keys to winning the game are fixing their offensive line and getting Blount going early on. Last week their run game wasn’t established well enough and they didn’t look right for most of the night. Another thing the Patriots need to do is stop Le’Veon Bell. I’m sure Belichick has a plan specifically made for Bell and will be able to shut him down. This game might be close, but in the end I’m not too sure if the game will be won by the players themselves. The result of this matchup will be determined by the coaches. Between the master strategist of New England and the great motivator of Pittsburgh, the AFC’s representation in the Super Bowl will be decided through how well they groom their team for and during the game. Historically, Gillette Stadium hasn’t been kind to the Steelers and hopefully for the Patriots, this will hold true for them once again on Sunday.  

Written by Rick Wronski