AFC Championship Game – Steelers’ Stalwarts Tough to Stop
Can we possibly make a case for the Pittsburgh Steelers to beat the New England Patriots on Sunday in the AFC championship game? Well, if you were to look at the Steelers after the first nine games of the season, you couldn’t even say with any kind of assurance that they would be in the playoffs at all. But now they have won nine straight games, and that’s happened because of the reason. Well, many reasons. And we might see those on the field as they line up in this 5:40 PM ET start at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough. Keep in mind that if you are a VietBet customer, you will have the opportunity, even after the opening kickoff, to place wagers in real time using the state-of-the-art software available through Live Betting Ultra.
Steelers vs Patriots – AFC Championship Game Odds:
In the playoff betting odds posted on this game by the folks over at VietBet, New England is the favorite at home:
New England Patriots -6
Pittsburgh Steelers +6
Over 50.5 points -110
Under 50.5 points -110
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Steelers vs Patriots – CJ’s Take:
There is an improved defense on the Pittsburgh side, and this can’t be ignored. In this recent streak, only two teams have been able to score more than 20 points against them, and Pittsburgh was able to come away with a victory in Kansas City, despite sputtering on the offensive end in the red zone. They got six field goals from Chris Boswell in the 18-16 victory. Of course, the challenge of keeping pace with New England is going to be a stiff one.
But this a club that is well-equipped, with perhaps the best running back and the best wide receiver in the business, along with the quarterback who has already won two Super Bowls.
Just in case you were wondering, Pittsburgh is 13-5 straight-up and 11-7 against the football point spread, while New England, the #1 seed in the AFC, is 15-2 straight-up and 14-3 against the points.
The two main cogs in this lineup are wide receiver Antonio Brown and running back Le’Veon Bell. Just to give you an idea how awesome Bell has been this season, he had to sit out a three-game suspension at the beginning of the campaign, but he still wound up with 1268 rushing yards and 616 receiving yards. In fact, in the latter category, he was second-best on this Pittsburgh roster, and his presence was really critical because there were injury and suspension issues that took viable receivers out of the Pittsburgh lineup. If you want to know the truth, quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, the guy who’s won the two super Bowls, has had a difficult time finding reliable outlets, so the fact that Bell caught 75 passes really illustrates his value to this team.
Also, Bell has come through big in the playoffs, as VietBet patrons have no doubt observed. In the first game against Miami he had 167 rushing yards, setting a new franchise playoff record, and wouldn’t you know it – the next week he broke his own record, with 170. His unique style of running with the football, which includes the patience to stop and wait for his blocking to develop, has become the subject of much discussion recently.
There is very little you can say about Antonio Brown except that his performances have been phenomenal, considering that there is not a whole lot in the Steelers’ wide receiver corps to distract the attention of opposing secondaries. In fact, Brown has been targeted more than twice as many times as any other receiver with the Steelers, yet he continues to produce. This season he had 106 catches for 1284 yards and a dozen touchdowns. He has been vociferous at times, complaining about getting “triple coverage” in his plea for somebody – anybody – to emerge as someone to scare opposing defensive coordinators. And maybe Bill Belichick of the Patriots can construct some kind of scheme to slow him down. But we wonder if that’s likely. At any rate, it is absolutely incumbent upon Belichick and his staff to come up with some way to prevent Bell and Brown from coming up with their optimum effort.
Roethlisberger is one of those quarterbacks who is absolutely fearless. He also knows how to buy time, and is being as he is, he is hard for pass rushers to bring down. But he has a tendency to be mistake prone; he has thrown 13 interceptions in the regular season and three more in the playoffs. So that is something he has to keep under control. But he gets great pass protection, having been sacked only 17 times during the regular season. So there is no doubt that Pittsburgh has the kind of ammunition that can keep them very much in this ballgame up until the end.
By Charles Jay
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