Who will take the AFC?
We are one day away from the AFC Championship game which will feature the high octane offensive of the Pittsburg Steelers and the great New England Patriots.
The Pittsburg Steelers in my opinion had a good year but at time what scares me is that their defense failed them from time to time which resulted in loses and key games. But as the season went on I saw how much the Steelers can really lean on their offense which is led by Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger,, All-Pro Wide Receiver Antonio Brown, and Running Back Le'Veon Bell. Week in and Week out we see Antonio Brown get loose for big catches and touchdowns that are followed by various dances. Le'Veon Bell is one of the most complete Running Backs in the league in terms of running the back with a combination of patience, vision, speed and power. You can hand him the ball or pass it to him out of the back field but one thing is certain the will make something out of nothing.
In the Wild Card round they played the Miami Dolphins who have play really well this year and had what it took to take down the Steelers at home. But surprisingly the Steelers Defense stepped up and forced a couple of turnovers while the Offense did their normal thing by putting up points thus leading to a win and off to Kansas City for the Divisional Round. In Kansas City you have to worry about the Chiefs Defense and the extremely loud fans who have set a World Record for how loud the stadium can be. But the only problem with the Chiefs game was that they would continuously miss various opportunities to take over the game and with all their mistakes the Steelers capitalized on each one and ended up winning the game.
Then there's the New England Patriots who are models of consistency winning 10 plus games every year and winning multiple AFC East Championships. Being led by the legendary Head Coach Bill Belichick and the legendary Quarterback Tom Brady the Patriots have been excellent for many years.
But the only problem this year is the fact that Tom Brady was suspended for 4 games this year because of the Deflate Gate Scandal in which it was reported in the AFC Championship Game against the Indianapolis Colts in the 2015 NFL Season the Patriots were suspected of using deflated football to get the upper hand on the Colts. So in came Tom Brady's backup Jimmy Garoppolo who did a pretty decent job in Brady's absence, but then he got injured and in came Jacoby Brissett and he gave a beat down to the Houston Texans 27-0 in week 3. But when Brady came back he came with a vengeance completing the season with 28 touchdowns to only 2 interceptions, throwing for over 3500 yards and completing 67 percent of his passes.
Now entering the playoffs the Patriots had one hand tied behind their backs with the loss of their All-Pro Tight End Rob Gronkowski to back surgery, but once again it didn't matter. In the game against the Houston Texans it was a close game early on with the Texans defense making it difficult for Brady. But once the Texans offense started committing turnovers the Patriots Offense started to capitalize off of the miscues resulting in game, set, and match.
For the AFC Championship game I believe that the Patriots and Steelers game will be very close going point for point but in the end I believe the Patriots are too hard to beat at home. Thus resulting in the Patriots meeting the Atlanta Falcons in Houston for Super Bowl 51.
