Pittsburgh Steelers at New England Patriots (Sunday, 6:40 p.m. ET, CBS)
For the ninth time in 14 years, the Patriots or Steelers will represent the AFC in the Super Bowl.
The Patriots have won eight straight games but are coming off a less-than-stellar divisional playoff performance. The Steelers have won nine straight games but are coming off a less-than-stellar divisional playoff performance. That makes for an interesting matchup between fierce AFC rivals Sunday in Foxboro, with a trip to Super Bowl LI on the line.
The Pats beat the Steelers in road conference championship games en route to Super Bowl victories in 2001 and 2004, but that first win came against Kordell Stewart and the second came when Ben Roethlisberger was just a rookie. Still, New England has defeated Pittsburgh in all three of their meetings since 2012.
The two have also met more recently. As in, Week 7 this year. But Roethlisberger didn’t play that day and backup Landry Jones was forced to throw the ball 47 times in a 27-16 New England road victory. Big Ben is healthy now and Le’Veon Bell is way hotter than he was then, but this time they’re meeting in New England.
Roethlisberger was no good on the road this year. Here are the numbers, including the playoffs:
Ben Roethlisberger on the road this season:
Comp.%: 59.9
TD: 9
INT: 9
YPA: 6.8
Rating: 77.8— Brad Gagnon (@Brad_Gagnon) January 16, 2017
And the Patriots are of course nearly impossible to beat on the road in the playoffs. They’re 16-3 at Gillette Stadium in the postseason with Tom Brady at quarterback.
Roethlisberger and the Steelers have their work cut out for them.
