American Football Conference Heavyweight Championship: #3 Pittsburgh @ #1 New England

[Piggly Wiggly 960]

 

Been waiting for this matchup for months. Like, I've said awhile back, the only two teams worth a shit in the AFC are the Pats and Steelers. No other way around it.

 

Hopefully this game goes down to the wire. I haven't had actual nerves watching a Pats game since the AFCCG last year vs. Denver. I actually legit appreciated the AFCCG last season even though the Pats lost because it made me feel alive again as a sports fan lol

 

 

Where was I being emo? I was at a bar for the majority of the game lol. I had a good time too, especially watching the last drive, despite the end result. Don't get it twisted, it's disappointing not winning, but they're coming off a SB victory and there's a good chance they'll make a record setting 6th straight AFCCG next season. Tough to have much to complain about.

 

Anyways...

 

28

24

 

De-facto Super Bowl just like last year.

 

 

 

[seanbrock 1,684]

Really would like to see the Steelers win but the odds of Mike Tomlin going to NE and beating Bill Belichick are very slim in my eyes. I think the Steelers are a better team overall talent wise though and it's possible that this is the game where shipping out defensive talent comes back to bite the Pats in the ass. This should be a very good game though.we're in for some awesome football this weekend in general.

[RazorStar 4,025]

Any chance the Steelers had of winning flew out the window once AB released that locker room video. Now the Patriots get to play pissed off, and they're basically the Hulk of the NFL.

 

34

24

[Sarge+ 3,436]

If you asked me 2 months ago, I would have said we're going to get rekt. I'm really not so sure about that now.

 

Our defense has come a long way. We're not going to shut down the Pats offense like we did Miami and KC, but if our offense is playing good ball, we don't need to stop them. We only need to slow them down. Plus if Bell is running wild like he has been for most of this season, Brady will be watching a lot from the sideline.

 

30

 

27

[seanbrock 1,684]

The Steelers are going to be playing pissed off too though. Don't forget about the head set thing. These have faced off in the playoffs before so there's no shortage of builtin board meterial for either side.

 

Steelers have the inside linebackers to neutralize some of the Pats short passing game and they're tough to beat deep. Patriots can only take Bell or Brown out of the quation, not both. Belichick is smart so he's going to focus on Bell but idk I think they can only hope to contain him. If Ben doesn't turn the ball over the Steelers should win honestly but it's still the Pats at home.

[SteVo+ 3,702]

De facto Super Bowl? Um, no. New England will coast to victory in this one but face a tough test in 2 weeks.

 

31

13

Edited January 21, 2017 by SteVo

[BJORN 679]

Patriots are susceptible to the run. The Steelers would be wise to play possession football and grind them with Bell. Keep Brady off of the field and your defense fresh. I think the Patriots take it if they get an early lead, otherwise it should be a really close game.

 

Prediction:

 

23

20

 

because Brady always relies on his kicker

[Sarge+ 3,436]

Steven

[BC 331]

26

32

 

Want the Steelers to win and stuff but uh, they aren't going to have enough disruption to what New England inevitably will do to the average defense.

Edited January 22, 2017 by BC

[Sparty 110]

20

28

[seanbrock 1,684]

De facto Super Bowl? Um, no. New England will coast to victory in this one but face a tough test in 2 weeks.

 

31

13

I'd be shocked if this happens. I got New England in this one but these teams have played each other way too many times and Pittsburgh is way too talented for it to go down like this.

[56AceInDaPlace 110]

Steelers 30

Patriots 27

[Cherry 1,302]

82

 

2

 

Don't @ me

[Thanatos 2,847]

"What's going to happen on Sunday is the Patriots are going to lay down for the older, more established NFL franchise."

-PhilElliot.

 

"There is no way the Patriots will make the SB this year. Something will happen."

-PhilElliot

 

His two picks prior to the postseason? Vikings/Colts, neither of whom made the playoffs.

 

His two picks for the games today? Packers/Steelers, neither of whom was even competitive. NFL is totally fixed guise and this old man has totally figured out the script.

Edited January 23, 2017 by Thanatos

[SteVo+ 3,702]

I'm gonna be the annoying told-you-so guy in this thread.

 

This wasn't that hard to see coming. I think we all realize the NFL has sucked this year, yes? There was only a handful of good teams going into the playoffs. We at TGP tend to overrate the Steelers (Because of their history, I guess? Because of Roethlisberger?), but they were a mediocre team this year, and Big Ben has played like shit the last month and change. And yes, I'm finally going to jump on the anti-Tomlin train and say coaching is an issue. The Steelers play below their talent level and that's a problem. In a normal year they never would have sniffed the AFCCG, but they got to play Matt Moore and Alex Smith/Andy Reid in the playoffs.

 

So, I will say again: lol @ the idea of this being a "de facto Super Bowl." I find Phil's attempts to hype it up as such hilarious (Heavyweight Championship? Yeah no.).

 

Let's all be thankful that in a year with probably less than five truly good football teams, two of them will play each other in the Super Bowl.

[BJORN 679]

Patriots are susceptible to the run. The Steelers would be wise to play possession football and grind them with Bell. Keep Brady off of the field and your defense fresh. I think the Patriots take it if they get an early lead, otherwise it should be a really close game.

 

Prediction:

 

23

20

 

because Brady always relies on his kicker

Predicting close games in 2017 :rog:

[BwareDWare94 723]

That was a fucking joke. And New England wasn't even healthy...

[seanbrock 1,684]

This game should have been a lot closer than it was imo. The Steelers should have tried to grind this one out. It was close in the first half and they made a piss poor attempt at trying to get the ground game going and getting their RB's involved in the passing game. They needed to control the clock and wear the Pats down instead of airing it out. As good as Ben and the Steelers receivers are, they're at their best when they're running the ball and just because Bell went down doesn't mean Williams couldn't handle the load.

 

Defensively you can't just sit back in a zone against Brady and not expect him to kill you. They just kept giving him the same looks and in the second half he really started to tear them apart. That and the Steelers offense left them hanging out to dry because they couldn't sustain a drive.

 

I really do think The Steelers have more talent overall but the Pats coaching staff is just so vastly superior to the Steelers. There's no way Mike Tomlin will ever be good enough to take this team to the Super Bowl without LeBeau's defense. The dude is a clown.

[Zack_of_Steel+ 3,014]

I'm not sure I've ever agreed with one of your posts more.

[Piggly Wiggly 960]

It's crazy that even with Gronk out of the picture, this is probably one of the most all around complete teams that the Pats have had in awhile. 2004-esque type of feel.

Wouldn't say this team is as good as the '04 squad, but they're close to it. Just one of those years where they're truly head and shoulders above the rest.