AFC Championship Game Preview: New England Patriots vs. Pittsburgh Steelers

(photo credit: steelers.com)

Ben Roethlisberger and the Pittsburgh Steelers head into Gillette Stadium to take on Tom Brady and the New England Patriots on Sunday. For Brady, he'll be playing in his sixth straight AFC Championship game and 11th overall, whereas Big Ben will be playing in his fourth. Both these teams met once before in the AFC Championship, back in 2004 when the Patriots steam rolled the Steelers 41-27 at Heinz Field.

Both these quarterbacks have a combined six Super Bowl titles, and this season each team has an explosive offense which will be on full display this Sunday at Foxborough. Despite the Patriots lackluster performance against the Houston Texans in the AFC Divisional Round, they still took care of business by beating the Texans by 18 points. Running back Dion Lewis had touchdowns as a runner, receiver and as a punt returner as well. While the Pats defense picked off Houston's quarterback Brock Osweiler three times. New England has many ways of beating their opponents, something the Steelers are well aware of.

Pittsburgh also had their struggles in the AFC Divisional Round versus the Kansas City Chiefs. They relied on the leg of kicker Chris Boswell who needed to kick six field goals for the Steelers to overcome the Chiefs at Arrow Head Stadium. If Kansas City's offensive tackle Eric Fisher didn't get called for a holding penalty on a two-point conversion with the score 18-16, who knows what could've happened. Pittsburgh's offense struggled in the red zone going 0-for-4 in getting touchdowns, but the Steelers defense held the Chiefs offense 2-for-9 on third down conversions.