{"id":65621,"date":"2017-12-16T10:00:06","date_gmt":"2017-12-16T18:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=65621"},"modified":"2017-12-16T08:52:31","modified_gmt":"2017-12-16T16:52:31","slug":"sundays-pittsburgh-new-england-patriots-afc-championship-preview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sundays-pittsburgh-new-england-patriots-afc-championship-preview\/","title":{"rendered":"Sunday\u2019s Pittsburgh-New England Game Could be AFC Championship Preview"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pittsburgh and New England are the top two teams in the AFC and are playing Sunday in what could be a sneak peak at the AFC Championship a month from now. The Patriots are traveling to the Steel City<\/a> and are a 3-point favorite despite being on the road.<\/p>\n

\"Mike
Pittsburgh Coach Mike Tomlin will try and avenge last year\u2019s 36-17 loss to Bill Belichick\u2019s Patriots in last season\u2019s AFC Championship when the two teams meet Sunday. (Image: Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

They opened anywhere from one to two points but saw the line increase earlier this week. The over-under has actually decreased a point since it opened at 54 \u00bd.<\/p>\n

The Steelers have won their last eight consecutive games, including Monday night\u2019s come from behind effort against Baltimore, 39-38 last Sunday. They are 11-2 on the season with their only losses coming to Chicago and Jacksonville.<\/p>\n

The Patriots are 10-3 and are coming off a shocking 27-20 defeat to division rival Miami, 37-20 on Monday Night Football. That snapped an eight-game winning streak. They previously lost to Kansas City opening week and Carolina two weeks later. In the three most recent times New England lost their home opener they went on to win the Super Bowl.<\/p>\n

They are still the favorites to win the Super Bowl<\/a> at 9-4. They opened at 6-1. The Steelers are next at 3-1, dropping from opening odds of 10-1.<\/strong><\/p>\n

History on Patriots Side<\/h2>\n

Of the previous nine match ups between the teams seven of them have gone to Head Coach Bill Belichick\u2019s squad. That includes last year\u2019s AFC Championship, which New England won, 36-17.<\/p>\n

\n

Quarterback Tom Brady has not lost two away games in a row since 2015. The team is also undefeated in their last six games following a loss, which includes a mark of 6-0 against the spread.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

As an underdog at home the Steelers are 10-6 straight up and 11-3-2 ATS in their last 16 games. One important stat is that the Steelers have lost by an average of 15.3 points in the last four contests with New England.<\/p>\n

Much at Stake Sunday<\/h2>\n

With a victory the Steelers would probably wrap up the best record in the conference and ensure home field throughout the playoffs. If New England wins they would match Pittsburgh\u2019s record and have the tie breaker to claim the home-field advantage if the two meet in the AFC Championship.<\/p>\n

The Patriots offense is ranked second overall and will face the Steelers\u2019 No. 5 defense. Pittsburgh has the advantage on offense with its No. 4 ranked offense going against New England\u2019s No. 29th defense.<\/p>\n

Steelers Coach Mike Tomlin was accused of looking ahead to the New England game the last few weeks, but he vehemently denied the accusation.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know that any of us were looking ahead to be quite honest with you,\u201d Tomlin said during a conference call with Patriots media. \u201cWhen we do interviews and people ask us about potential big games down the\u00a0road, we\u2019re going to politely answer questions and do so honestly. That\u2019s not us looking down the road. That\u2019s us simply performing our professional duties.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pittsburgh and New England are the top two teams in the AFC and are playing Sunday in what could be a sneak peak at the AFC Championship a month from now. The Patriots are traveling to the Steel City and are a 3-point favorite despite being on the road. They opened anywhere from one to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":65622,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,1074],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nSunday\u2019s Pittsburgh-New England Patriots Game Could be AFC Championship Preview<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Pittsburgh and New England Patriots, the top two teams in the AFC, will face each other Sunday in what could be a preview of the AFC Championship.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sundays-pittsburgh-new-england-patriots-afc-championship-preview\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sunday\u2019s Pittsburgh-New England Patriots Game Could be AFC Championship Preview\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Pittsburgh and New England Patriots, the top two teams in the AFC, will face each other Sunday in what could be a preview of the AFC Championship.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sundays-pittsburgh-new-england-patriots-afc-championship-preview\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-12-16T18:00:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-12-16T16:52:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/bill-belichick-mike-tomlin-d07ca4aabc5962c9.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2047\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1407\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Casino.org Staff Writer\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Casino.org Staff Writer\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sundays-pittsburgh-new-england-patriots-afc-championship-preview\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sundays-pittsburgh-new-england-patriots-afc-championship-preview\/\",\"name\":\"Sunday\u2019s Pittsburgh-New England Patriots Game Could be AFC Championship Preview\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sundays-pittsburgh-new-england-patriots-afc-championship-preview\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sundays-pittsburgh-new-england-patriots-afc-championship-preview\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/bill-belichick-mike-tomlin-d07ca4aabc5962c9.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-12-16T18:00:06+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-12-16T16:52:31+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8c48bf89dc86da77b4d856c7b3b78d77\"},\"description\":\"Pittsburgh and New England Patriots, the top two teams in the AFC, will face each other Sunday in what could be a preview of the AFC Championship.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sundays-pittsburgh-new-england-patriots-afc-championship-preview\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sundays-pittsburgh-new-england-patriots-afc-championship-preview\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sundays-pittsburgh-new-england-patriots-afc-championship-preview\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/bill-belichick-mike-tomlin-d07ca4aabc5962c9.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/bill-belichick-mike-tomlin-d07ca4aabc5962c9.jpg\",\"width\":2047,\"height\":1407,\"caption\":\"Pittsburgh Coach Mike Tomlin will try and avenge last year\u2019s 36-17 loss to Bill Belichick\u2019s Patriots in last season\u2019s AFC Championship when the two teams meet Sunday. 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