The Pittsburgh Steelers will host the the New York Jets for the AFC Championship game on Sunday night in the current National Football League season. Sporting a 13-4 record, the Steelers is picked to win over the sixth seeded Jets who was able to hurdle two top NFL teams to barged into the AFC Championship game.
The Steelers is favored to win over the Jets due to the presence of its superstar quarterback Ben Roethlisberger aka Big Ben, who carried his team to its fourth AFC championship game in his seven years in the league.
The road towards the AFC championship is not easy for the Steelers since it came after their dramatic win against the Baltimore Ravens.
It can be recalled that two turnovers helped carry the Steelers in a 21-7 hole, but Roethlisberger led it back.
The two-time Super Bowl winner threw two third-quarter TDs to tie the score, and then completed a 58-yard pass to rookie Antonio Brown on third-and-19 late in the fourth, setting up Rashard Mendenhall’s score to punctuate a 31-24 victory.
The key for the Steelers in this game is to get solid numbers from both Big Ben and Brown to defeat the Jets.
The 6-foot-5, 241-pound Roethlisberger also needs to use his bigger frame to overpower and outplay rookie quarterback Mark Sanchez to beat the Jets.
All-Pro safety Troy Polamalu must also elevate his game into another level to bring victory to the Steelers against the Jets.
According to the latest NFL data, the Steelers are 31-8 with Polamalu in the lineup since 2008 and 6-7 without him.
The visiting Jets for its part can continue its upset run if it can once again get solid contributions from rookie quarterback Mark Sanchez.
Sanchez is 4-1 on the road in the postseason, and his playoff passer rating is 92.2 – 22.0 higher than in the regular season.
If Sanchez can play solid and not be dominated by Big Ben there is a huge chance for the Jets to beat the Steelers.
They might be the underdog in their game, but Jets rookie coach Rex Ryan is confident of their chances against the Steelers since they already beaten some of the elite NFL teams in the playoffs this year notably the Indianapolis Colts and New England Patriots.
Ryan said his team is fully determined to beat the Steelers and barged into the Super Bowl against either the Green Bay Packers of Chicago Bears.
He said Big Ben might be a great quarterback but his team has a solid game-plan to limit his contribution and carry the Jets to victory over the Steelers.
With the Super Bowl appearance as reward, the Steelers-Jets game promises to be an exciting game to all professional football fans all over the world.
Teams: New York Jets, Pittsburgh Steelers
