Everyone remembers the past decade, the Patriots dominating everyone in the NFL, and certainly not least the Pittsburgh Steelers.
The Steelers have lost two AFC championship games to the Patriots and several regular season games, though they did snap the record 21 game winning streak of the Patriots in 2004.
In these games we typically see a Patriot's team, led by Tom Brady, picking apart the relatively weak secondary of the Steelers, and eventually throwing up the deep bomb on 3rd-and-long for a 60-yard touchdown.
Something tells me it will be different this time around.
First thing's first, though Pittsburgh's defense is usually a top five powerhouse, the defense this year is giving up fractions of a yard over 235 per game, which is easily one of the best defenses in recent memory, for any team.
The Steelers have also excelled in every defensive category, including Passing Defense, Points Per Game, and Red Zone defense. Those last three statistics are going to make the difference in this game.
Matt Cassel is good, but he has not faced a team like "Blitzburgh" with 37 sacks on the season and some of the most confusing blitzing schemes in the league. The pass rush is why the Steelers defense is so good, with both of the outside linebackers having more than 10 sacks and looking to get more.
This kind of pass rush the Patriots have not faced yet this year, and Cassel has yet to see.
I would be foolish not to mention the weaknesses in the Steelers offense, the offensive line is very poor at best and is allowing Ben to get hit entirely too much. Luckily for the Steelers, the Patriots do not usually test this aspect of an opposing team, especially not this year.
The Steelers also have injuries to key players, most notably, Big Ben Roethlisberger who has been playing hurt from week one and has managed, except for a poor stretch in the middle, to do well enough to win.
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