AFC Championship Game 2017: Injury Report, Predictions for Steelers vs. Patriots

The Pittsburgh Steelers and New England Patriots face off on Sunday at 6:40 p.m. ET for the right to go to Super Bowl LI.

If Pittsburgh wins, it could become the first team to ever win seven Super Bowls. If New England wins, it could match Dallas and San Francisco for the second-most Super Bowl wins of all time (five).

Let's take a look at the latest injury report followed by three predictions for the game.

Injury Report

Prediction 1: Patriots Running Back LeGarrette Blount Wears Down the Steelers Defense

Here are the facts of the case.

Blount is 6'0" and 250 pounds. He weighs more than most of the linebackers on Pittsburgh's roster, and he ran for 127 yards and two touchdowns on 24 carries when these two teams last met. New England won that game 27-16 at Heinz Field on Oct. 23.

The back is well rested, as he enjoyed a bye during the AFC Wild Card Round and only touched the ball eight times last week. Meanwhile, wide receiver Julian Edelman and running back Dion Lewis carried the Pats to victory.

The Steelers are anything but rested. Their last bye week was Oct. 30. After two straight losses in November to put them at 4-5 and in danger of missing the playoffs, the Steelers went into must-win mode and have remained there ever since.

No matter how mentally and physically tough you are—and the Steelers are a tough bunch—that has to take a toll.

Then, Pittsburgh played a wild-card game followed by a hard-hitting, emotional 18-16 win at Kansas City that came down to the last minute.

Put all of this together, and you have a common-sense take: The Steelers are going to be tasked with stopping a runaway boulder rolling downhill, and they may not have enough in the tank to stop it.

Prediction 2: The Steelers Offense Can't Keep Up with the Pats

Now, let's offer a few if-then statements.

1. If Blount has a big game, the Patriots should be able to control time of possession.

2. If the Patriots can control time of possession (and score), then the Steelers will have less time to come back.

3. If the Steelers have less time to come back, then they will have to pass more often to hang with New England.

4. If the Steelers have to pass more to hang with New England, they'll be playing right into the strength of the Pats' top-scoring defense, which is their pass coverage.

5. And if the Steelers attack the Pats' strong pass defense, then they could find themselves in trouble for three reasons: New England has two shutdown cornerbacks (Malcolm Butler and Logan Ryan), the Steelers don't have a consistent pass-catching weapon outside of wide receiver Antonio Brown and quarterback Ben Roethlisberger is a much worse quarterback on the road than at home.

That all adds up to a bad recipe for the Steelers, who should still find some success (the stars are too talented not to hit paydirt a few times) but sputter a bit on Sunday.

Prediction 3: New England 31, Pittsburgh 24

The Patriots offense may not be particularly flashy, but what they have in spades is depth. They can call on three running backs to carry the load any given day. They can throw short to Edelman, deep to Chris Hogan and find tight end Martellus Bennett in the red zone.

And the guy orchestrating the offense is Tom Brady, one of the best in the business. His offensive line isn't bad either, as it has done a great job of keeping him upright this season, which was not the case last year.

The Steelers offense may have the Killer B's, but the bet here is that the supporting cast won't provide enough help to pull off the upset in New England.