Home field main reason to give Pats the edge

If you enjoy offensive football, the NFL conference championships should be your cup of tea. Led by four of the league’s best quarterbacks, these title tilts should be wide open, high-scoring affairs.

The AFC clash features Pittsburgh at the Patriots, a showdown most fans have anticipated since mid-November. Both are smoking hot, with the Steelers riding a nine-game winning streak and the Pats an eight-gamer. Weather shouldn’t be a factor with cloudy skies and temperatures in the high 30s.

This is a tough game to call with both teams coming off lackluster efforts in the divisional round. The Patriots struggled offensively against the Texans, yet still managed a spread-beating 34-16 win. While the Steelers earned an 18-16 victory at Kansas City, their red zone inefficiency nearly cost them the game.

The Steelers made five trips inside the KC 20-yard line, and came away with zero touchdowns. They took 11 red zone snaps, and netted just five yards. Top rusher Le’Veon Bell managed just 10 yards on three carries, and Ben Roethlisberger completed only one pass for one yard, with another picked off by Chiefs safety Eric Berry.

If Kansas City hadn’t melted down — plagued by a mind-boggling number of dropped passes, foolish penalties and mental miscues — the outcome surely would have been different. And you know the disciplined Patriots won’t be so generous.

Finally, playing at Foxboro gives the Patriots a real homefield advantage. Since 2001 they are 16-3 at home in postseason play, and 33-4 overall the past four seasons. While Roethlisberger is certainly the guy who makes the Steelers attack click, he has lost a yard off his fast ball in road games. His numbers are brilliant at home, completing over 70 percent of his passes, throwing 15 more TDs than interceptions en route to a 116.7 passer rating. However, in away games, his completion rate fell 10 percent, his TD-to-interceptions was just plus-1 and his passer rating dropped into the 70s.

The Pats are favored by 6 points and get our call to advance to Super Bowl LI.

Also on Sunday: ATLANTA (-5) over Green Bay

— The over/under line of 60 indicates the oddsmakers anticipate a high-scoring game. Who can blame them. Both teams are long on go and short on stop, so a shootout seems inevitable. That could be a problem for the Pack.

Green Bay advanced through the postseason despite a patchwork secondary that has been hard hit by injuries. Now attrition has hit the Packers receiving corps, too. Top target Jordy Nelson missed last week’s game with injured ribs, and his participation seems doubtful here. Davante Adams, another of Aaron Rodgers’ go-to receivers, is bothered by an ankle injury and rookie Geronimo Allison has a hamstring problem.

And the Packers will need all their weapons to keep pace with the Falcons.

Former Boston College star Matt Ryan is having an MVP season. He completed just under 70 percent of his passes during the regular season for 4,944 yards and 38 touchdowns. He’s also desperate to add a Super Bowl appearance to his resume and he’s coming off a superior effort against Seattle, throwing for 338 yards and three touchdowns in the 36-20 win.

Ryan will keep that momentum going against a Green Bay defense that wore down badly in the second half last week in Dallas.

Betting against Rodgers is always risky, but laying the 5 points with the Falcons is the way to go.