Just one can advance in battle of QB behemoths
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — The AFC Championship is a matchup of heavyweights.
In one corner are the Patriots, appearing in their sixth consecutive AFC title game. In the other, the Steelers, who own a record six Lombardi Trophies.
“They are the best in the world,” Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger said of the Patriots. “They are the gold standard, if you will. So you want to have that opportunity to go up to play the best. It will be an awesome challenge for us.”
The Steelers (13-5) have won nine straight games to get to this point. The Patriots (16-2) have been rolling toward this game all season, after beginning the season without leader Tom Brady. The quarterback’s four-game suspension for Deflategate feels like ages ago, but it clearly galvanized the Patriots and put them on a mission to collect a fifth Super Bowl title.
To do that, they will have to get past a Steelers squad led by its Big Three on offense — Roethlisberger, Le’Veon Bell and Antonio Brown.
“Ben is an incredible player, and he’s been that way since 2004 when he came into the league,” Brady said. “I’ve always loved the way he plays, very tough, hard-nosed. He’s great for the city of Pittsburgh — a very tough, hard-nosed city. I have a lot of friends from there. He’s just been a great player. I think the respect is very mutual. To play at his level for as long as he has and with his style of play has been remarkable.”
This is just the second time that Brady and Roethlisberger have met in the playoffs. The last time was after Roethlisberger’s rookie season in 2004, so it has been a while. Roethlisberger talked about his respect for Brady this week, saying he has Brady’s jersey hanging in his home alongside some other players he admires.
Roethlisberger emphasized that this game will be about more than the quarterbacks.
“I think it’s two old guys that have been playing in this game for a long time,” Roethlisberger said. “I think that’s what a lot of the talk is. He deserves all the credit that he gets. It’s obviously bigger than the two of us. I know he is used to it, with Peyton Manning and Tom thing. This is two football teams that have won championships. Us going against each other is more than just one man. We aren’t playing tennis. We are going out there to play a football games with 11 guys at a time.”