New York: Four-time champion Tom Brady’s New England Patriots and two-time winner Ben Roethlisberger’s Pittsburgh Steelers chase Super Bowl history on Sunday in an NFL play-off showdown featuring two iconic quarterbacks.
Oddsmakers have installed host New England as a six-point favourite over the Steelers in the American Football Conference championship game.
The winner will become the first club to make a ninth Super Bowl appearance, facing either Green Bay or Atlanta in Super Bowl 51 next month in Houston.
The Steelers are on a nine-game win streak while the Patriots, who went an NFL-best 14-2 this season, have won eight in a row, neither team having lost since November 13.
“You are going up to the lion’s den, the dragon’s lair,” Roethlisberger said. “They are the dragon. We are trying to slay them. It doesn’t matter who it is, but they are the gold standard.”
Brady, seeking his seventh Super Bowl trip since 2001, threw for 222 yards and two touchdowns in New England’s 27-16 victory at Pittsburgh in October, but the Steelers were without injured “Big Ben.”
“I think the game earlier in the season is not really that relevant,” Patriots coach Bill Belichick said. “There’s a lot of water under the bridge since then.”
