Steelers: AFC Playoff picture
By Remy Retro
For the Steelers wildcard weekend was beyond wild.
Wildcard weekend was beyond wild. By now everyone has read enough and seen enough video of the way beyond “chippy” game that the Bengals ultimately gave away with their decision making. Vontaze Burfict is now the NFL’s menace to society and the Bengals further soil their reputation as dirty and as playoff chokers.
Now as a result of that outcome the Steelers could be without one of or two of their best players. As of today Antonio Brown has not practiced and his progress in the concussion protocol is unknown, his quarterback hasn’t practiced either.
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Should both be out for Sunday’s game in Denver nobody will be giving the Steelers a Powerball’s chance of making it to the AFC Championship, and how could you. Pittsburgh’s defense (besides the Bengals of course) was responsible for the win last week and they will have to be again this week.
Peyton Manning is making the start for Denver and while he looked good he is still a huge wildcard himself. He did not play well the first nine games of the season and then missed six games only to come back in the season finale and throw nine passes. Sure he is Peyton Manning but that is a lot of uncertainty regardless.
There is a lot of potential for the Pittsburgh defense to make noise.
In the other AFC game the surging Kansas City Chiefs face the number one seed New England Patriots and while the Chiefs haven’t stopped winning since they played the Steelers on October 25th, it is hard not to favor last year’s Super Bowl champions.
New England sort of limped into the post season but managed to have the bye week and now potentially have the two key pass catchers ready with Rob Gronkowski and Julian Edelman both practicing today in limited fashion. Brady hasn’t had consistency with the players around him and they finished the season 2-3 which is not their usual path to the postseason.
Next: Can the TNT combo triumph in Denver?
We will have predictions on the games by Friday and on the AFC side fans are due for some exciting games.