BetAnySports Game Line: New England -5.5

BetAnySports Total Line: 51

The Pittsburgh Steelers have successfully taken the extended wild card route to this Sunday’s AFC Championship against the conference’s top-seeded New England Patriots. Kickoff from Gillette Stadium in Foxboro is slated for 6:40 p.m. (ET) and the game will be broadcast nationally on CBS.

Pittsburgh at New England Game Preview

The Steelers have made the most of their postseason as AFC North Champions with back-to-back victories against Miami as home favorites and Kansas City on the road as underdogs (both straight-up and against the spread). This extended their current SU winning streak to nine games while going a profitable 7-1-1 ATS. The total stayed UNDER BetAnySports’ closing 45-point line in Pittsburgh’s 18-16 victory against the Chiefs this past Sunday in the Divisional Round and it has stayed UNDER in six of its last nine games.

While the Steelers’ high-powered offense consisting of the Killer B’s (Ben Roethlisberger, Le’Veon Bell and Antonio Brown) deserve much of the credit for their recent success, it was Pittsburgh’s defense that elevated its game when it needed to the most to punch a ticket to the conference title game. Kansas City could only manage 227 yards of total offense in this past Sunday night’s game.

New England rolled through the regular season at 14-2 SU with a profitable 13-3 record ATS to claim the No. 1 seed in the AFC. The Patriots earned a spot in this game with a fairly routine 34-16 pasting of Houston this past Saturday as heavy 16.5-point favorites at home. The total went OVER BetAnySports’ closing 44-point line in that contest after staying UNDER in four of their previous six games.

Tom Brady has been a man on a mission ever since he missed the first four games of the season due to a league suspension. Against the Texans, he threw for 287 yards and two scores, but he was also picked off twice and sacked twice. The Patriots actually relied pretty heavily on its defense in that matchup by holding Houston to 285 yards of total offense. New England was third in the NFL in scoring this season with 27.6 points a game and its defense ranked first in points allowed (15.6).

Pittsburgh at New England Free Game Prediction

While both of these teams have high-profile quarterbacks that can quickly move the ball up and down the field through the air, I see this game turning into another showcase for each team’s defense. So much so, that I am going with the UNDER 51 points at BetAnySports as my “best bet” pick.