Patriots vs. Steelers: Highlights, game tracker and more

The New England Patriots faced the Pittsburgh Steelers on December 17 in Week 15 of the 2017 NFL season. Here are highlights from the game.

If the playoffs were to begin today, the Pittsburgh Steelers (11-2) would have the No. 1 seed in the AFC, while the New England Patriots (10-3) would be the No. 2 seed. These two teams happen to play this weekend in the Steel City and a lot will be on the line. In all likelihood, the winner receives home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.

This series has been dominated in recent years by the Patriots, who’ve won the past four meetings including last year’s AFC Championship Game. Overall, New England has won eight of the previous 10 meetings between the two powers.

The Steelers enter this week’s game riding high, winners of eight in a row and quarterback Ben Roethlisberger is playing as well as he has in recent years. Roethlisberger passed for 506 yards in last week’s win over Baltimore, becoming the first quarterback in NFL history with three 500-yard games on his resume. Wide receiver Antonio Brown is a legitimate MVP candidate with an outside shot at 2,000 yards receiving. Don’t count him out. And then there is the NFL’s leading rusher, Le’Veon Bell.

How will the Patriots stop the Steelers’ explosive offense when they struggled to stop Jay Cutler and the Miami Dolphins last week? Well, don’t count out Bill Belichick in a big game, especially coming off a loss. New England rarely loses two games in a row.

Until last week’s slip-up against the Dolphins, the Patriots had won eight games in a row. An improved defense was a big reason for the turnaround. Quarterback Tom Brady was without Rob Gronkowski last week, who was suspended for an on-field incident the week before. Brady will have Gronkowski back this Sunday.

Highlights

https://twitter.com/nfl/status/942511169129943041

https://twitter.com/nfl/status/942529780842250240

This game has all the makings of a classic contest between the two top teams in the AFC — and arguably, the NFL — and feature several future Hall-of-Famers, including Brady, Roethlisberger, Gronkowski and Brown.