Big surprise during the AFC divisional round of the playoffs, the No. 1 seed Patriots play the weakest team remaining in the playoffs, the Tennessee Titans. Given that Tom Brady is 10-1 during the divisional round while hosting teams at home in Foxboro, the odds of Tennessee pulling the upset are slim to none.
I would say the odds are less than 10 percent that the upstart Titans are left standing after this weekend. Of course everyone outside of New England will be rooting for the upset. Tennessee did show some moxie rallying from a three-score deficit and beating the inconsistent Kansas City Chiefs in front of hometown crowd at Arrowhead Stadium.
As for Pittsburgh, the Steelers’ last hurdle before a bye week was the woeful 0-15 Cleveland Browns. In sticking with their losing ways, Cleveland announced their coach, Hue Jackson, will return for a third season. He earned this commitment from ownership after they fired their general manager and Hue’s only accomplishment of note in Cleveland is keeping his head coaching job after winning only ONE game in two full seasons.
Cleveland might want to rethink that strategy after the Pittsburgh Steelers mercifully beat the Browns 28-24 with second and third string players playing the majority of snaps in Heinz Field.
The best part of that game, well I made the trip to Pittsburgh to cover the game. Years from now the video I shot at the end of the game will be a lifetime reminder of what the most dysfunctional franchise in the NFL did to top a 1-15 season in 2016. Maybe another franchise has gone, 0-16 (2008 Detroit Lions), but no teams can touch the pathetic display of football that Cleveland produced the last 32 games.
Moving on … the Steelers road back to the AFC Championship game rematch is blocked by the stingy defense and marginal offense of this year’s biggest overachiever, the Jacksonville Jaguars.
The incentives for the Steelers are large to get up early in this game and put away the Jaguars before the first snap of the fourth quarter. The Steelers are still bitter after a 30-9 self-destructing loss to the Jaguars earlier this season. Big Ben Roethlisberger led the shame train with five interceptions in the game.
The team used the poor game as a rallying point and ripped off eight wins in a row before the controversial 27-24 loss to the Patriots. Expect to see a balanced offense from the Steelers with a heavy reliance on the run and play action through the first half of Sunday’s game at Heinz Field.
The Steelers all-time are 16-9 in the Divisional Round and are favored in the game on Sunday. By kickoff at 1:05 p.m. on Sunday, the Steelers will know if they will be playing for the chance to avenge a lopsided 36-17 loss last year to the Patriots in the AFC Championship or if by some “Music City Miracle” of their own doing, the Titans.
I simply think that both divisional round games are going to the home teams. I’ll take the Patriots 31-24 against the Titans, and the Steelers 27-17 against Jacksonville.
— Devin Hamilton is the Media Publisher of the Journal Tribune. He can be reached at publisher@journaltribune.com or at 282-1535 ext. 332.
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