AFC One/Two Seed Notes

No matter the order, which likely will be New England as the AFC one seed and Pittsburgh as the two seed (Pittsburgh is resting some key players, the line has dropped from 13 plus to 6, with the Steelers still the faves, vs the (0-15) Browns, a team they beat in the season opener and really burn covered, in a similar tilt, in last season’s finale), the teams will be hosting slots/division round games in the same season, for the fifth time.

The previous four times, were all in seasons in which either the Patriots or Steelers made the Super Bowl, winning it on three of those occasions.

In both 1978 and 2010, the Steelers won their slots game at home, while New England lost. Both years Pittsburgh made the Supe, winning it in ’78, losing in 2010.

Meanwhile with both Tom Brady and Bill Belichick, who of course are still with New England, in both 2001 and 2004, the teams won their home slots/division round games and met in the AFC title game in Pittsburgh.

New England won both of those games, en route to their first and third Super Bowl wins. In the first of those games, veteran Drew Bledsoe relieved Tom Brady as N.E. quarterback, helping New England advance.

In all four previous years in which both Pitts and NE were the “slots hosts” (sounds like a casino thing), the AFC Title game was played in Pittsburgh.