Patriots Favored By 6 Over Steelers

The Pittsburgh Steelers have captured the attention of bettors with nine straight wins at 7-1-1 ATS. But they’ll face their toughest challenge of the season this Sunday (6:40 PM ET, CBS) when they visit the New England Patriots in the Conference Championships. The Patriots are 6-point favorites at press time with a total of 51.

New England (15-2 SU, 14-3 ATS) is also on a tear, winning eight in a row at 7-1 ATS and covering some big spreads along the way – none bigger than the 17 points they were laying in last week’s 34-16 Divisional Round victory over the Houston Texans. The Patriots escaped that game mostly intact; WR Malcolm Mitchell remains iffy for this week after sitting against Houston with a knee injury.

The Steelers (13-5 SU, 11-6-1 ATS) didn’t have any new names on their injury list after squeaking past the Kansas City Chiefs 18-16 last week as 1-point road dogs. But their chances for Sunday will improve if TE Ladarius Green makes it out of concussion protocol in time to face New England. The weather forecast calls for overcast skies over Foxborough at kick-off with temperatures in the low 40s.