FOXBORO, MASS. (WHDH) - Quarterbacks Tom Brady and Ben Roethlisberger have had plenty of success in the post-season: Brady has four Super Bowl rings, and Roethlisberger has two.
The AFC Championship game on Sunday, Jan. 22 will be just the second time the New England Patriots and Pittsburgh Steelers have faced off in the playoffs. The only other match-up took place 12 years ago during Roethlisberger’s rookie season with Pittsburgh. In that game, New England beat the Steelers to advance to Super Bowl 39.
Fast forward to 2017 and the Patriots beat the Steelers in the regular season in week seven, a game Roethlisberger did not play in because he was recovering from surgery.
But the Steelers appear confident in a video that was streamed live on Facebook, just after they beat the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday.
From their locker room, wide receiver Antonio Brown used the social platform to live-stream a speech by head coach Mike Tomlin, who had harsh words for the Patriots:
“We spotted those [expletive] a day and a half. They played yesterday. Our game got moved to tonight. We’re going to touch down at four o’clock in the [expletive] morning. So be it. We’ll be ready for that [expletive].”
The speech was delivered moments after Pittsburgh took an 18-16 victory over the Chiefs, propelling them to Foxborough for the Patriots’ sixth straigth AFC Championship game – an accomplishment Brady says is “pretty cool.” Though not as cool as winning the game: that, Brady told reporters, “would be really cool.”
The game on Sunday will be the first time the Steelers have reached the AFC Championship game in six years.
As Brown streamed the locker room talk, Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger called Gillette Stadium “a lion’s den.” Roethlisberger later told reporters that it is always difficult to play the Patriots.
“There are a lot of things we need to do to be successful against them,” Roethlisberger said. “They’re the best in the world for a reason.”
The Steelers and Patriots have a combined 10 Super Bowl wins.
Tom Brady was asked Monday morning if he had plans to share a similar video after Pittsburgh’s live stream went viral.
“That’s against our team policy. I don’t think that would go over well with our coach,” Brady said on WEEI when asked if he would be sharing a video of Bill Belichick’s next locker room talk.
Patriots fans say the video will serve as motivation to defeat the Steelers.
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