The Steelers and Packers are just as scary as they showed on Sunday: NFL takeaways

On paper, no team’s offensive arsenal is as enviable as the Pittsburgh Steelers’. Running back Le’Veon Bell and receiver Antonio Brown are among the top two or three in their respective positions, and quarterback Ben Roethlisberger — he of the two Super Bowl titles — is still one of the best passers in the league, even at 34.

In the 11 games the trio took to the same field this season — Bell missed the first three games with suspension and Roethlisberger missed one start with injury — the Steelers are 8-3, including six straight wins to end the season (the Steelers also won in Week 17 while resting their starters against the hapless Cleveland Browns).

We saw the “three B’s” (Ben, Bell and Brown) in full form in Sunday’s AFC Wild Card win over the Miami Dolphins, a 30-12 rout that should put the rest of the play-off teams on notice.

The first two touchdowns were Brown specialities, a catch-and-run of 50 yards and a similar one of 64 yards, both in the first quarter to put the Steelers up by two scores early.

Miami managed a mere field goal in response, and Pittsburgh played conservatively from there, best exemplified by their third possession that saw Bell gut the Dolphins’ defence on seven straight called runs. The back-breaking drive was capped by a goal-line Bell touchdown.

Down 20-3, there was little that career-backup Matt Moore and the Dolphins could do to get back in it, and Pittsburgh cruised to the win. Brown finished with 124 yards receiving and both of Roethlisberger’s touchdowns, while Bell finished with 167 yards rushing and two touchdowns. Roethlisberger threw two inconsequential interceptions, but Miami could never capitalise.

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■ More: Seahawks, Texans fans should keep expectations in check

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It seems we forgot a bit about the Steelers this year. Early in the season they suffered a four-game losing streak that threatened to put them out of contention. In what would have been their most high-profile match-up, against the New England Patriots in Week 7, Roethlisberger sat out injured. The 21-16 loss might have ended differently if he had played and we might not be looking at the Patriots as the unstoppable juggernaut that makes the rest of the AFC cower.

We might yet get the chance to see a full-strength Steelers-Patriots battle, as each are one win away from the AFC title game. Pittsburgh still need to win at the Kansas City Chiefs next week, but in Week 4 the Steelers throttled the Chiefs 43-14. That was Bell’s first game of the year, and the first time the Ben-Bell-Brown trio played together.

No one needs to remind Kansas City of what Miami saw this Sunday — at full strength, no offence in the AFC is as fearsome as Pittsburgh’s.

Still running the table

The New York Giants won 11 games this season mostly on the back of their defence (which Football Outsiders ranked as the NFL's second best in DVOA). That combined with the expected subfreezing temperatures at Lambeau Field were supposed to provide the formula that could possibly slow down Aaron Rodgers and the red-hot Green Bay Packers.

Things did not work out that way.

The Packers cruised to a 38-13 win, the seventh in a row since Rodgers's now-famous "run the table" remark.

Green Bay are looking a lot like the same side that ran roughshod through the NFC play-offs and Super Bowl in 2011. That Rodgers-led team won in the second round against a surprising, 13-3 Atlanta Falcons team that came out of nowhere to clinch the top seed in the NFC.

Next up for the Packers? The second round against a surprising, 13-3 Dallas Cowboys team that came out of nowhere to clinch the top seed in the NFC.

History is looking awfully familiar right now.

What now?

Their seasons may have ended in blowout losses, but both the Dolphins and Giants exceeded expectations this year. Each made the play-offs with first-year head coaches, which is a nice sign for the future.

Miami may have found a gem in head coach Adam Gase, who completely turned the team around after a 1-4 start to finish 10-6 and clinch a play-off berth by Week 16. Gase’s biggest accomplishment was how he made Ryan Tannehill into a viable NFL quarterback, right as the fifth-year starter was starting to look like a lost cause. If the Dolphins had been able to field Tannehill instead of Moore against the Steelers on Sunday, the game might not have looked so ugly.

If the Dolphins can shore up the defence and continue strides made on offence, they can continue to compete in an AFC East long dominated by the Patriots.

As for the Giants, they need to turn their offence around the same way they did their defence. Ben McAdoo did a great job keeping a familiar unit playing cohesively after the firing of longtime coach Tom Coughlin, and did just as well making sure the defence’s bevy of free-agent signings played up to their new contracts.

But quarterback Eli Manning is now 35, and has looked like he is very near the end. He and his two Super Bowl titles have earned the benefit of the doubt, but it is tough to see New York fans putting up with another interception-filled year of mediocre quarterback play.

He needs some help, though. Adding skill-position players to complement Odell Beckham Jr — who was a non-factor against Green Bay — would be a nice start.

Manning deserves one more go-around, but he cannot do it alone.

kjeffers@thenational.ae

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