A showdown of AFC powerhouses after Thanksgiving is always worth watching, and that’s likely the case when the Pittsburgh Steelers go on the road to face the defending AFC champion New England Patriots Sunday.

The Steelers hold a one-game edge over the Baltimore Ravens in the AFC North heading into the weekend. The Patriots are tied for a wild-card spot, but because of tiebreakers, would be on the outside looking in if the playoffs were getting underway. Both the statistical intrigue and the importance of Sunday’s game make the Steelers and Patriots the NFL Matchup of the Week.

These two teams come ready to play this time of the year. Since the start of the 2001 season, including the playoffs, the Patriots and Steelers rank first and second in the NFL, respectively, in post-Thanksgiving winning percentage.

In that span, New England is 48-9 (.842) after turkeys find their way into ovens across the land. Although no other team has single-digit, post-Thanksgiving losses over these eight years, the Steelers rank second at 36-16, with a .692 winning percentage.

The Steelers are second among NFL clubs despite a 1-4 finish a year ago, when a 34-13 defeat at Foxborough began a slide that ended with a first-round home loss to Jacksonville. The Steelers were 9-3 going into that Dec. 9 matchup with New England, but their top-rated defense was never the same after Pats QB Tom Brady threw for 399 yards and four scores.

Once again the Steelers have the top-ranked defense, leading the league this season against both the pass (168.8 yards) and the run (66.5) in fewest yards allowed per game. Entering Week 13, the Steelers are second with 37 sacks.

This time, however, the Steelers will see Matt Cassel under center for New England. Brady suffered a season-ending knee injury in the Patriots’ opener, making Cassel a starting QB for the first time since his high school days. After an adjustment period, the 26-year-old has shown he’s a legitimate NFL quarterback.

Cassel has completed 30 passes in each of New England’s last two games, throwing six touchdown passes and just one pick combined in last week’s 48-28 win at Miami and a 34-31 overtime loss to division rival New York on Nov. 13. As a result, the 8-3 Jets are one game up on the Patriots in the AFC East.

The Steelers will have their hands full defensively. In last week’s New England victory, Cassel became the fifth NFL quarterback since the 1970 NFL-AFL merger to throw back-to-back 400-yard games. Three of the other four -- Dan Fouts, Dan Marino and Phil Simms -- followed up with solid performances and a win the next time out.

A win is critical to New England’s playoff push. The Pats may be tied with Indianapolis and Baltimore for the final two postseason berths, but they’d be watching football from home if the playoffs were kicking off this weekend.

History is on New England’s side on Sunday. Over the last 10 years, the Patriots are 6-1 against the Steelers, a stretch that includes a pair of AFC Conference Championship wins. In those seven games, the Pats averaged 28 points per game despite Pittsburgh’s perennial prowess on the defensive side of the ball.

This time it won be Brady attempting to dissect the defense of the Steelers, who last won in Foxborough in December 1997. It will be Cassel pushing to keep the Patriots in the playoff hunt, while the Steelers will try to avoid having the Patriots spark a New York Mets-style crash-and-burn for a second year in a row.