FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- Through no fault of its own, the New England Patriots' defense has had a “yeah but” attached to its impressive accomplishments in the 2016 season. Sunday’s AFC Championship Game against the Pittsburgh Steelers presents an opportunity to officially bury the tag.

Yes, the unit ranked first in the NFL for fewest points allowed, an average of 15.6 per game. And after totaling just seven takeaways through the first 10 games of the season, the D exploded for 14 over the final six games.

Those are impressive bottom-line results.

Now for the “yeah but.”

Le'Veon Bell had 21 rushes for 81 yards and 10 receptions for 68 yards in the Oct. 23 game against the Patriots. Jason Bridge/USA TODAY Sports

Outside of Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson, who did a pretty good job of carving up the unit in leading Seattle to a 31-24 victory on Nov. 13, the Patriots haven’t faced any of the NFL’s top quarterbacks. Carson Palmer (Week 1, at Arizona) and Joe Flacco (Week 14, vs. Baltimore) are probably the next on the list.

Otherwise, it has been Ryan Tannehill, Brock Osweiler, Tyrod Taylor, Cody Kessler, Andy Dalton, Landry Jones, Colin Kaepernick, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Jared Goff, Trevor Siemian, Bryce Petty and Matt Moore.

Enter Ben Roethlisberger and the Steelers, and if the Patriots advance to Super Bowl LI, awaiting them will be either Matt Ryan of the Atlanta Falcons or Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers.

The talent level at quarterback is stepping up in a big way.

“Pittsburgh’s offense is very dangerous,” defensive coordinator Matt Patricia said Monday. “This will be different for us than obviously the first time [against Pittsburgh on Oct. 23] with Ben being back. They have very explosive guys at all the skill positions.”

Roethlisberger missed that game, a 27-16 Patriots win, with a left knee injury. He’s back now, and although the Steelers were held to just 18 points and didn’t score a touchdown in their divisional-round win over the Kansas City Chiefs, they can challenge New England in ways most of their 2016 opponents haven’t been able to.

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The first Steelers player mentioned by linebacker Dont’a Hightower in his weekly interview on sports radio WEEI on Monday was running back Le’Veon Bell, who had 21 rushes for 81 yards and 10 receptions for 68 yards in the Oct. 23 game between the teams.

That production highlights why Patricia said Bell “really does a great job in the run game and the pass game -- a great space player, really very dynamic in his ability to make people miss in open space from a tackling standpoint. He’s a very patient runner, kind of a different style where he gets to the line of scrimmage and really just finds that hole or that seam and he has this incredible burst to be able to get through.”

Bell will be one of the two top priorities for the Patriots' defense, alongside receiver Antonio Brown.

“They’re able to push the ball both vertically and horizontally. Antonio Brown is a great wide receiver, a huge threat to get the ball. Once it’s in his hands, he can turn small plays into big plays,” Patricia said, adding that because defenses pay so much attention to him, it opens opportunities for others.

Then there is Roethlisberger, of course.

“So calm in the pocket where he can really just wait,” Patricia said. “He’s got an incredibly strong arm. Obviously, the deep threat, which is a big-play possibility, the catch and run, which you’ve seen them do here especially in the last couple of weeks with explosive-type plays, and then combine that with the running game, it really stresses a defense both in the front to make sure that the run game is handled and then in the deep part of the field.”

This is the essence of the challenge facing the No. 1-ranked scoring defense of the 2016 regular season.

Slow this offense down and it just might be time to retire the “yeah but” for the Patriots’ D.