Pittsburgh Steelers at New England Patriots Free Pick and Betting Odds. In this opening week of the season match, the New England Patriots will play host to the Pittsburgh Steelers at the Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts. The game is set to kickoff on Thursday, September 10th at 08:30 ET, and the Patriots are current favourites to win, with a -7½ point start at odds of +115, according to 5Dimes. Total lines on the odds stand at 52 points.
Betting Odds
Point Spread: Steelers +7.5/Patriots -7.5
Total Line: 52
The Pittsburgh Steelers will need to bring their a game to this match, considering they lost four out of the five games played during the 2015 preseason. They’ll need to lean heavily on their stupendous passing tactics to outdo the Patriots. Suspended running back, Le’Veon Bell won’t be playing of course, so there may be some sort of unevenness to the away team to begin with. However, quarterback Ben Roethlisberger will be in action, and following his joint first position for most passing yards of 4,952 last season, all eyes will be making sure he delivers this year as well.
The Steelers finished the 2014 season with 11 wins and five losses. They clinched the AFC North Team division last year, although this year it may look a little further out of reach considering the team’s problems in defence. Opponents in the 2014 season averaged 253.1 passing yards per game, ranking the Steelers 27th overall. This is no doubt in large part to the retirements of Troy Polamalu and Jason Worilds, and Pittsburgh now look to rookies Bud Dupree and Senquez Golson to fill their roles.
The Patriots breathed a huge sigh of relief when quarterback, Tom Brady was let off his suspension. Once his return as starting quarterback was confirmed, New England went from being three-point home favourites to the seven and a half point status they have now. Things were looking dim when the team assumed they’d have to rely on rookie, Jimmy Garoppolo in Brady’s position. However, after Brady’s stellar 2014 season, where he threw for 4,109 passing yards and 33 touchdowns with a 64.1 completion percentage, everyone will be looking for a repeat showing in 2015.
The Patriots had a beautiful 2014 season overall, claiming victories in 12 of their games and just four losses. They outranked all others in the AFC East Team, clinching the division and the homefield advantage. However, New England’s defence line has lost quite a lot of personnel, such as Vince Wilfork and Brandon Browner. If the Patriots want to succeed against Pittsburgh, they’ll need to bring a sharp offensive strength to the game. The 2015 preseason saw them win two and lose two games, an accomplishment overshadowed by the division leaders, the New York Jets.
Pittsburgh at New England Betting Trends
The Steelers are 4-1 straight up in their last 5 games overall.
Pittsburgh is 3-9 against the spread in their last 12 games against the New England.
The game total has gone over in 8 of Pittsburgh’s last 10 games against New England.
The Patriots are 13-2 straight up in their last 15 games overall.
New England is 4-2 straight up in their last 6 home games against the Steelers.
Injury Report
PITTSBURGH
Le’Veon Bell RB Out Until Week 3 (suspension)
Martavis Bryant WR Out Until Week 5 (suspension)
NEW ENGLAND
No Injuries to report.
Consensus Pick ATS
Pittsburgh: 35%
New England: 65%
Free NFL Pick
We just flat out don’t like the way the Patriots played in the preseason and it’s not like we think that the Steelers will build on last season’s record. We think that both teams will find the wins a lot more difficult to come by this season. What we do think is that the Steelers should be able to get some yardage in the air against New England’s rebuilt secondary resulting in enough points to keep this game within the seven point line.
Take the Pittsburgh Steelers +7 @ BETONLINE.AG (PUSH)
