NFL Week 16 – St. Louis vs. Pittsburgh
The Pittsburgh Steelers blew an incredible opportunity to get a leg up in the AFC North last Monday but failed to show up in San Francisco.
St. Louis Rams (2-12) at Pittsburgh Steelers (10-4)
When: 1:00 PM ET, Saturday, December 24, 2011
Where: Heinz Field, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Broadcast: FOX
Rams vs. Steelers Betting Lines from betonline.com
Spread: Steelers -16
Moneyline: OFF
Over/Under: 37 points
Now with a Wild Card spot becoming more of a reality, Pittsburgh hosts the lowly St. Louis Rams and could possible do so without the services of Ben Roethlisberger who is in danger of missing the game with a high ankle sprain. We know one thing – the Rams will have Kellen Clemens under center and thus won’t provide much of a challenge to the Steelers defense. The only question left is – Can the Steelers, with Charlie Batch at QB cover the 16 points?
St. Louis is a bad team – period! Offensively and defensively, this team has looked every bit the NFL door mat that they have been all season long. Not much has gone right for St. Louis this season and now they face the prospect of travelling to Pittsburgh to take on a Steelers squad that is amped after losing in ugly fashion to the 49ers on Monday night.
St. Louis owns the 27th ranked passing game in the NFL and the 26th ranked rushing attack. They are dead last in scoring with a pathetic 11.86 points per game! Kellen Clemens played OK against Cincinnati but faces a completely different animal in the Steelers defense in Week 16. It goes without saying that Steven Jackson who is only 34 yards away from 1000 on the season is going to have to shoulder the load. But Jackson has only averaged 3.2 yards per carry during the Rams five game losing streak. In other words, expect another long day for the St. Louis offense on Saturday.
The league’s 8th ranked pass defense and worst ranked run defense will be in charge of slowing down the Pittsburgh offense. They may have limited success if Charlie Batch starts at QB for the Steelers but “limited success” is about all that Rams fans can hope for. [soliloquy id=”82219″]
The Pittsburgh Steelers still have a lot to play for but the mood around the Steelers is that they have almost resigned themselves to finishing 5th in the AFC. A win over the Rams keeps their hopes of a home playoff game intact so don’t think that Pittsburgh is going to mail this game in!
The Steelers own the 8th ranked pass game and the 17th ranked running game in the NFL. With or without Ben Roethlisberger, Saturday’s game should be the Rashard Mendenhall show. On a short week, with a banged up QB, the running game should be front and center against the league’s worst run defense.
It may not be the Steelers offense that wins the game on Saturday – it will be the stout defense that will likely be the difference. The Steelers are #1 against the pass and #6 against the run. James Harrison will return from his one game suspension undoubtedly mad and ready to terrorize. Expect this unit to get after Kellen Clemens and to create a few short fields for the offense.
Betting Prediction: The St. Louis Rams are 5-15-1 ATS in their last 21 games overall, are 0-5 SU in their last five and 1-8 ATS in their last nine games on the road. The Rams are 1-4 SU in their last five trips to Pittsburgh. The Pittsburgh Steelers are 4-1 SU in their last five games but are just 2-4 ATS in their last six. They are 9-1 SU and 7-3 ATS in their last 10 games at home and are 7-0 ATS in their last seven games following a loss.
16 points is a huge Spread but these are the lowly Rams that we are talking about. Ben Roethlisberger or not, the Steelers should be able to exploit the St. Louis defense at will while the defense could reasonably pitch a shutout in this one. The Steelers will be motivated ahead of Saturday’s game – to keep pace with the Ravens and to avenge a brutal loss on Monday night. 16 points don’t scare me at all – the Steelers should destroy St. Louis on Sunday.
Pick: Pittsburgh Steelers -16
