Pittsburgh vs Oakland Betting
Headline: Steelers Aim to Keep Raiders Winless in Week 3
The Oakland Raiders, one of the sexy picks to have a breakout season try to get off the schinde this Sunday against Pittsburgh Steelers team that got their first win of the season last week despite the absence of three key starters.
Pittsburgh Steelers (1-1) vs. Oakland Raiders (0-2)
Date/Time: Sunday, September 23, 2012, 4:15 PM ET
Venue: O. co Coliseum
Broadcast: CBS
Steelers vs. Raiders Betting Lines from betonline.com
Spread: Steelers -4
Moneyline: Steelers -210: Raiders +180
Over/Under: 44 1/2 points
This week Oakland absolutely needs a win to keep pace with the San Diego Chargers against a Pittsburgh team that has played well enough in both of their games to be undefeated on the season.
The Pittsburgh Steelers lost an emotional game in Week 1 to the Denver Broncos – understandable. Last week however, they dismantled the high flying Jets in reasonably easy fashion. Ben Roethlisberger has been good so far for Pittsburgh although he can’t quite escape the all-too-familiar QB sack.
For Ben to remain healthy, the O-line is going to have to do a better job – sound familiar?
Ben has four TDs in two games, one interception and he has been sacked eight times. Mike Wallace, Antonio Brown and Heath Miller make up one of the best receiving trios in the game – they will certainly be a handful for the Raiders sketchy secondary.
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On defense, the Steelers have been giving up yards but they were without Troy Polamalu and James Harrison last week. While there is no early word on their impending return, the Steelers have shown that without them they may bend but won’t break!
The Oakland Raiders have slid down many Power Rankings and rightfully so! It appears that teams do not fear Carson Palmer in the least and are simply keying on Darren McFadden who has averaged just 2.1 yards per carry so far this season. Fantasy owners can than his 15 catches – McFadden has otherwise been a total bust so far!
Without a running game they can rely on to move the chains, the passing game has been featured with average at best results. [soliloquy id=”82219″]
Carson Palmer has completed just 59.6% of his passes with just two total touchdowns and one interception. If McFadden isn’t getting it done and Palmer isn’t getting it done – who is? Exactly!
Betting Prediction
Oakland is 1-4-1 against the spread in their last six home games and 1-4 against the spread in their last five AFC games. Pittsburgh is 2-5 against the spread against a team with a losing record, 1-4 against the spread in their last five games against AFC teams, and 0-5 against the spread in their last five road games.
The underdog has covered in six of the last eight meetings of these two.
The Oakland Raiders appear to be in a totally different league than the Pittsburgh Steelers and not in a good way!
Oakland has stalled on offense so far and they haven’t even faced a top D unit yet – Pittsburgh is that top D unit. This game won`t be close – Darren McFadden will find no room and Carson Palmer will be…. Carson Palmer.
This may be one of the easier games of the weekend to call!
Pick: Pittsburgh Steelers -4
