Betting line drops as Pittsburgh Steelers begin to sit starters

The Pittsburgh Steelers will likely see a large amount of second-stringers on the field during their Week 17 matchup with the Cleveland Browns.

Coming into the week, the Steelers were a strong 14.5 point favorite over the Cleveland Browns. At 0-15, there was/isn’t much worry as to whether or not the Steelers will end the Browns’ season winless.

As players like Ben Roethlisberger, Le’Veon Bell, Maurkice Pouncey and Cameron Heyward begin to sit out of practice, though, the line started to drop. Now, with what appears to be a second-string Steelers team taking the field, the betting line for Pittsburgh vs Cleveland has lowered to 10.5.

Players like Landry Jones, Stevan Ridley, B.J. Finney, L.T. Walton and Tyson Alualu will play pivotal roles in the team’s final game of the season. As the Browns are yet to prove they’re worthy of a win, saying a few backups, no matter what position they are, is going to change the outcome of this game is a bit of a stretch.

Whether or not Pittsburgh can hold the Browns to a 10-point deficit with most of their big offensive players gone is tough. Without all three of the killer B’s and a major offensive lineman, for now, the Steelers’ offense will be relying on guys who’ve gotten less than significant playing time this season.

It’s impossible to say whether or not this game is still worth betting on. Jones has proven he can win before, and against a winless Browns team, it could be pretty easy. Reaching that 10.5-point break, though, could be a difficult task for him without any big name guys outside of JuJu Smith-Schuster and Martavis Bryant.

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Pittsburgh isn’t concerned about meeting the betting line, though. This game is about sending the team into the postseason with a win and giving the team one last chance to claim homefield advantage.

Besides that, the Pittsburgh Steelers can careless about how Vegas makes out.