Steelers favored vs. Cardinals after opening the week as a pick’em
By Tommy Jaggi
The Pittsburgh Steelers are now favored after beginning the week as a ‘pick’em’ against the Arizona Cardinals. Here’s why that’s the case.
To the surprise of many, the 7-5 Steelers opened Week 14 as simply a pick-em against the 3-8-1 Arizona Cardinals, courtesy of The Action Network. While the line has since shifted in Pittsburgh’s favor, the odds are still a bit concerning.
The Cardinals are a team led by a rookie quarterback. They have had a weak offensive line all season, and their defense is currently ranked 31st in points per game (29.2) and 32nd in yards allowed per game (426.3), according to Team Rankings.
Despite all of these factors they have going against them, Vegas still chose to give them even odds with the Steelers.
This could be attributed to a few different reasons. For starters, the Steelers are playing on the west coast against an uncommon opponent – an area where they are known to have some difficulty.
Pittsburgh has also been missing several big names in JuJu Smith-Schuster and James Conner. Both players have been absent for the past two weeks, and their availability for Sunday’s game in Arizona is still very much in the air.
Perhaps the biggest reason why the Steelers opened as a pick’em, however, has to do with who is leading the charge at quarterback. Devlin Hodges was not the Steelers first, second, or even third choice at quarterback to begin the sesaon. Those spots belonged to Ben Roethlisberger, Mason Rudolph, and Josh Dobbs, respectively.
However, with Big Ben on IR, Rudolph struggling, and Dobbs traded, Mike Tomlin made the call to force the undrafted rookie into action. Fortunately, things panned out for Pittsburgh, as Hodges outperformed Baker Mayfield in just his second NFL start.
Still, Vegas obviously has a hard time believing the hype. While Hodges is technically 2-0 to start his career, both of his starts were accompanied by dominant defensive performances. Hodges himself has just 2 touchdowns and 2 interceptions over two starts and is averaging just 172 passing yards per game.
As of now, the lines have shifted since the start of the week, as the Steelers are -3 heading into Arizona. While teams are typically given 3 points for being at home, it’s not the -6.5 or -7 that Steelers fans were hoping for this week.
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The Browns were favored over the Steelers last week, but Pittsburgh was still able to take care of business. Let’s hope they can do the same this week and advance to 8-5 on the season.