The Steelers may be traveling to the west coast, but that doesn’t mean NFL experts aren’t in their corner. Here’s why Pittsburgh is favored.
The Steelers are a 7-5 football team who have won 6 of their last 7 matchups after a poor start to the sesaon. But even with all of their success as of late, things weren’t looking up at the beginning of the week.
Pittsburgh opened the week as a pick-em, courtesy of The Action Network, but the line has since shifted a bit in the Steelers favor. Though Mike Tomlin’s team is playing on the road against an uncommon opponent, it was still shocking to see that Pittsburgh was a pick’em against a 3-8-1 football team this week.
Though Vegas odds don’t exactly speak volumes for the Steelers chances of success this week, NFL experts are in Pittsburgh’s corner. According to NFL Pick Watch, 83 percent of NFL experts, writers, and radio personalities are picking the Steelers to take care of business in Arizona and advance to 8-5 on the season.
While most would agree that the Steelers are a better football team, there is a lot of cause for concern and several reasons why this matchup could be closer than we would like it to be. Pittsburgh has been banged up on offense all year. Though Maurkice Pouncey is returning from suspension, James Conner has already been ruled out this week, and JuJu Smith-Schuster’s availability for Sunday seems very much in doubt.
James Washington has been fantastic for the Steelers as of late, and Benny Snell is starting to prove his worth, but there aren’t a lot of play-makers to go around on this offense.
Defensively, there are very few questions. While Pittsburgh may have trouble containing dynamic quarterback, Kyler Murray, they are also typically very successful when facing rookie quarterbacks.
Through 12 games, Arizona’s offensive line is ranked 28th in run blocking and 26th in pass blocking, according to Football Outsiders. T.J. Watt and Bud Dupree could be in for yet another big performance on Sunday.
Pittsburgh’s season hinges on undrafted quarterback Devlin Hodges. If he can keep pace with the Cardinals, the Steelers defense should be able to take care of the rest.