Steelers very early favorites in season opener on the road against the Giants

The NFL season is still four months away, but it’s not too early for oddsmakers to set the lines. Here’s why the Steelers are favored on the road against the Giants.

It’s that time of year where the excitement of the NFL Draft is slowly starting to wear off, and fans are getting eager to watch their new players in action. Unfortunately, we’re probably going to have to wait until August to see the Steeler’s new draft picks suit up.

However, it’s never too early for oddsmakers to start setting the betting lines for the upcoming season opener. Though we are still four months away from kickoff, we can get an early look into who is favored in Week 1. As of now, the Steelers are 3.5 point favorites over the Giants on their own turf, courtesy of The Action Network. While a lot can change between now and then, there are plenty of reasons to think this should be the case.

For starters, the New York Giants were an awful 4-12 football team last season. Their only wins came against the Buccaneers, Dolphins, and Redskins (they swept Washington). At one point, the Giants went on a nine-game losing streak that included losses to the Chicago Bears, Arizona Cardinals, New York Jets, and Detriot Lions.

Though Pittsburgh had a disappointing season in 2019 that saw them falling just short of the playoffs for the second straight sesaon, their offense was at the mercy of two inexperienced quarterbacks who proved to be less than worthy of leading the team.

With the return of Ben Roethlisberger, Pittsburgh stands to be a much better team in 2019. Though they lost Javon Hargrave in free agency, Stephon Tuitt is returning from injury and they were able to bring in new faces like Eric Ebron, Chris Wormley, Stefen Wisniewski, Chase Claypool, Alex Highsmith, and Anthony McFarland.

While it seems like the Steelers should wipe the floor with a less-than-talented Giants team in the season opener, this game could be a little more tricky than you think. I recently wrote an article on why Week 1 could be a trap game for Pittsburgh.

Mike Tomlin’s teams have struggled to explode out of the gate in recent years, and the Steelers have a road loss to a losing record team who is an uncommon opponent in three straight years – the most recent being a devastating loss to the Jets in New York late in the season last year.

The Steelers are more than talented enough to take care of business against the Giants, and this game may end up being a blowout in favor of Pittsburgh. However, history shows us that these road wins don’t typically come easy for the Steelers. Let’s hope they have better luck to start the season this year.