NFL Betting – Pittsburgh Steelers at New York Giants

Written by:
Phil Simon
Published on:
Sep/14/2020

They didn’t have a losing record last season, but it sure felt like it for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Not making the playoffs has been a rarity for the Steelers in the Mike Tomlin era and they missed out in 2019 for a second straight season. There is optimism in the Steel City, though, now that Ben Roethlisberger is back behind center. Big Ben played just two games before an elbow injury put him on the shelf. The Steelers went 8-8 a season ago. Joe Judge makes his coaching debut for the New York Giants when the teams collide in the first game of Monday Night Football’s doubleheader with the Steelers a 6-point road favorite on the current line.  Bookmaker.eu is offering a generous welcome bonus (max bonus $1000)


Pittsburgh Steelers at New York Giants
Date and Time: Monday, September 14, 2020, 7:10 p.m. ET
Location: MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford, NJ
Opening NFL Odds: Steelers -3.5, O/U 48
Steelers at Giants TV Coverage: ESPN

Odds Analysis

With Roethlisberger returning to a team that went 8-6 SU and 7-5-2 ATS without him, the Steelers are getting a lot of action forcing the line to balloon to its current Pittsburgh -6. The Giants moved onto their fifth coach in six seasons with the hiring of Judge, who has zero head coaching experience. He’s another guy who benefitted from his association with the New England Patriots spending the last eight seasons with them winning a few Super Bowls along the way. He’ll find out how the other half lives taking over a team that went 4-12 SU and 7-9 ATS last year. Action on the under moved the total down from it’s opening 48 to the current number of 45. The Steelers had a top-5 defense last year playing under the closing total in seven of their eight road games.

Pittsburgh Steelers

The big news is the return of Big Ben immediately making the Steelers a threat in the AFC. They lost both of his starts last season, but his absence was highlighted by some shoddy quarterback play from Mason Rudolph and Devlin Hodges. The Steelers were in contention for a playoff spot last season until they lost their final three games scoring exactly 10 points in each contest.

It didn’t help that leading rusher James Conner and receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster missed a bunch of games. There’s a good chance the offense returns to its 2018 form with the horses back in the lineup. Roethlisberger said there will be nerves stepping onto the field for the first time in almost a year. The butterflies likely won last long for the 16-year veteran with 56,545 career passing yards and 363 touchdowns.

Defensively the Steelers were rock solid last year and they should be equally strong with most of the group back for another go. With T.J. Watt getting 14.5 sacks and Bud Dupree adding 11.5, the Steelers led the NFL with 58 sacks. They also topped the league with 18 fumble recoveries and 38 takeaways while allowing 304.1 yards and just 18.9 points per game to rank fifth in both categories.

New York Giants

After winning just four games last season and going 12-36 in the last three years the Giants moved on to another coach. Judge has some quality young talent to work with on both sides of the football, however there might not be enough to compete against the better teams in the NFL. Following the retirement of Eli Manning, it’s all Daniel Jones now. Jones set a franchise rookie record with 24 touchdown passes while throwing for 3,027 yards in 12 starts a season ago.

Jones has to take better care of the football, though. He tossed 12 interceptions and lost 11 fumbles accounting for 23 of the team’s 33 giveaways. As a result the Giants were tied for the worst turnover margin in the NFL at minus-17. There is a lot of pressure on the offensive line to keep Jones upright and open holes for Saqon Barkley. Three new starters dot the line against a ferocious Steelers front seven.

The Giants made some moves to upgrade their porous defense signing free agents Blake Martinez, James Bradberry and Logan Ryan. They ranked 25th allowing over 377 yards per game and only two teams surrendered more than their 28.2 points per game. A lot of new pieces with no preseason could be disturbing for the Giants.

Bet Steelers at Giants at BookMaker.eu

The Giants can’t get much worse defensively so there is reason to be excited. Unfortunately, the Steelers are going to be much better offensively. That’s not a good sign for the G-Men. Pittsburgh will be a test for Baltimore in the AFC North and this is one game they can’t let get away. Big Ben may be nervous at the outset, but once he settles in the Steelers should roll. It will be tough for the Giants against a strong Steelers D making Pittsburgh minus the points a good bet.

NFL Score Prediction: Steelers 31, Giants 20

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- Phil Simon, Gambling911.com

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