Patriots vs. Steelers Point Spread: NFL Week 14 Odds, Prediction
The New England Patriots and Pittsburgh Steelers are two of the AFC’s marquee franchises, but the Patriots are one of the NFL’s worst teams this season and frankly don’t belong on primetime as they visit Steel Town on Thursday to kick off Week 14.
Pittsburgh opened as a 6-point favourite to win on the NFL odds.
NFL Point Spread and Betting Analysis
New England is the most unwatchable offensive team in the NFL right now, and it’s not particularly close (well, Jets are close). You can’t flex teams out of a Thursday night game so there was never any shot of the Pats being bounced out of this spot. The good news is that NFL fans won’t be subjected to New England on Monday night in Week 15 vs. Kansas City any longer because we have had our first-ever MNF flex – who would have thought just a few years ago that would not be wanted by the league’s TV partners? – as Pats-Chiefs was dumped to Sunday that week and replaced by the much better Eagles at Seahawks. New England is still scheduled for Sunday night on Christmas Eve in Denver in Week 16.
Pittsburgh was pretty unwatchable earlier in the season and hasn’t gotten much better since Coach Mike Tomlin fired offensive coordinator Matt Canada (“Blame Canada!”) has used a combination of sorts at the position. Tomlin has never finished with a losing record as the Steelers head coach and has a good chance to avoid that this year as well at 7-5 and right in the AFC wild card chase.
These franchises had some great regular season and playoff games when it was Hall of Fame QBs facing off in Tom Brady and Ben Roethlisberger. We are a LONG ways from that. Including the postseason, the Patriots lead all-time 18-16. They played last season also in Pittsburgh in Week 2 and the Pats won 17-14 with Mac Jones and Mitchell Trubisky at QB. It will be Trubisky vs. Bailey Zappe here and the total of 30 is the lowest in the NFL since 2005.
New England Patriots
No such thing as a lock in sports, but this writer would bet an enormous amount that Bill Belichick is NOT the New England Patriots’ coach next season. Belichick is a defensive genius and that unit in the past three games has allowed 6, 7 and 0 points. The Patriots have lost each because their offence is truly abhorrent. New England, which has lost five in a row overall, is the first team to lose three straight games despite allowing 10 or fewer points since the 1938 Chicago Cardinals. It was 6-0 on Sunday in the rain against the Chargers. Former first-round pick Mac Jones was benched probably for good ahead of that one barring injury and Bailey Zappe was 13-for-25 for 141 yards and five sacks taken. Zappe apparently will start again. No. 1 running back Rhamondre Stevenson hurt his ankle and will miss multiple games. Stevenson leads the Patriots with 619 rushing yards on 156 carries (3.96 average) and also is the team’s leading receiver (38 catches). Ezekiel Elliott should take over as the featured back.
Pittsburgh Steelers
Pittsburgh fired offensive coordinator Matt Canada following a 13-10 loss in Cleveland but not much has changed. The Steelers won the next week in Cincinnati but scored just 16 points and then Sunday lost 24-10 at home to Arizona, one of the NFL’s worst defensive and overall teams. Yes, starting QB Kenny Pickett was hurt late in the first half vs. the Cards and replaced by Mitchell Trubisky, but Trubisky is a veteran. He will start Thursday as Pickett needs surgery for a high-ankle sprain, so it most likely will be up to the former No. 2 overall pick Trubisky as to whether the Steelers can earn a wild card spot. Thursday will mark the seventh time in 26 games Trubisky has played because of an injury to Pickett. Pittsburgh’s usually excellent defence failed to produce a turnover Sunday and let all three Arizona drives that reached the red zone end with a touchdown.
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