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Jeremy Perry
Raiders vs. Steelers Point Spread: NFL Week 2 Odds, Prediction
The Raiders pulled of an incredible overtime win in their season opener against the Baltimore Ravens while the Steelers had a similar fate as they knocked off the Buffalo Bills by a score of 23-16. Can Las Vegas continue to prove their doubters wrong and start their regular season 2-0 or will the Steelers shut them down with dominating defense like they did with Buffalo?
NFL Point Spread and Betting Analysis
The Raiders are 5-2 against Pittsburgh dating back to 2006, with the past three of those wins being decided by three points or less. In those seven games, the Raiders are also 6-1 ATS. Las Vegas is also 7-3 in their past ten games played in the regular season when they are on the road.
The Steelers are 7-1 overall when playing at home in their last eight. The over has cashed in three of the last four regular season games for Pittsburgh.
Las Vegas Raiders
The Raiders proved that they improved vastly in the offseason with their overtime win over the Ravens on Monday night. Derek Carr also solidified himself as the starting quarterback for a little bit longer with 435 passing yards and two touchdowns. Darren Waller was clearly his favorite target throughout the contest as well, hauling in 10 passes for 105 receiving yards and a touchdown.
Offense won’t be easy to come by against a Pittsburgh defense that did a phenomenal job against Josh Allen and the Bills last week. They will benefit from the combination of Josh Jacobs and Kenyan Drake, though, as the two seemed to be a perfect combination in their opening game of the season.
The Raiders defense deserves some credit as they held Lamar Jackson in check on Monday and pressured him all night. They still gave up plenty of points but this did look like an improved unit.
Pittsburgh Steelers
The Steelers didn’t look that great on offense in their opener but the defense couldn’t have performed any better. Ben Roethlisberger showed his age a bit by only throwing for 188 yards and a touchdown. Their run game was also non-existent, which is something they had hoped to fix from last season. Najee Harris and the rest of the running back room took 21 carries and turned them into 74 total yards on the ground. Las Vegas proved that they aren’t going to back away from a challenge, so Pittsburgh is going to have to be ready on both ends.
The good news for the Steelers is that the Raiders defense is still a question mark, so running the ball should be easier in this spot than it was last week in Buffalo. If that’s the case, the offense should be able to score a lot more and give the defense much more breathing room.
LV
PIT