Steelers vs. Cardinals Point Spread: NFL Predictions, Week 14 Odds
Steelers-Cardinals should be the only game that features a pair of rookie starting quarterbacks in Week 14. That’s if Pittsburgh coach Mike Tomlin sticks with Devlin “Duck” Hodges. The undrafted free agent wasn’t even expected to make the team this year but was a record-setting quarterback at the FCS level in college at Samford. He won that division’s level of the Heisman Trophy, the Walter Payton Award, in 2018.
Arizona’s rookie is of course No. 1 overall pick Kyler Murray, the 2018 Heisman Trophy winner at Oklahoma. Murray has had a very promising first season and likely will finish second in the NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year voting to Oakland Raiders tailback Josh Jacobs. It’s also the first NFL season for head coach Kliff Kingsbury, formerly of Texas Tech.
NFL Point Spread and Betting Analysis
Pittsburgh has won the past three in the series, last in 2015. That streak started with a 27-23 victory in Super Bowl XLIII in Tampa, Fla. Very memorable game, with Ben Roethlisberger hitting Santonio Holmes on the winning 6-yard touchdown pass with 35 seconds left. Steelers linebacker James Harrison had a SB-record 100-yard interception return for a score to close the first half.
The home team is 4-1 against the spread in the past five regular-season meetings.
Pittsburgh Steelers
Pittsburgh started the season 0-3 but is now 7-5 and holds the AFC’s second Wild-Card spot – the Wild Card is the Steelers’ only route to the post-season because Baltimore (10-2) is going to win the AFC North and in fact could clinch it this week. Tomlin benched struggling quarterback Mason Rudolph in Week 12 and opted to start Hodges this past Sunday. He led a 20-13 comeback win over Cleveland so almost surely will get the start for this one.
Hodges was 14-for-21 for 212 yards with a touchdown and interception, outplaying Cleveland No. 1 overall pick Baker Mayfield. Hodges did so without No. 1 running back James Conner (shoulder) and top receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster (knee). Still too early in the week to know if they will play Sunday. The Steelers are 8-2 ATS in their past 10.
Arizona Cardinals
Arizona came out of its bye week and lost a fifth in a row Sunday, 34-7 at home to the Rams. Murray had a bit of a rough outing, completing 19 of 34 for 163 yards with a pick that was returned for a touchdown, although he did rush for a score. The Cards managed just 198 yards of offence (lot of that in garbage time) and were gashed by the Rams for 549. Puzzling result considering the Rams were on a short week and coming off a blowout loss to Baltimore, while Arizona was as healthy as it had been all season and well-rested. The Cardinals are 5-2-1 ATS in their past eight overall.
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