One of the great things about Week 1 of the NFL season is that there are two games on Monday night instead of the usual one. The first this year is the Pittsburgh Steelers visiting the New York Giants with a 7:15 p.m. ET kickoff. The Steelers are 5-point favourites on the NFL odds with a total of 48.

Monday Night Football Point Spread and Betting Analysis

The plan for now is that there will be no fans at Giants or Jets games at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey this season because of the coronavirus. Things could change later in the year if the virus is under better control.

In the 2004 NFL Draft, the Giants picked quarterback Philip Rivers at No. 4 overall but immediately traded him to the Chargers for Eli Manning, who went No. 1 as Manning refused to play in San Diego. Manning retired after last season, meaning no matchup against fellow 2004 first-round pick Ben Roethlisberger, who was chosen 11^th by Pittsburgh. Both QBs have two Super Bowl rings but never faced one another in that game.

The Steelers last played the Giants in Pittsburgh in Week 10 of the 2016 season, winning 24-14. Roethlisberger threw for 289 yards and two scores. The team still had Le’Veon Bell and Antonio Brown back then. Manning threw for 195, two TDs and two picks. New York still had Odell Beckham Jr. then.

The clubs have split the past eight meetings overall both straight up and against the spread.

Pittsburgh Steelers

This will be Roethlisberger’s first game in almost exactly one year as he suffered a season-ending injury in Week 2 (Sept. 15, 2019) last year vs. Seattle. Pittsburgh would finish 8-8 using young QBs Mason Rudolph and Devlin Hodges. They recently released Hodges. The team also made a huge signing over the weekend in giving All-Pro defensive tackle Cameron Heyward a four-year, $71.4 million (US) extension. Pro Football Focus ranked Heyward as the No. 2 interior defensive lineman in the NFL last year.

The Steelers don’t negotiate contracts during the regular season so this could have been Heyward’s last year with the team. Pittsburgh was one of just four clubs to not have a player opt out of this season. The Steelers are 5-2 ATS in their past seven Monday games but 2-7 ATS in their previous nine season openers.

New York Giants

This will be the NFL head coaching debut of the Giants’ Joe Judge, who was a bit of a surprise hire as a former Patriots special teams coordinator and wide receivers coach to replace the fired Pat Shurmur. Usually, teams only hire offensive or defensive coordinators as first-time head coaches. This will be the Giants’ first Monday night season opener since 2014, when they lost in Detroit and first Monday night home opener since 1995.

Then-rookie Daniel Jones had taken over for Manning as the team’s starter under centre after the first two games last season. The No. 6 overall pick in the 2019 draft out of Duke showed some promise but was also a turnover machine with 12 interceptions and 18 fumbles in 13 games. New York will largely ride running back Saquon Barkley. Starting wideout Golden Tate is iffy for the opener with a hamstring injury. Starting offensive tackle Nate Solder opted out. New York is 3-12-1 ATS in its past 16 home games.

NFL Prediction: Who Will Win Steelers vs. Giants?