Carolina at Pittsburgh, 8:20p, NFLN (Steelers -3.5, O/U: 51.5)
Finally, we get a game on Thursday worthy of most football fans’ time.
The Panthers have enjoyed the last couple of games with Eric Reid on board to help the defense as the offense keeps rolling at home. On the road, it’s a little bit of a different story where Cam stays the same but the offense doesn’t score as much. History points to the Panthers as being a weak road team and even though they’ve lost 2 of 3 on the road (their only 2 losses), they were within 7 points in both games. In fact, Cam has been stellar as far as his completion percentage and passer rating. Cam is certainly having a career year but not only is Cam playing well, Christian McCaffrey is having a fantastic sophomore season in the NFL as well.
The Steelers have enjoyed a 4 game winning streak that started after a week 4 loss at home to division foe, Ravens. That loss put them 0-2 at home and 1-2-1 overall with the season in peril, uncertainty with the Bell situation, turmoil in the organization with AB until they met the high flying Falcons at home the next week. They haven’t looked back since. Yes Big Ben has thrown 7 picks but also has 16 touchdowns, Conner slightly outperforming Bell from last year with the same amount of starts and Brown might not have a ton of yards or a great average per catch but has 9 touchdowns. The defense has been in lockdown mode the last 4 weeks.
With the defense in lockdown mode, take the Steelers to cover in the over, Steelers 31-27.
#beatyourbookie
Necessary Roughness 