Monday night’s derptacular of an overtime was truly something to behold. We never had a prayer to cover that -6 in overtime but just from a strategy standpoint from both teams it was another embarrassment from paid professionals. Watching San Fran piss away their last possession and not positioning themselves for at least a tie which would maintain their two-game lead in the NFC was awful. Watching Seattle PUNT (punts are turnovers) on San Fran’s side of the field with less than two minutes left in OT…What a disgrace they got another chance to win the game, let alone come out of there with a victory.
Entertaining for all the wrong reasons, but I suppose that’s all we could ask for with tonight’s matchup as well. The Browns have all the talent in the world on offense but Freddie Kitchens.. Man. That’s as uncreative of an offense as you will ever see, and I watched Todd Haley coach Kansas City for five years. The Steelers have been absolutely rolling the last month, all thanks to their defense, who would maintain that the Minkah Fitzpatrick trade has paid off in spades.
The Steelers have gone on this winning streak the last month and put themselves back in the playoff picture, despite the play of backup QB Mason Rudolph. Rudolph has been.. not great, to say the least. Pittsburgh rates in the bottom quarter in all three offensive measures we look at; red zone conversion rate, yards per play, and 3rd down conversion rate. Rudolph is perfectly suited as a backup, he’s not going to win any games by himself. Pittsburgh’s defense is keeping them in every game and he’s asked to do just enough. They are top 10 in both red zone TD rate and YPP allowed. Pitt is also in the top half in third down conversion rate. Going against as uncreative of an offense as you’ll ever see in Cleveland, we should be in for a dog fight tonight in Cleveland.
The Browns have been one of the biggest disappointments this season. Favorites to the win the division after making big splashes in trading for OBJ, Baker setting the rookie TD record last year in just 13 games, their season thus far has seen a team that talked shit all offseason fall flat on its face. Now the Steelers were looking at a potential tank season as well and turned that around in a month, the Browns are perfectly capable of doing the same. I just don’t trust Kitchens enough to do anything about it. A team with this much talent on offense should be in the top 10 at least in YPP, not league average. To be in the bottom quarter in 3rd down conversion rate when you have a WR who runs the quickest slant in the league in OBJ.. just embarrassing, I’m not sure how you let that happen. They ran I think six played inside the 5 against Buffalo last week and were unable to punch it in. The popular Baker meme where he looks like a homeless man perfectly encapsulates their season so far.
I’m looking for this to be a defensive battle, as neither offense has proven capable to string multiple games together of decent offense. So naturally this will end 49-41. I definitely am looking at the Steelers defense to be the best unit on the field, and with a low total as well, I’m definitely liking the points here.
Picks
- Steelers +3 -110
- Pittsburgh +9/under 48 -110
- No score 1st 7:00 -110 (.5x)
Season Record
- 16-28 -9.40x
