NFL Betting: Big Ben’s Knee Moves Line…Not So Much?
READ MORE: Ben Roethlisberger, Green Bay Packers, NFL Betting, Pittsburgh Steelers
With the opening line for the Pittsburgh Steelers and Green Bay Packers game at 6, some sportsbooks have adjusted to quarterback Charlie Batch and some have not. The game is still offering lines of 6 at some books and others have already moved it down to 3.5. Bodog’s line is still off, but will most likely be in the 4ish range as well(they tend to add a point to the average). But this kind of screws us up a little bit. The Steelers showed they’re mere mortals on Monday night and, well, Brett Favre is coming off another five interception weekend. What to do? Where to buy the trend? So, many questions. This is probably one of those games we should just stay away from completely, but then what the hell else are we going to do on Sunday? This line will move. Again.
Roethlisberger Out After Knee Surgery [San Jose Mercury News]
Green Bay at Pittsburgh [Covers]
Chopping Lines: Ick
READ MORE: Baltimore Ravens, Chopping Lines, NFL Betting, Pittsburgh Steelers
9 p.m.
Baltimore Ravens (2-4)
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Pittsburgh Steelers (4-2)
This line is loaded with slop money. It’s moved four points since it first opened and right now, many bookies aren’t planning on touching it. But if it starts to come down, well, then we’ll know that the bookies are praying that Anthony Wright can find some semblance of an offense this evening and actually score points, so they can make some major bank from the overzealous Pittsburgh bettors. Even though the Ravens are missing both All-Pros Ray Lewis and Ed Reed, the total seems to be a little light at 34. But that pretty much shows a complete lack of faith in the Ravens offense, which is laughably awful. However, they still have former big house-r Jamal Lewis and if they can run a little bit, maybe they’ll score. Maybe. For that matter alone will take the Ravens and the points reluctantly because we don’t like seeing all that money being chucked at the Steelers. We’re not seeing a Ravens victory, but we’ll take 13 points and hope Todd Heap will get jealous over Antonio Gates’ and Tony Gonzales’ big days yesterday and score for us. Or we’ll just hope for Kordell to out himself before the game and inspire everybody!
PICK!: BAL +13
All Sorts of Crap About the Ravens/Steelers Match-Up
READ MORE: Baltimore Ravens, NFL Betting, Pittsburgh Steelers
· Covers goes ATS over everything from Big Ben, to Cowher. [Covers]
· Be wary of the Steeler’s run defense if you’re betting the first quarter line. They take a while to lock down. But if your’e betting the first quarter lines with 3-3 ATS, well, you have a fucking problem anyway. [Covers]
· Steelers are 10-0 at home on Monday Night? That should be enough. [ABCNews]
· One-time offensive mastermind Brian Billick is the main reason the Ravens’ offense is putrid, according to this article. We’re sure his ego is nonplussed by things like this, however. [MSNBC]
· This is still the Cleveland Browns versus the Pittsburgh Steelers. [PennLive]
· The Ravens Insider has some enlightening keys to the game for the Baltimore Ravens like “tackle” and “score some points.” [RavensInsider]
· Thirteen points with no Ray Lewis and no Ed Reed for Baltimore is still a tricky play. Rivalry game, et al. [Covers]
Another Bullshit Night in Suck City
READ MORE: ALDS, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Monday Night Football, New York Yankees, Oddjack Betting, Pittsburgh Steelers, San Diego Chargers
Well, that was great. We dont’ feel too bad about the whole Angels/Yankees game because we’ve admittedly been horrrrible with the LDS picks so far this year. Hope everybody who saw we picked the Yankees made a huge killing on our incompetence and mush. Last night’s loss dropped us to 2-8 between all four series’. And then we totally went against our own hunch on Monday Night Football and followed the hot team regardless of that nagging feeling that Schottenheimer would some how make us angry. And it happened. The Steelers came with a much better game plan and Troy Polamalu is destined to be one of the best defensive backs ever to play football. Alas, this is what happens when we overthink these things too much. Sometimes it’s just best to follow a hunch instead of getting bogged down in ridiculous statistics about the ATS numbers after bye-weeks, defensive match-ups, coaching histories on Monday nights after an SU victory of 21 points or more, weather patterns, astrological signs, and the collective SAT scores of the defensive line. In two and a half words: Eff that shit.
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Chopping Lines: Ride The Lightning
READ MORE: Chopping Lines, NFL Betting, Pittsburgh Steelers, San Diego Chargers
9 p.m.
Pittsburgh Steelers (2-1)
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San Diego Chargers (2-2)
A hot team, a riled up home crowd on Monday night, and Ladainian Tomlinson is pretty much all you need from a betting perspective. So, why are the San Diego Chargers, on the heels of two straight 40-plus point performances and the proclamations from many NFL experts that they’re playing the best football of anybody right now, only giving three points? It’s spooky and the only way to justify it is the Schottenheimer factor, who has had a history of completely imploding once his teams start to get the respect they deserve and enter the public consciousness. According to Covers, 60% of the public is taking the Steelers right now—is love for the Steelers and Willie Parker or is it the fact that the Chargers have already peaked? But, with a banged up Steelers defense, LT, and the practically uncoverable Antonio Gates this could get ugly real quick. We’ll climb on the San Diego Chargers bandwagon and bet on the blowout that most people are anticipating.
PICK!: SD -3
NFL Betting: Beware of the Under
READ MORE: NFL Betting, Pittsburgh Steelers, San Diego Chargers, Total
Tonight’s Monday Night Football slugfest between the San Diego Chargers and the Pittsburgh Steelers is showing a lofty 46 1/2 point total, but Covers’ says even though they’re both ball control offenses that bettors shouldn’t pile-on the under so quickly. Both the Chargers and the Steelers are averaging more than 21 points per game and San Diego is in the middle of an offensive cherry-pop averaging more than 40 their last two games. So, defensive bore fest or shoot-out? Who can say? However, we’re of the cracked-out mindset that both teams are out to showcase their offense and will probably come out slinging. Any guesses on the number of times Steelers’ coach Bill Cowher’s jaw juts or he implores his players to “Let’s Go!” after a play? We’re setting the total at 35.
Total Troubles: Sharps Stumped by NFL Number [Covers]
Pittsburgh Steelers at San Diego Chargers [Yahoo Sports]
Fantasy Football: Approaching the Willie Parker Saturation Point
READ MORE: Fantasy Football, Pittsburgh Steelers, Willie Parker
Every year, after week one, there is always this mad crush of owners scrambling to go after some dude that nobody had on their radar until about,oh, 10 days ago, who suddenly goes apeshit in week one and then becomes everybody’s find of the year. This year, it’s Pittsburgh Steelers’ running back Willie Parker. Even though, the Steelers have two(2!) other running backs ahead of him on the depth chart, fantasy owners are still banking on a bunch of touches every week and big play ability in what appears to be a sturdier Pittsburgh offense. But anybody else sick of reading about him all the time? Let’s give a little ink to Jacksonville Jaguars’ kicker Josh Scobee.
Fantasy Pick-Up of the Week [Yahoo Sports]
AFC Player of the Week Honors [Pittsburgh Steelers]
Chopping Lines: Hey Joe, You’re Not In Daytona Anymore
READ MORE: Chopping Lines, NFL Betting, Pittsburgh Steelers, The Venetian, Washington Redskins
(Guest selection from The Venetian)
Pittsburgh Steelers (2-0-0)
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Washington Redskins (0-2-0)
Friday, August 26th 8PM
Best Line: Pittsburgh -2.5
Sometimes you really should just leave well enough alone. Joe Gibbs is learning this the hard way in his Derail The Legacy Tour, now entering its second year. His first attempt to turn the clock back to the late eighties by locating every ex-assistant that the game had passed by was a relative failure, even with a suffocating defense. Attempting to awaken the offense, Gibbs brought in hired gun Bill Musgrave to run the show. Unfortunately, his field general will still be Patrick Ramsey. Backup Jason Campbell may be obligated to send part of his first-round pick money to Ronnie Brown and Cadillac Williams. While Clinton Portis is very good, Mr. Campbell won’t have any Vanderbilts or Mississippi States to stat-pad against.
Speaking of opponents, we hear Pittsburgh’s pretty good. Their defense didn’t seem to have much trouble with the Feeley/Frerotte combo last week against the Dolphins, so we can’t picture Coach Cowher’s chin trembling at the site of the Washington duo. Offense has been another matter as the Roethlisberger-led first team has been shut out in the first two weeks of the preseason. Expect a bit more action from the first teamers as they try to work out the kinks.
Betting on the Steelers and against the Redskins has been a pretty good idea recently and we don’t expect much to change.
Venetian PICK!: Steelers
Chopping Lines: No Owens, No Problems
READ MORE: Chopping Lines, Philadelphia Eagles, Pittsburgh Steelers
9 p.m.
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Best Line: Eagles +3.5, Steelers -3
Here’s a fun, needless fact for all those who are obsessed with “breaking down the facts” in order to grab an advantage before placing your wager on an NFL game: If you deconstruct the letters in Pittsburgh Steeler quarterback Ben Roethlisberger’s full name you cryptically uncover, “Terrel is en ego bore.” Sure, there’s a little Espanol in there and we have to throw out the letters G,H, and B, but any idiot can see that Big Ben is on the right side with his feelings about Eagles holdout, Terrell Owens. But Ben is just 23, and Ben never had to learn more than 60% of the Steelers’ playbook and Ben is about to learn about the Sophomore Jinx. And Ben’s Steelers also have their own silly holdout in wide receiver Hines Ward, but since we haven’ t seen the inside of Ward’s suburban living room on ESPN we can’t yet say that he and Owens share the same interior designer in the late Weezie Jefferson. Look for Donovan McNabb to make household names of his new no-name receiving corp. There won’t be too many times you will be able to grab 3 or more points with Eagles, so do so. Pork and broccoli rabe sandwiches all around!
PICK!: Eagles +3.5
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