Seattle Seahawks at Pittsburgh Steelers Betting Advice

After an exciting week one of the NFL, week two looks to kick off with a bang and one interesting matchup this week features the Seattle Seahawks (1-0) traveling to Heinz Field to take on the Pittsburgh Steelers (0-1). Neither of these two teams looked particularly dominating in week one; however, with expectations high for both teams this season, they will both be looking to right the ship in week two. Kickoff for this one is scheduled for 1:00 pm ET.
For the Seattle Seahawks, they were able to secure a victory last week against the lowly Cincinnati Bengals, but it certainly didn’t look pretty.  They snuck by at home 21-20, but now must travel across the country to face what should be a tougher team in the Pittsburgh Steelers.

I say that the Steelers should be a tougher team for the Seahawks only because they sure didn’t play like one last week.  In an embarrassing opener, the Steelers lost 33-3 to the reigning Super Bowl champion New England Patriots.  Still, with an offense that should be capable of putting up points, Pittsburgh will look to bounce back this week.

The point spread for this one currently sits with the Pittsburgh Steelers being 3.5-point favorites playing at home.  The over/under on total points scored is set at 47. 

By The Numbers

With only one week of games played thus far, there is not enough data to truly get a depiction of where these two teams sit offensively or defensively. Currently, the Seahawks rank 19th in the NFL in terms of scoring at 21 points per game while the Steelers sit dead last at 3 points per game.  Again, the expectation is that neither of these trends will last (particularly Pittsburgh) and their may be some regression to the mean this week.

Defensively, after one game, the Seahawks rank 12th in terms of scoring defense has allowed 20 points.  For the Steelers, they fall to 28th after allowing 33 points in the opener.

Seahawks Hope To Find More Consistency

Despite it being a bit of an ugly win last week, the Seahawks were managed to get the job done.  On the offensive side, though, it certainly did not look pretty.  Russell Wilson went 14 for 20 for only 195 yards.  He did have 2 touchdowns and 0 interceptions, though, making for a relatively successful day.  The running game was a bit stagnant, though.  Chris Carson led the team with 46 yards and a touchdown on 15 carries.  Aside from that, there wasn’t much else to be had.  Rashaad Penny rushed 6 times for 18 yards and Wilson rushed 4 times for just 8 yards.

Defensively, Quinton Jefferson had a good start to the season.  He had 6 tackles including 2 sacks in the opener. The defense might be hurting a bit on Sunday, though.  Tedric Thompson (safety), Poona Ford (defensive tackle) and Neiko Thorpe (cornerback) are all listed as doubtful.  Furthermore, offseason acquisition Ziggy Ansah is still questionable as he returns from shoulder surgery.

Pittsburgh Only Can Go Up From Here

To say that last Sunday’s opener against the Patriots was ugly would be quite an understatement.   Their offense could just not get anything going. Ben Roethlisberger went 27 for 47 for 276 yards, 0 touchdowns and an interception.  JuJu Smith-Schuster led the way in the air with 6 receptions and 78 yards, but no one did much of anything beyond that.  There was some concern of Schuster’s availability in week 2 after hurting his toe in last week’s game, but it appears he should be good to go for this one.

On the ground, James Conner has to be better.  As a standout last year in Le’Veon Bell’s absence, Conner got off to a slow start last week.  He rushed 10 times for just a measly 21 yards.  He did add 4 catches for 44 yards, but the Steelers will need more than that to trip up the Seahawks.

Taking The Steelers At Home

Neither of these two teams played well in week one but I like Pittsburgh’s chances to bounce back a little bit better this week.  Last week, against a weak Bengals’ offense, the Seahawks allowed an astounding 418 yards through the air to Andy Dalton.  With Ben Roethlisberger and the weapons he has, the Seahawks’ secondary could be in for a long day.  If they lay another dud, Pittsburgh fans should start panicking, but for my money, I think the Steelers bounce back at home and cover the 3.5 points in this one.