Sunday Night Football Betting Picks: Pittsburgh at Los Angeles
The Steelers and Chargers are both off to relatively disappointing starts to their 2019 seasons. The new-look Steelers without Brown and Bell has not been great, with the Steelers losing Ben Roethlisberger early in the season to a bad elbow injury. The Chargers put together a really strong 2018 season and expectations for 2019 began quite lofty. A few injuries and poor play with a missed kick or two sprinkled in resulted in a 2-3 start with Los Angeles looking up at both the Chiefs and the Raiders. Yes, the Raiders. With the loss of Mason Rudolph, the Chargers are instilled as sizable favorites across online sports betting sites. Will the Chargers run over the Steelers at home?
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Sunday Night Football Betting Picks — Pittsburgh Steelers +6 at Los Angeles Chargers, O/U 42.5
The line for this contest opened with the Chargers -4.5 at home versus the Steelers. On DraftKings Sportsbook the line rests at six points with 6.5 the number in a couple of other spots. Anybody else wishes they struck at the opening line?
The Steelers opened their season suffering a beatdown at the hands of the New England Patriots. Since then, the loss of Ben Roethlisberger has meant more of the same for Pittsburgh except for a lone victory against the Bengals. The Bengals bungled all over the field that night with the Pittsburgh front line tearing the Bengals apart. Even with the losing record, observers can see why the Steelers were still considered contenders before the season began. The offensive line and defensive line are really good. So, what’s the issue?
Life after Antonio Brown and Le’Veon Bell has not been easy for the Steel Crew. With Ben Roethlisberger injured in Week 2, the Steelers’ offense has struggled to keep Pittsburgh in games. The Steelers are averaging only 5.2 yards per play and find themselves in the bottom ten in most offensive categories. Mason Rudolph seemed to be making strides but suffered a very scary looking concussion in Week 5. He will not play this week so the reins are now turned over to Devlin Hodges.
Pretty cool name. Hodges finished 7 for 9 in relief of Mason Rudolph as the Steelers succumbed to an overtime field goal to Baltimore. That said, Hodges will now be tasked to start a game across the country as a pretty large underdog. Yikes.
For their part, the Chargers are struggling as well. Coming off of a bad home loss to the Denver Broncos, the Chargers continue to shoot themselves in the foot and give up points. The Chargers barely escaped Week 1 with a victory over the Colts after giving up a big lead late. Their second victory was against the Miami Dolphins whom at this point might not win a game this season. Even that game was close at halftime. The Chargers defense has not gotten enough pressure this season and is yielding a 73.3% completion rate to opposing quarterbacks.
So, where are the positives? Health. The Chargers are nearly at full strength with Melvin Gordon being worked back in and Hunter Henry likely to appear tonight for the home team. Last season, in a matchup in Pittsburgh, the Chargers offense made an incredible comeback to defeat the Steelers 33-30 with Keenan Allen seeming uncoverable. The noted possession receiver saw 19 targets from Phillip Rivers — converting 14 for a huge game. The Steelers’ pressure defense did not seem to have an answer for Allen — often covering the wideout with linebackers that had no chance. If the defense loses Allen while trying to account for all of the healthy Chargers’ weapons, this game will get ugly very quickly.
Sunday Night Football Betting Pick: With the lack of an experienced starting quarterback and a long trip across the country, I just cannot fathom a scenario where the Steelers can keep this game close. The Steelers needed plenty of gadgetry to topple the woeful Bengals but that was with Mason Rudolph at the helm. The Steelers line-play is excellent but they will struggle to score points.
The Chargers need a win very badly to stay in the AFC mix and should handle the Steelers with a healthy squad. This game could get ugly. I am going to take the Chargers -6 points at -109.
Sunday Night Football Betting Picks — Player Props
Keenan Allen Over/Under 6.5 Receptions (use our DraftKings promo code to get these odds)
Throughout the first three weeks of the season, the Chargers’ offense flowed through Keenan Allen and Austin Ekeler. Allen saw 10, 15, and 17 targets in the absence of other Chargers’ weapons. Well, the Chargers are getting a bit healthier. Melvin Gordon is getting worked back in the offense. Mike Williams is back and saw 13 targets last week. Hunter Henry is coming back. So, Keenan Allen…
Allen saw a really tough matchup with one of the top slot corners in the league — Chris Harris — tracking his every move in Week 5. That said, in a matchup with the Steelers last season, the Chargers exposed the “Steel Curtain” in the slot with Allen receiving 19 targets and converting 14 for a huge game. If you watched that football game, you would recall Keenan Allen being open nearly all game with Mike Tomlin offering very little in the way of a solution. Allen will expose the Steelers’ corners again and should comfortably exceed this reception total.
Give me the over at -106.
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Image Credit: USA Today Sports Images