AFC Playoff Betting -- Why the Pittsburgh Steelers Can Win

  • In Charles Jay
  • Sun, Jan 22nd, 2017 12:03:40 pm
  • By Charles Jay - Exclusive to OSGA


The Pittsburgh Steelers will carry a nine-game winning streak into Sunday's AFC Championship game against the New England Patriots.

The Pittsburgh Steelers have elements in their offense that are awfully hard to stop, and there exists some question as to whether the New England Patriots' defense has what it takes to keep them under control. If Le'Veon Bell and Antonio Brown come up big, and Ben Roethlisberger can spread the ball around to a few other receivers, they'll have an arsenal that can trade blows with the Pats all day. This AFC Championship game will kick off at 6:40 PM ET at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough. And BetAnySports customers, who can enjoy reduced juice on the AFC playoff betting odds, can remain involved even after the opening kickoff as they access the state-of-the-art software from Live Betting Ultra.

The numbers are definitely there for the "triplets." Bell had to sit out a three-game disciplinary suspension to start the season, but his combined yardage (rushing-receiving) was 1884, and he has risen to the occasion in the playoffs, rushing for 167 and 170 yards against the Dolphins and Chiefs, respectively. He is a patient runner, and this may be the best Steeler offensive line in recent years opening holes for him. And he will wait for those holes to open. The Steelers have won nine straight games, and Bell has carried the ball at least 20 times in each of those games. It would be fair to say that there is a some upside here too; Bell has caught only seven passes for 18 yards over his last three games, so it is possible to work him even more into the passing game.

Pittsburgh Steelers Championship playoff previewIt can be argued that no one in the New England secondary - not even Super Bowl hero Malcolm Butler - can deal with Brown on a man-to-man basis. So how will Bill Belichick and his staff handle it? Unquestionably they are going to have to afford extra attention to Brown, and that would shift some of the burden to other receivers, including, we presume, slot guy Eli Rogers. But there is no getting around the fact that Brown is going to be the go-to guy no matter what; he's been targeted more than twice as many times as any other Pittsburgh wide receiver.

In the AFC playoff betting odds posted at BetAnySports, the Steelers are catching some points:

New England Patriots -6
Pittsburgh Steleers +6

Over 50.5 points -110
Under 50.5 points -110

The defense has benefited from an injection of youth, and they were really helped when Bud Dupree was able to join the lineup in Week 11. It seems as if Keith Butler, the defensive coordinator who replaced his mentor Dick LeBeau, was hesitant to blitz earlier in the season, but stepped up in that regard, and in a big way. In the first seven games, they had eight sacks, but then 36 more in their last eleven contests. It's a tall task to get pressure on Tom Brady, who has a very quick release, but when he does face it he has a tendency to make longer throws, which really isn't what he's done best. There was only one blitz on him in the earlier meeting, a 27-16 New England victory, but that will change. Or at least we think it will.

One other thing that is worth considering is that the Patriots' defensive numbers might be a bit "inflated," if you will. They have faced some of the weakest offenses in the NFL, and the best quarterbacks they have gone up against are Russell Wilson and Carson Palmer. Whatever the Steelers did in the previous meeting doesn't mean a whole lot, because Roethlisberger had to sit out that game with a torn meniscus and Landry Jones, a mediocre backup, was pressed into service. So we will see what the New England stop unit can do when it is challenged by the best offensive unit , not to mention the most proficient playmakers it has faced all season.

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