NFL Bargain Bets: Week 4
September 27th 2008
by Old Man Winner

Baltimore Ravens (+6) at Pittsburgh Steelers    

Pittsburgh is favored by 6 points. Wait . . . . Pittsburgh is favored by 6? This must be a typo. Something doesn't make sense here. Wasn't it Pittsburgh's offense that only scored 6 points in the entire game last week? Wasn't it Pittsburgh's offense that had a whopping 33 yards rushing last week? Wasn't it Pittsburgh's offensive line that gave up 9 sacks last week? And, if that wasn't enough, Willie Parker is out this week and Big Ben will likely play pretty banged up with issues to his wrist and shoulder of his throwing arm. Put all this together and I just don't see Pittsburgh being able to move the ball against the #1 defense in the NFL.

I realize that Baltimore is no juggernaut, their passing offense is pathetic, ranking an embarrassing 30th in the league. However, Pittsburgh's passing attack is only one slot higher at 29th. OK, so as we all know, these are two hard core running teams. Currently Baltimore ranks 2nd in the league in rushing and Pittsburgh is 18th. Bottom line is that neither of these teams could be considered an "unstoppable force", but they are facing what could be considered "immovable objects" with both of their defensive squads giving up under 70 yards rushing per game.

So, how does this thing play out? I say just rewind the VCR (or replay the TiVO) on last week's 15-6 Pitt loss to Philly. Same game, different uniforms!

They are playing on the slow turf of Pittsburgh with two awesome defenses. Whoever wins the turnover battle wins the game. This should be a baseball score and regardless of who wins, I just can't see either squad covering a 6 point spread.