Cleveland Browns at Pittsburgh Steelers, Heinz Field, Pittsburgh, PA
Sunday, October 17, 2010, 1:00 pm EST, TV: CBS
Opening Line: Steelers -13
Current Line: Steelers -13.5
Opening Total: 40
Current Total: 37.5
Money Line: Steelers -800 / Browns +600
Two quarterbacks will be making their first starts of the season on Sunday when the Pittsburgh Steelers (3-1) host the Cleveland Browns (1-4) in an AFC North divisional matchup. Fortunately for the heavily favored Steelers (-13.5 on the current nfl odds page), they will be getting back a two-time Super Bowl winner in Ben Roethlisberger while the Browns are expected to start rookie Colt McCoy due to injuries to Jake Delhomme and Seneca Wallace.
Roethlisberger was forced to sit out Pittsburgh’s first four games due to a suspension for violating the NFL’s personal conduct policy, but he should be more than ready to get on the field and take over for Charlie Batch. The Steelers rank last in the league in passing offense at 136 yards per game and could definitely use a boost from Roetlisberger after Batch and Dennis Dixon simply managed the offense en route to three wins in the first three games. They suffered their first loss of the season two weeks ago at home to Baltimore 17-14 and will try to bounce back against a Cleveland team that has played them in at least one meeting each of the previous four years.
In fact, the Browns are 4-1 against the spread in the last five meetings with Pittsburgh despite losing four times straight-up during that stretch. They had covered two games in a row this season too until losing 20-10 at home to Atlanta last week. Cleveland led the Falcons 10-6 in the third quarter but saw Roddy White score on a 45-yard touchdown pass from Matt Ryan before Kroy Biermann iced the victory with a 31-yard interception return for the game’s final touchdown.
McCoy has not started a game since he played last season with Texas in the BCS championship game against Alabama. He left that game in the first quarter with a shoulder injury and will try to follow the lead of Wallace, who limited his mistakes before spraining his ankle. Wallace led the Browns to a 23-20 upset of Cincinnati two weeks ago by not trying to do too much and handing off to running back Peyton Hillis, who rushed for 102 yards and scored a touchdown against the Bengals. Hillis is nursing a thigh injury but is expected to play, which will help take some pressure off McCoy.
Another key player who could help McCoy is Joshua Cribbs, who ran the wildcat offense against the Steelers last year in a 13-6 upset victory. Cribbs carried the ball eight times for 87 yards to help overcome a 6-of-19 passing performance from former quarterback Brady Quinn.
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