Cleveland Browns vs. Pittsburgh Steelers
Time: 1 PM ET, Sept 7, 2014
Spread: PIT -7
Total: 41.5

Betting Odds courtesy of Bovada

While the Johnny Manziel era will start this Sunday, the initial excitement may only come through jersey sales and spot appearances initially. Manziel drew mixed, but mostly bad, reviews for his preseason performance.

And the Browns are still a good measure away from any sort of competitiveness. Given that, it’s reasonable to expect Johnny Football to be eventually thrown full-on into the fire, but in the meantime Browns fans will have to entertain their hopes with Brian Hoyer at quarterback.

Hoyer has thrown 59.4 percent of his 192 career passes for completion, but has just seven career TDs to five career interceptions. The hope is that Manziel is eventually far better than this, of course, but the Texas A&M fireball has a lot of work to do before he’s ready to assume the helm. His mechanics remain shaky and questionable, but his intangibles rank almost high enough to outweigh it. Manziel was the kind of high risk pick the Browns needed to keep the fanbase interested, though, and if he ultimately ends up being a bust, at least it came with the notion that it was a gamble of sorts.

The Browns are going to reel badly from the loss of Josh Gordon due to his violation of the league’s substance abuse terms. His 1,646 yards will not be easily replaced. Ben Tate is due to breakout as a running back, and the offensive line is very strong for the Browns. But the DL still needs a lot of upgrading and this team is clearly on its way to another sub-.500 season.

The Browns will open the 2014 season on the road in Pittsburgh where NFL oddsmakers find the Steelers to be 7-point favorites. The Steelers had a strong close to the 2014 season, winning six of its final eight games. The team is given 12/1 odds to win the AFC by Bovada NFL oddsmakers. Ben Roethisberger needs to be healthy this season for the Steelers, and he can’t find himself pressing so much this season.

While his five 300-plus yard passing games last season were impressive, the Steelers often found themselves behind which required Big Ben to air it out. Le’Veon Bell is a very good running back and if the Steelers can do a better job of keeping games close, they’ll be able to better utilize his talents. Heath Miller remains one of the best receiving tight ends in the league, and the Steelers still can be a very formidable team with that trio of stars performing at its highest level.

The Steelers averaged just 3.5 yards per carry last season, ranking 27th in the NFL. Dri Archer was taken in the NFL draft and he should immediately help remedy the running game. While the Steelers may still be a notch lower than the true Superbowl contenders in the NFL, the team has the offensive talent to take the league by surprise. It wouldn’t be much of a surprise, though, given this team’s sustained competitiveness and veteran leadership.