Denver Broncos at Pittsburgh Steelers

Time: NOON

Spread: PIT -7.5

Total: 40.5

Odds c/o 5dimes

The Pittsburgh Steelers started its season with a 26-16 victory over the New York Giants on the road. In Week 2, the Steelers return to Pittsburgh to host the visiting Denver Broncos. Pittsburgh is 7.5-point favorites in the game, with the over/under set at 40.5 points according to NFL oddsmakers at 5dimes. It will air at Noon (EST) on CBS.

PIT

For a team that typically does it with defense, the Steelers had plenty of “O” to draw the “Oh!” in its week 1 win. Ben Roethlisberger put together a strong game, throwing 21 of 32 for 229 yards and three touchdowns. His passer rating of 117.8 speaks for itself. If that was not enough, the work of Benny Snell Jr. certainly helped the Steelers seal it. Snell rushed 19 times for 13 yards, averaging nearly six yards-per-carry. It offsets the fact that the rest of the team had 11 rushes for just 28 yards. The Steelers also failed to score a rushing touchdown, turning to its receiving core for the scores.

Among that core, JuJu Smith-Schuster led in yardage with 69, tied the team lead for catches (6) with Dionte Johnson, and Schuster scored two of the three TDs (with the other coming from James Washington). While Johnson and Schuster caught 12 of the 21 receptions, there were nine Steelers with at least one catch, and the only who failed to catch at least one (while being targeted) was Snell. The Steelers will hope for another offensive outpouring like last week while counting on its typically stringent defense to contain a tough Broncos’ offense.

DEN

The Denver Broncos started its season with a tough 14-16 loss to the much-improved Tennessee Titans. While Tennessee had its hopes pinned on Marcus Mariota for a few years, it has taken the necessary steps forward with Ryan Tannehill, who hurt Denver for 249 yards and two touchdowns. Needless to say, it does not get much easier with Big Ben and the Steelers this week.

Drew Lock threw 22 of 33 for 216 yards and a touchdown. His passer rating was a solid 95.0. Melvin Gordon III gave him some help out of the backfield, rushing 15 times for 78 yards and a touchdown. Philip Lindsay struggled some, rushing seven times but averaging just 3.4 yards-per-carry. While Gordon scored one rushing TD, they are going to need more offensive juice from Lindsay, and Lock was wholly unsuccessful as well. Wide receiver Noah Fanta had the biggest game of the WRs, catching a team-high five passes for a team-high 81 yards, and he also had the only other touchdown outside of Gordon’s rush. The Broncos are going to have to step up the offensive production, simply because the defense already did its job in holding the Titans to just 16 points, but it was not enough with Denver failing at so many key aspects of its usually much-stronger offense.