Thursday, February 9th, 2012
The Oakland Raiders will travel to face the defending Super Bowl champion Pittsburgh Steelers in an NFL game on Sunday afternoon. Kick off time in Pittsburgh is scheduled for 1PM Eastern Time with regional television coverage provided by CBS. The LVSC NFL odds makers have set the opening point spread in this game and the Pittsburgh Steelers were opened as a 14 point favorite with the over under coming in at 37. The early money from the NFL betting public has come in on the home favorite, as the Pittsburgh Steelers are currently a 15-point favorite. The total has seen no movement in the early betting as the total is still lined at 37. NFL money line gamblers can make a play on the favored Pittsburgh Steelers at –1000 with the road underdog Oakland Raiders returning +700 to win without the points on their side.
Oakland is looking to rebound off a lack luster 24-7 road loss to the Dallas Cowboys on Thanksgiving. The Cowboys torched the Raiders defense for 195 rushing yards and 299 yards through the air in victory. The Raiders are losers of 4 of their past 5 games. Raiders quarterback Bruce Gradkowski in relief of JaMarcus Russell has barely completed half of his passes in his two starts with three touchdown passes and 1 interception. The Raiders signal caller did lead the team to victory at home to Cincinnati in his first start of the season. Running back Justin Fargas got 12 carries against the Cowboys with 63 rushing yards for 5.3 yards per rush average. The Raiders have had problems stopping the run this season and the team allows 161 yards on the ground this season ranking 31st in the league. The Pittsburgh Steelers have fallen to 6-5 on the season after losing three straight games. With Ben Roethlisberger sidelined with a concussion and backup Charlie Batch out it was third string Dennis Dixon leading the team last week. The Steelers rushed for 153 yards and Dixon was only 12 of 26 for 145 yards against Baltimore. The Steelers pass defense was torched by the Ravens offense for 261 yards through the air. Reports are that Ben Roethlisberger has been listed as probable for this game. With the Raiders unable to stop the run one can expect either Roethlisberger or Dixon to hand the ball off a lot to running back Rashard Mendenhall. The second year running back is averaging 5.0 yards a carry on the season with 4 rushing touchdowns. The ball carrier had 95 rushing yards last week on 24 carries against a stout Ravens defense. That was an impressive performance considering that the Ravens stacked the line with Dennis Dixon under center. The Steelers are #1 in the NFL in rush defense allowing just 74.8 yards per game and 3.5 yards per rush attempt.
For the Latest NFL Odds Please Visit our NFL Odds Page
NFL Trend: Oakland Raiders are 4-1 to the under in their 5 road games this season.
The Wagerline consensus has 60.7% of the NFL bettors on Pittsburgh –15
The Wagerline consensus has 61.3% of the NFL bettors playing over 37
Tags: nfl betting odds, oakland raiders versus pittsburgh steelers cbs tv nfl pro football betting odds pick preview
