New England at Pittsburgh (11/14/2010)

STEELERS

After Missing the playoffs last season, the Pittsburgh Steelers look like a team on a mission and the mission looks to be to get back to the Superbowl. After missing the first four games of the season Ben Roethlisberger is finally back in form as he has completed 63.3 percent of his passes for 917 yards with six touchdowns and three interceptions. Rashard Mendenhall has taken over the ground attack gaining 702 yards and scoring seven touchdowns taking the ball both inside and outside. Hines Ward is still the leader of the receiving corps with 30 catches and four touchdowns and Pittsburgh continues to integrate speedy Mike Wallace who has 507 yards and five touchdowns. Lawrence Timmons is a contender for defensive MVP with 78 tackles and three sacks and James Harrison is one of the most feared players in the NFL with 55 tackles and seven sacks. LaMarr Woodley also has five and a half sacks. The Steelers defense has been a handful this season as Ike Taylor, Timmons, and Troy Polamalu all have two interceptions each. As a team the Pittsburgh offense is averaging 21.8 points and 299.6 yards per game while the defense is allowing 15.4 points and 298.2 yards per game.

The New England Patriots are looking to bounce back from a tough loss in Cleveland where the Browns looked like very much the more physical and better team. Tom Brady knows at this point in his career his time is limited and he's looking to make the most of it. For the season Brady has completed 63.6 percent of his passes for 1,826 yards with 14 touchdowns and four interceptions. After using a multitude of Running Backs, the patriots are using BenJarvus Green-Ellis and Danny Woodhead who have a combined eight touchdowns between them. Wes Welker leads the Patriots in receiving with 44 catches for 355 yards and three touchdowns while Aaron Hernandez has 34 catches and two touchdowns. Jerrod Mayo is having a monster year with 96 tackles, twice as many as second most on the team Pat Chung who has 48. Mike Wright has four sacks and Chung, Devin McCourty, and Rob Ninkovich have two interceptions each. New England is averaging 27.4 points and 324.4 yards while the defense allows 23.5 points and 386.5 yards per game. 

Pittsburgh 2-5-1 against the spread in their last eight games against a team with a winning record, 1-4-1 against the spread in their last six as a home favorite, and and 19-7 against the spread in their last 23 as a home favorite between three and a half and 10 points. New England is 3-1-1 against the spread in their last five overall, 1-4 against the spread following a straight up loss, and 3-1-2 against the spread in their last six games as a road underdog. The underdog has covered eight of the last 10 in this series. 

This should be a tough battle as both teams play well on both sides of the ball but both also are experts at using he rules to their advantage and turning them into points. With the total set at 45, the over seems almost too easy and the direction that I am headed with my pick here.

OVER