Pittsburgh Steelers vs Tennessee Titans: Week 7 Game Analysis

Pittsburgh Steelers

Betting Record

Next game: at Baltimore

Last Game

It wasn’t so much that betting markets disrespected the Steelers last week, it was more that they’d fallen in love with Baker Mayfield and the Browns. The Steelers opened as high as 4½-point favorites but closed at kickoff as cheap as -3. To their credit, both the offense and defense independently covered the full 4½ points. Even without a +2 turnover differential in their favor, the Steelers likely would have won by more than five points.

Add to the beating, a Minkah Fitzpatrick housecall pick-six, Mayfield sacked four times and his ribs pounded until he was mercifully benched, the Browns going 1-12 on third downs — the list goes on…

The total,, which floated between 50 and 51, just couldn’t get to the over. The Steelers, for their part, hung 38 on the Browns, but in return, Cleveland went scoreless on their last half-dozen drives when a score on either of the last two would have flipped the total.

Injury Report

Whip out your Pyrrhic victory odes for the Steelers’ defense in their boat racing the Browns. Lost to season-ending ACL tear is the defensive captain and signal-caller ILB Devin Bush. The Steelers will lean heavily on Robert Spillane to fill a large gap.

On the plus side, Pittsburgh is hoping to see two previously injured players back at practice this week to rehab into Sunday’s lineup. Coach Mike Tomlin suggested RG David DeCastro and WR Diontae Johnson could return as soon as this week.

Tennessee Titans

Betting Record

Next game: at Cincinnati

Last Game

It had everything really, last game with the Titans against the Texans. There were fumbles, interceptions, a blocked field goal, highly disputable coaching decisions surrounding extra-point attempts, and a brilliant exploit by Titans’ coach Mike Vrabel. Oh, and overtime!

Eventually overcoming a 14-point deficit, the Texans managed to take the lead on an end-of-game drive, but also showcased a coaching decision by Tennessee that let the cat out of the bag as to how coy are its decisions. The Titans took a purposeful 12-man penalty in order to stop the clock, saving 40 seconds of clock for their own comeback drive. The ploy worked insofar as the Titans tied it and won in overtime.

Injury Report

Starting left tackle Taylor Lewan played his last snap of this season in the third quarter of that game when he snapped his ACL and is now on the Injured Reserve. To their benefit, the Titans have now cleared all of the 21 players who were designated on Covid-IR.

Betting on the Game

Point Spread

The Steelers opened as 1½-point favorites, and money has come for Pittsburgh as they are now -2. Some indications there could be some buy back at the +2 as early reports suggest the Steelers’ injury situation is worse than that of the Titans’. The upcoming practice week will reveal more.

Moneyline

Now that the Steelers have moved from a single-point favorite, they’ve been lined at -130 on the moneyline, with a takeback of +110 on Tennessee.

Over/Under

Early betting on the total favors the under slightly. The opening total of 52½ was whittled down to 51½, but has since been bet back to 52. Expect more moves as the week goes on and reports come in.