Pittsburgh Steelers at Cincinnati Bengals NFL Odds

Written September 25, 2009 by Kyle Hunter

You could make a very strong case that both the Cincinnati Bengals and the Pittsburgh Steelers should be 2-0 heading into this rivalry game this Sunday, but instead both teams will head into the matchup at 1-1. The Bengals played poorly in their season opener and then were the victims of a last second miracle play from the Denver Broncos that defeated them. Last weekend the Bengals bounced back in impressive fashion, knocking off the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field. Pittsburgh opened the season with a nice victory over the Tennessee Titans. Last week they missed many opportunities to put the game away and ended up falling to the Chicago Bears on a last second field goal. Sign up for a new account at BetUS to take advantage of their $500 bonus offer! Simply deposit $500 or more initially and you will be betting on the NFL with $500 more than you started with!

The Cincinnati Bengals had a very long season last year, but expectations are much higher for the team this season. Carson Palmer is back and healthy and the team has a much improved defense for defensive masterminds Marvin Lewis and Mike Zimmer to work with. Chad Ocho Cinco seems to be in a much better state of mind this year so the Bengals are hoping for a big rebound from him this season. At the end of last year the Bengals made an important pickup, signing Cedric Benson who had previously been with the Bears. Benson has worked hard in the offseason and if the first two games are a good gauge of things, the Bengals running game is much more effective this season. The offense still needs to limit the turnovers, and the defense needs to get better against the pass, but the team is definitely much improved.

The Pittsburgh Steelers are the defending Super Bowl Champions so obviously the expectations are very high for them. In their week one win the Steelers lost All-Pro Safety Troy Polamalu to an injury, so the defense is slightly weaker than normal. Despite the loss of their great safety this is a defense that is very difficult to move the football against, and it is a very physical defense that will hit hard for the entire game. The offense still has Ben Roethlisberger at quarterback and Super Bowl MVP Santonio Holmes is quickly becoming his main target. The offensive line has been much maligned for their pass protection and the number of sacks they give up, but probably more concerning to the Steelers is the lack of production they have gotten on third down and short yardage situations.

The Steelers opened as 4.5 point favorites, but the looking at the NFL odds Pittsburgh is now -3.5 at most sports books. The Bengals impressive performance at Green Bay last weekend has definitely gotten the attention of the lines makers. The over/under for the game is set at 37 points. Interestingly, Pittsburgh is 7-0-1 against the spread in their last 8 games at Cincinnati. In this series the road team is 11-3-1 against the spread, so the lack of a home field advantage definitely stands out in this matchup. Look for the Steelers to focus on shutting down the running game and try to force Carson Palmer into making mistakes. The team that runs the ball better will likely pull off a hard fought victory.

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