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Pittsburgh Steelers at Cincinnati Bengals Week 7 NFL Picks

Written October 16, 2008 by Alex Gross

There are many sports handicappers that provide free NFL predictions . Some will provide one free pick and charge for any other pick. For a limited time, Unlocked Sports will provide all of its weekly NFL picks for free and eventually make its premium picks accessible only for members while keeping many free picks available for anyone to read. If you do online sports betting and need some advice when making a bet or are looking for an extra pick to add to a parlay or teaser ticket, we recommend that you take a look at our site. The following is one of our premium predictions for week 7.

Pittsburgh Steelers @ Cincinnati Bengals

Pick: Pittsburgh -9.5

The Steelers are a solid 4-1 and are coming off their bye week. Big Ben had an extra week to rest his shoulder. One of Pittsburgh’s main concerns is that Big Ben has already been sacked 18 times this season for a total loss of 111 yards. The Bengals have a total of only 4 sacks this season, meaning that Big Ben will not have a difficult time finding an open man. Roethlisberger has been very efficient against mediocre defenses. He has played 3 teams that have allowed on average more than 300 yards per game and has performed fantastically against them. In those 3 games he threw a total of 6 touchdowns to 1 interception and had a rating of over 100 in each game. The Bengals rank 16th in the league in yards allowed, averaging 324.2 yards per game. All in all, expect the Steelers to put up a lot of points.

The main reason I like Pittsburgh to cover is because Ryan Fitzpatrick will get the start rather than Carson Palmer. This change of personnel completely alters Cincinnati’s ability to move the ball. The Bengals are 0-2 against the spread this season with Fitzpatrick as starting quarterback. They have averaged only 13 points per game in his two starts. So far he has thrown 1 touchdown to 3 interceptions. He is no match for the Steelers defense as they rank 2nd both yards and points allowed. If Cincinnati is only able to average 13 points with Fitzpatrick as QB against the Jets and the Browns than it is only fair to assume that they will most likely put up less points against a well rested Steelers’ defense.

There are some key stats that favour the Steelers in this one. The Steelers are 6-0-1 against the spread in their last 7 visits to Cincinnati. Furthermore they are 4-1 ATS against the Bengals in their last 5 games overall.

A 9.5 point spread may be somewhat unattractive but under these circumstances there is definitely a clear advantage in betting on the favorite. In situations like this, it is important to note that the team that covers the spread has won the game 87% of the time so far this season. Looking at it another way, if we assume that Pittsburgh is guaranteed to win this game then there is only a 13% probability that they won’t cover the 9.5 points. I like those numbers and I definitely have complete confidence in the Steelers in this one.

Prediction: Pittsburgh 29 Cincinnati 13

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