The start of the NFL season is just one week away, and the start of the Pittsburgh Steelers’ season will closely follow on the road against the New York Jets. Pittsburgh may be just three-point favorites in the eyes of Vegas, but a panel of NFL Network experts is nearly unanimous in favor of the Steelers.
Nine out of 10 NFL Network panelists chose the Steelers to defeat the Jets in Week 1 with Grant Gordon the lone dissenting opinion.
Daniel Jeremiah, Colleen Wolfe, Adam Rank, Marcas Grant, Bucky Brooks, Maurice Jones Drew, Nick Shook, Eric Edholm and Kevin Patra all chose the Steelers during a Week 1 games preview via NFL’s YouTube.
With Vegas’ current odds, four panelists have the Steelers covering the spread with three pushes at Steelers -3. Shook has the biggest landslide victory for the Steelers with a 21-9 prediction while Gordon has them losing 14-10.
The average score of the predictions has the Steelers winning 19.5-15.8. Brooks predicted the highest offensive output with 23 points, and two analysts had the Steelers scoring fewer than 20. Nobody is ready to call a Steelers offensive breakout quite yet despite the large changes from last season. Aaron Rodgers, DK Metcalf and company are going to have to prove it first.
Five of the panelists have the Steelers allowing two or fewer touchdowns. It seems that the belief in their defense is rather high. Like the Steelers, the Jets have plenty of changes of their own to project for Week 1. Head coach Aaron Glenn is the biggest change, but they also have QB Justin Fields, a rebuilt offensive line, and some key veteran defenders who were added to the mix since their 5-12 season last year.
Aaron Rodgers and Justin Fields will both have a chance to stick it to their former teams, but don’t expect either to air that idea publicly. Rodgers has already downplayed the significance of the game.
The expectation is that the Steelers win this Week 1 game. With a tough schedule later in the season, they need to stack wins early.
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