San Diego Chargers at Pittsburgh Steelers Preview and Pick

NFL Football Betting Preview
San Diego Chargers (2-1) at Pittsburgh Steelers (1-2)
Sunday October 4th, 8:15PM Eastern

Betus.com betting line – Pittsburgh -7, 43 O/U

The Pittsburgh Steelers have not had the start to defend last year’s Super Bowl Championship season that they may have anticipated standing at 1-2 on the season. The Steelers have fallen to the likes of Chicago and Cincinnati by 6 points total. While the losses have not been by any type of overwhelming margins, you can bet last week’s loss to the Bengals, a team that won just 4 games last year, had many Steelers fans scratching their heads in concern. San Diego is heavily favored to contend in the AFC this season receiving the 2nd most favored odds to win the AFC Title at +400. The Chargers lost a heartbreaker to Baltimore in week 2, but could still establish themselves as big threats in the conference if they can pull out the tough road win in Pittsburgh this Sunday night.

One problem the Steelers have faced this season is on defense. Sure, the defense production is not a big concern considering they are only allowing 262 yards of total offense. However, the defense has only forced 2 turnovers. The Steelers forced 29 as a team last season and definitely need to pick up the pace to get back on track. If the defense could force a few more turnovers, perhaps the Steelers offense can find the end zone more consistently. The Steelers have produced 346 yards on average in their first 3 games, but that has only resulted into 15.6 points per game. Running back Willie Parker has just 159 yards on the season and the Steelers are among the bottom 5 rushing teams in the league averaging just 81 yards per game. Ben Roethlisberger has thrown the ball very well completing 71% with 860 yards. However Big Ben has still been subject to the interceptions which may not be any big surprise, throwing 4 picks to just 3 touchdowns. If Big Ben can limit the interceptions, he is throwing good enough to post some big numbers.

On the other side of the field, we have a quarterback who is doing similar damage. Phillip Rivers ranks 2nd in passing yards through the first 3 weeks of the season behind only Peyton Manning with 947 yards. However Rivers like Big Ben has only thrown 3 touchdowns on the season. The offense has been very effective through the air, but perhaps is looking to get a few more touchdowns. Still, the Chargers are averaging pretty decent 24 points per game. WR Vincent Jackson has been strong with 16 catches equaling 317 yards while WR Antonio Gates has 225 yards as well. Those numbers are pretty impressive in only 3 games. However, as impressive as they passing numbers appears is similar to how ugly the rushing numbers stack up. The Chargers have yet to have a single back touch the century mark on the season much less a game. LaDainian Tomlinson has not played in 2 games, but may be a go this Sunday. Darren Sproles has struggled to make big plays as well totaling 90 yards in 3 games. The Chargers are in desperate need for one of those backs to make a difference which should allow the Chargers to be more affective and find the end zone a bit more.

The Pittsburgh defense ruled the NFL possibly like no other team has in the last decade last year. The Steelers this season are still playing well, but perhaps not as dominant. The Steelers have just 5 sacks on the season after totaling 51 in 2008. LB Lamar Woodley has really struggled with just 3 tackles on the season. Woodley posted 11.5 sacks last season along with 60 tackles last season and Pittsburgh needs him to step up. The Chargers defense has played fairly well this season, but has yet to play any truly explosive offenses. The Chargers have yet to face an offense that ranked in the half of the league last year and a lot of their success this season will ride on the defense. The secondary gave up a ton of big plays last year and it will be interesting to see how well they hold up against Roethlisberger.

Betting Trends -

The Chargers have reached the over total in 6 of their last 8 games, but have only beaten the spread in 2 of their last 8 games on the road. Pittsburgh is only 1-4 ATS in their last 5 games, but they too have reached the over in the majority of recent games reaching the over total in 4 of the last 6. The Steelers are 5-2 ATS in their last 7 games at home against San Diego and an impressive 9-3 ATS in their last 12 games total against the Chargers.

Pick – Returning home will play big factor in helping the Steelers get back on track, Considering taking the Steelers -7 and perhaps a play on the over 43.