Steelers vs. Titans: Thursday Night Football Preview & Analysis
Transcript
00:00 [MUSIC]
00:02 We break down Thursday night football.
00:05 The Steelers, Donnie, currently a two and a half point home favorite.
00:10 To start off week number nine tonight, the over under,
00:13 it's a prime time game in the Steel City.
00:17 36 and a half, is that over under number.
00:21 Donnie, the reason that I say both of these teams would rather be the underdog
00:26 than the favorite side is strictly based on the numbers.
00:29 Either through the span of this franchise under this specific head coach or
00:35 just even this year.
00:36 Donnie, the Titans are four and two against the number as an underdog this season.
00:41 Three of those four covers, an outright victory.
00:44 The Steelers are four and three straight up.
00:46 All four of those wins coming outright as an underdog.
00:51 Both teams have been favored only once so far this NFL campaign, Donnie.
00:56 And both not only did not cover as the favorite,
00:59 they lost outright by a ton.
01:02 Neither team good as a favorite.
01:05 So Donnie, with all of that taken into account, a small two and
01:09 a half point spread under the key number of three in a minimal.
01:13 Over under at 36 and a half points.
01:16 What's the thought entering Thursday night football?
01:19 >> Yeah, I'm fighting the urge in this game because typically it's a home team or
01:22 no team on Thursday nights.
01:23 But I actually think the better football team overall is the Tennessee Titans
01:27 coming into this game with a rookie quarterback who just started his first
01:30 game in the NFL last week and now goes on the road on a short week to get ready for
01:34 the Steelers.
01:35 But that's the way I'm leaning here.
01:36 And quite frankly, we think about the Steelers.
01:39 What do they typically have done well in the past?
01:41 And since Mike Tomlin's been there, Bill Cowher,
01:43 let's play good defense and run the football.
01:45 They can't play good defense and they don't run the football now.
01:47 So it's up to Kenny Pickett here, which a little bit later in the show,
01:50 I'll go over with some of my thoughts on Kenny Pickett.
01:52 Even though he is banged up, he's off of the injury sheet tonight and
01:55 is going to start.
01:56 I think he does have some advantages, but let's take a look at Tennessee and
01:59 what they did last week.
02:00 You bring in a rookie quarterback off of by week,
02:02 which is always a great landing spot.
02:04 You go up against the Atlanta Falcons, you have a decent defense.
02:06 But I thought what worked last week is using the arm of Will Levis,
02:11 an absolute howitzer who's able to buy time in the pocket being an athlete there
02:15 and throwing the ball deep, which DeAndre Hopkins certainly appreciated.
02:18 But if we're just getting down to the Pittsburgh Steelers defense here,
02:21 4.5 yards per carry they give up.
02:24 Through the air, 7.1 yards per attempt.
02:26 That's not a Pittsburgh Steelers defense that we're used to.
02:29 They have a very good pass rush, but something is amiss in that secondary.
02:32 And also tonight, a couple starters down,
02:34 which include Mika Fitzpatrick, who won't be there.
02:36 It's hard to go against my biases of betting rookie quarterbacks, number one.
02:41 Rookie quarterbacks on the road in their first career start, and
02:44 rookie quarterbacks on a Thursday night game on the road,
02:47 which means they have a limited week to prepare when they just had been.
02:50 Two weeks to prepare him as a starter.
02:53 Now you're condensed down to about 72 hours.
02:55 But still looking at the football game,
02:57 I think more advantages are for Tennessee than Pittsburgh in my eyes.
03:00 [MUSIC]