Steelers Frustrate Will Levis Among ‘Thursday Night Football’ Bets To Make
Week 9 of the NFL regular season is now set to kick off, so let’s examine three bets to make for the Thursday night matchup between the Tennessee Titans and the Pittsburgh Steelers.
We’ll start with the point spread — all odds available on DraftKings.
Pittsburgh Steelers -3 (-102)
I’ve never been more intrigued by a game that I know is going to be slow-paced and boring. I’m intrigued by both sides of the fence. The Steelers seem to be having an identity crisis offensively. They have yet to establish a consistent run game and starting quarterback Kenny Pickett still is young and experiencing growing pains. Compound that with the fact Pickett also is now experiencing physical pain after injuring his ribs in a loss to the Jaguars last week and may or may not suit up for this game. Meanwhile, if the Titans were a stock, they would be trending upward offensively. Rookie QB Will Levis broke onto the scene in a major way last week making his first career start. Levis tossed four touchdowns and no interceptions in a win against the Atlanta Falcons. The Steelers’ defense is better than the Falcons’ defense and with it being a short week, I would rather take my chances betting against Levis to do it again. I’ll lay the points with Mike Tomlin and Pittsburgh.
Under 36.5 total points (-108)
This game has the feel of a quintessential low and slow type of Thursday night game we’ve become accustomed to watching. Primetime unders are 61% in the last four seasons and 71% this season alone through Week 8. Both of these teams in particular have elite head coaches and in Pittsburgh’s case, an elite defense to boot. Although the Titans’ defense isn’t as dominant as the Steelers’ unit, Tennessee has an advantage defensively in this game simply because of the injury questions surrounding Pickett. If Pickett can’t play, then Mitch Trubisky gets the start, and if Pickett does start, he won’t be 100%. Either way, it will be advantage Titans defensively.
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Will Levis to throw an interception (-150)
This is just an extension of continuing to fade Levis and his hot start for the Titans. I’ve already laid out why I’m backing the Steelers and taking the under in the game. Now the icing on the cake is directly taking a prop bet on Levis to struggle. The Steelers have one of the best pass rushes in the league, and now they have some game tape available on the rookie. Couple that with Levis having to adjust to a short week of preparation, plus his first road start on the big primetime stage, I’m confident that Steelers defensive star T.J. Watt and his crew will make the rookie uncomfortable all night.