Editor’s note: NESN.com’s Mike Cole, Ricky Doyle and Andre Khatchaturian deliver their NFL picks every Thursday of the season, and here’s who they like in the Pittsburgh Steelers-Baltimore Ravens Week 9 game, with the line from OddsShark.
Pittsburgh Steelers (4-3) at (-2.5) Baltimore Ravens (3-4), Sunday, 1 p.m.
Mike: Steelers. Doesn’t matter much who’s under center for Pittsburgh here, because the Ravens aren’t very good. The Ravens’ three wins this season came against mostly bad teams and by a combined 13 points. Even without Ben Roethlisberger and on the road, the Steelers just have more talent.
Ricky: Steelers. Maybe it’s injuries to his supporting cast. Maybe it’s a slow return from tearing his ACL last season. Or maybe it’s just natural regression at age 31. Either way, Joe Flacco has been awful this season. Plus, the Ravens are 2-11-1 against the spread in their last 14 home games, so I’m not putting too much stock into the home-field advantage here despite it being a divisional game.
Andre: Steelers. How bad is Flacco? Let’s put it this way: The Ravens have won the turnover battle 8-5 over the last four games, but they’ve lost every game. Flacco wasn’t even able to throw a touchdown against the extremely shaky Jets secondary, so the Ravens don’t really have the quarterback advantage even with Landry Jones under center. I like the Steelers to regroup after two straight losses (and three straight against Baltimore) and steal an ugly game on the road.
Thumbnail photo via Logan Bowles/USA TODAY Sports Images