Washington-Steelers Betting Preview: Trends, Props, Pick For Monday Night Game

Week 13 in the NFL isn’t over just yet — far from it, actually.

The schedule reshuffle has left us with three games over the course of Monday and Tuesday night, starting late Monday afternoon in Pittsburgh where the undefeated Steelers host the Washington Football Team.

This game was supposed to be played Sunday, but the Baltimore Ravens’ COVID-19 issues ultimately forced their Week 12 game against Pittsburgh to be played last Wednesday. That moved this game to Monday to give the Steelers more time to recover.

Got it? Good. Here’s a betting preview for Washington-Pittsburgh.

Washington Football Team at (-6.5) Pittsburgh Steelers
Total: 43.5

BETTING TRENDS
If you like Washington, hopefully, you’re already locked in at a better number. The Football Team opened at some spots as 10-point underdogs, but apparently, action on WFT paired with an uninspired Steelers showing against Baltimore has moved the line quite a bit. Washington is playing good football right now, having won two in a row. WFT rolled in those two games, beating Cincinnati and Dallas by a combined 46 points. Ron Rivera’s team is 4-2 against the spread in its last six games. The AFC has been a bit of an issue for Washington, as Odds Shark points out, with WFT going 1-5-1 ATS in its last seven interconference games. Interesting to note: Rivera hasn’t been very good following a bye (3-7 ATS) in his career. Washington technically isn’t coming off a bye, but it hasn’t played since Thanksgiving (Nov. 26).

The Steelers are 11-0 and 8-3 ATS, but it certainly doesn’t feel like an overly impressive run, all things considered. Some weeks, they do look great, like when they punked the Bengals and Jaguars in back-to-back weeks by 50 combined points. Their 38-7 win over Cleveland also stands out. But then there are games like last week’s 19-14 rock fight over the Ravens or their ugly 24-19 escape in Dallas a few weeks back. While they don’t meet often, the Steelers have beaten up on Washington recently, winning and covering in their three most recent meetings by an average score of 29-11. Pittsburgh, somewhat surprisingly, has avoided letdown games following its rivalry showdowns with Baltimore. The Steelers are 3-0, covering twice, in their last three games following Ravens week.

PROPS
First-half line, total
Pittsburgh -3.5, 21.5

First-touchdown scorer
Benny Snell Jr. +600
James Conner +650
Chase Claypool +800
Antonio Gibson +800
Terry McLaurin +1000

Passing yards
Alex Smith over/under 218.5 yards
Ben Roethlisberger over/under 275.5 yards

Rushing yards
Antonio Gibson over/under 45.5 yards
Benny Snell Jr. over/under 58.5 yards

Receiving yards
Terry McClaurin over/under 68.5 yards
Diontae Johnson over/under 60.5 yards
JuJu Smith-Schuster over/under 58.5 yards
Chase Claypool over/under 53.5 yards

PICK
Over 43.5

If you can get Washington at a number better than 6.5 (in a picks pool, perhaps?), that’s probably the play. We think Washington can compete with the Steelers, and if that’s the case, WFT should be able to score, right? Pittsburgh’s defense also took a hit with the loss of Bud Dupree. Washington’s offense has shown improvement since Alex Smith took over, so as long as he can avoid turnovers, there should be opportunities to score. And while Pittsburgh’s offense has sputtered some in recent weeks and faces a tough matchup here, there’s still a lot of talent. It’s not hard to see a 24-21 final or something along those lines.