Steelers-Browns Betting Preview: Three Bets For ‘Thursday Night Football’
Is it a Najee Harris night?
With Week 2 of the NFL regular season now in the books and complete, let?s try to start Week 3 off the right way with tonight?s matchup between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Cleveland Browns.
Here are three bets to make for this big ?Thursday Night Football? matchup of AFC North rivals. Let?s start with the moneyline.
Steelers moneyline (+160, DraftKings)
With all things being equal, both teams are like each other in every way. They both have premier running backs in Nick Chubb and Najee Harris. They both have decent weapons on the outside at wide receiver in Amari Cooper, Chase Claypool and Diontae Johnson. They are both well-coached and most of all, they both are mediocre at best at the quarterback position. Both Mitch Trubisky and Jacoby Brissett have looked pedestrian in the first two weeks of the season. I?m anticipating more of the same tonight for both. This game will be a clinic on ball control, time of possession and field position. In that type of scenario, I trust Mike Tomlin to steer the ship and that?s why I?m betting the Steelers to go into the Dawg Pound and get the win at +160.
UNDER 38 (-110, DraftKings)
If my assessment of the style of play in this game proves to be correct, there is only one option to bet the total and that?s the Under 38 total points at -110 on DraftKings. This game could resemble last week?s Steelers-Patriots game. There were minimal turnovers and a lot of punts. The Patriots were able to win both the time of possession and turnover battle and that was the difference in the game. On Thursday night, it should be the same formula except I?m betting on the Steelers to win this time. Regardless of who wins or loses, neither one of these will light up the scoreboard. In an offensive, quarterback-driven league, these two teams are statistically two of the worst.
Najee Harris Over 54.5 rushing yards (-115, DraftKings)
My last bet for Thursday night?s game is directly tied to a Steelers win. Harris must have his best game of this young season so far if Pittsburgh is going to have a chance to win. Harris only had 23 yards in a Week 1 upset of the Bengals. In last week?s loss to New England, he didn?t fare much better finishing with 49 yards. He?s yet to reach the end zone this season. All of this will change Thursday night. I like Harris’ anytime touchdown prop available on DraftKings at +165, but I love the value I?m getting for the Over 54.5 rushing yards prop at -115 on DraftKings instead. Harris seems to be getting healthier each week after dealing with a foot injury early on. The Steelers will make sure Najee gets fed carries all night.
