The Steelers are headed into the Sunday night match up at Heinz Field against San Diego as a seven point favorite. The over and under is coming in at around 43. Returning home after two consecutive late fourth quarter losses, the Steelers need to turn it around. The running game needs to pick up. In 73 rushing attempts the Bland n Gold is averaging only 3.1 yards per carry! Rashard Mendenhall is slow out of the gate. He didn’t touch the ball this past week due to issues with his practices. Mendenhall needs to get on board. He hasn’t shown us much to excited about. He’s certainly not living up to the draft hype. Big Ben’s hitting around 71% of his attempts. Hard to argue with that except for the mere 3 touchdown passes. When this offense gets in the red zone they grind to a screeching halt. Compound that with a very inconsistent Jeff Reed on field goals and we’re now only 1 and 2.
On the San Diego side, they too are having red zone troubles. The Chargers converted on 1 of 6 visits to the red zone last week. Their running game is actually more anemic that Pittsburgh’s. SD is averaging only 2.8 yards per carry. QB Philip Rivers is connecting only 59% of his passes but matches Big Ben with 3 TD passes. Both Rivers and Roethlisberger have been sacked 7 times on the season.
On paper this looks like it could be a close game. I think their return to Heinz Field and the nasty taste of two consecutive losses will stoke the Steelers up. They usually perform very well when they’re THE national game. They love the spotlight. Even though I have sworn off predictions week after week I feel compelled to say Steelers 28 Chargers 13.
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