Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger is expected to get his first playing time of the preseason on Saturday and the Steelers are favored in NFL preseason betting against the New York Giants. NFL preseason odds favor the Steelers by 3-points on the road at New York. NFL preseason betting is largely based on the quarterback play so it is not a huge surprise to see the Steelers favored on the road. New York starting quarterback Eli Manning was bloodied on Monday night in the game against the Jets and he may not play on Saturday against the Steelers.
NFL Network: This game can be seen on the NFL Network and that means it will get more action at SBGGlobal. The Steelers have the quarterback edge in this game since Big Ben will be starting. You may remember that he will be suspended for at least the first four games of the regular season but he can play in the preseason and on Saturday night he will. The Steelers also have a battle going on for the backup job between Byron Leftwich and Dennis Dixon. It is a critical battle too since one of those two is going to be the starter for the first four games of the regular season.
Edge to Pittsburgh: If Manning doesn’t play for the Giants then the edge in this game in NFL preseason odds is with the Steelers. Roethlisberger should get some decent action and then it is Dixon and Leftwich. Those three would be far better than what the Giants have if Manning is out. Dixon played very well last week as he went 6-for-7 with 128 passing yards and a TD pass plus 31 yards rushing. It was thought that Leftwich would win the starting job over Dixon but head coach Mike Tomlin has said that Dixon is in the running now. Dixon is going to get a lot of reps in this game and in future preseason action as Tomlin wants to know if he can be the starter while Roethlisberger is out. The Steelers realize that Leftwich has not won a game as a starter since 2006. The Giants do have a quality backup in Jim Sorgi who threw two TDs last week and even third-string quarterback Rhett Bomar also threw a TD pass last week.