On this Thursday the 10th of September the 2015-16 NFL Regular Season begins with Thursday Night NFL as the Steelers of Pittsburgh play at the Patriots of New England with the game being played at the Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts with kick-off at 8:30 PM ET and seen on NBC TV.
The opening betting odds at SBG for those that Bet on NFL football has the Patriots favored at -7 -105 with the Over/under at 52 and -300 on the Money Line, while the underdog Steelers are at +7 -115 and +250 on Money Line. With ‘Deflate Gate’ behind, it’s time for the Patriots and QB T. Brady to play some football. Brady now seeks to lead the Patriots to Super Bowl 50, as they begin the season at home against the Steelers and QB B. Roethlisberger.
For the Steelers of Pittsburgh fans, you’re QB Roethlisberger and his teammates are seeking a win over the Pats in this opening game of the 2015-16 seasons. That’s a task the will not be that easy, however the Steelers do have offensive weaponry to silence the Patriots at home.
In this game the Steelers offense will be without RB L. Bell for suspension reasons, and that can cause a problem with the running game for Pittsburgh, but if that’s the case they will trend to their passing game against the Patriots. That as the anticipate their QB Roethlisberger will produce some large numbers passing since the Patriots secondary is weakened and the front seven defense will be without star V. Wilfork.
In 2014 Big Ben as they call QB Roethlisberger passed for 4,954 yards for the season and average 309 yards each game and he tied Saints QB Brees in that category leading the NFL. Their WR A. Brown had 13 TD’s with 130 receptions for 1,699 yards on receptions. With WR M. Bryant out for suspension, the Steelers hope M. Wheaton and S. Coates the rookie to fill the gap.
Defensively the Steelers may struggle as in 2014 the allowed opponents to 254 yards passing and that ranked 27th in the NFL, coupled with the retirement of defensive players T. Polamalu and J. Worilds, and replaced by rookies B. Dupree and S. Golson. The Steelers in their ultimate 4 road games are 3-1 and 3-1 against the spread.
For the Patriots fans of New England, your QB T. Brady now with ‘Deflate Gate’ passed, he will assume his regular starting QB role who no after that ruling went from -3 favorites to -7 in this 2015 Season Opening game on Thursday night.
So now you fans can watch your QB Brady try to tear apart the weak Steelers defense that in 2014 ranked 26th for sacks with 32, and were 25th on interceptions with 12, and in passing yardage allowed at 254 yards and ranked 25th in the NFL.
In 2014 the Patriots QB Brady had a 64.2 completion rate, while passing for some 4,110 yards with 33 TD’s for the season. The TE Gronkowski lead the Pats with 12 TD’s on 1,125 reception yards, and receivers LaFell and Edelman combined for 11 TD’s and individually each had 954 yards in receptions or more.
With the offensive problems the Patriots face for this 1st game, it’s apparent the will look to their passing game to move forward. RB L. Blount is out with a 1 game suspension, and their leading RB J. Gray was dropped from the roster, thus the running game, if they have one will depend on RB B. Bolden and T. Cadet to carry the ball.
The Patriots on defense could also struggle as in the offseason they lost some key defense players, and their replacements to date are unproven, so if the Pats are to win they more than likely will do it with the offense schemes. The Patriots in their ultimate 7 games at home have won 6 and lost 1 and are 5 and 2 against the spread in those game.
The prediction is that the Patriots of New England will win the game but not cover the -7 spread, with the final score Patriots 28 and Steelers 25.