NFL betting begins in Week 14 with an NFL Network game on Thursday as the Cleveland Browns host the Pittsburgh Steelers. The defending Super Bowl champs come into the game after a shocking football betting loss last week at home to the Oakland Raiders that dropped them to 6-6.
NFL betting in the playoffs may not include the Steelers after they blew yet another game. Last week they allowed a TD pass from Oakland quarterback Bruce Gradkowski to Louis Murphy with nine seconds remaining to lose 27-24 to the Raiders. It was the fourth straight NFL betting loss for the Steelers. It is the second inexplicable loss for the Steelers this season as they also fell to Kansas City in football betting.
It was the fifth time in six losses that the Steelers lost a game after leading in the fourth quarter. The Steelers looked to have done enough to escape against the Raiders but their defense couldn’t seal the deal. It was another game in which safety Troy Polamalu missed and the Steelers defense is simply not the same without their All-Pro safety. Remember it was just a month ago that the Steelers were 6-2 and in great shape. Now they are 6-6 and in danger of missing the playoffs.
The Browns are coming off another poor outing in NFL betting as they were blown out last week by San Diego. There simply is not much to like about the Browns in terms of NFL betting. They have a horrible offense and a horrible defense. They rank last in the NFL in scoring and next to last in points allowed. They haven’t even been a good team at home in football betting this season.
Pittsburgh is going to get most of the attention in this NFL betting matchup. They have won the last 12 games against the Browns straight up and they are 8-3-1 against the football betting odds. Pittsburgh has won the last eight times at Cleveland and they are 4-1-3 against the spread in those games. Four of those games went over the total with four games going under and one game landing right on the NFL betting total.
The Steelers may have lost their last four games but they are going to get most of the action in this game. People simply don’t want any part of Cleveland even when they are at home.