NFL betting kicks off the 2009 regular season with the defending Super Bowl Champion Pittsburgh Steelers hosting the Tennessee Titans on Thursday in an NBC televised game. It is a football betting matchup of the top teams in the AFC as last year the Titans finished the regular season at 13-3 while Pittsburgh was 12-4.
NFL betting last year had the Titans winning the final regular season contest between the two by a score of 31-14 but that was in Tennessee. The Titans had over 300 yards in that football betting matchup. That NFL betting win clinched home field advantage for the Titans although it didn’t matter as Tennessee lost at home in the playoffs to Baltimore. Tennessee is coming off a 3-2 preseason while Pittsburgh went 3-1 in preseason NFL betting.
Tennessee is 26-23 all-time on opening NFL betting weekend while Pittsburgh is 38-32 record in season openers, including a league-high six consecutive wins as NFL betting indicates. The teams have met four times in NFL betting season openers, (1970, 1980, 1992, 2005), with the Steelers having won the last three.
Tennessee is definitely ready for the NFL betting season considering they played five preseason games. “I’m glad the season is only a week away now,” defensive end Kyle Vanden Bosch said. “This team is ready.”
Tennessee returns almost everyone from last year’s team but they will miss Albert Haynesworth.
The Steelers want to start strong in NFL betting as the defending Super Bowl champs and send a message. “It’s very important to come out and start fast,” said linebacker James Farrior. “We want to get off to a good start. We had a great training camp. It’s time to put the hard work we put into training camp out there on the field.” Defensive end Brett Keisel had similar thoughts. “The first game sets the tempo for the entire year,” he said, “We want to start strong as much as we want to finish strong. We know we are starting off the year with the game to kick off the whole season. Everybody is going to be watching. It’s going to be a very emotional game. We are excited to get it here.”
NFL betting has the Titans going 8-0 ATS in their last 8 games in September. The Titans are 16-5 against the football betting number in their last 21 games as an underdog.
The Steelers are 6-1 against the football betting number in their last 7 vs. AFC. The Steelers are 7-2 against the NFL betting number in their last 9 games overall.