Because the Pittsburgh Steelers and the New England Patriots see, the marquee matchup of Week 1 is the very first Sunday night game of the season. Here’s why we like the house side.
Observe that name with all the lovers these days, the reigning Super Bowl champion is supposed to open the year at the Thursday night time Kickoff Game in the home and then set it.
But with this being the 100th anniversary season the league chose to put its earliest rivalry, Packers-Bears, at the Kickoff Game of the NFL.
The New England Patriots will need to wait till Sunday to observe the first Super Bowl title of this Tom Brady & Bill Belichick Era.
The Pittsburgh Steelers will be the opponent as they look to conquer on Brady on the road for the first time. More on this shortly. Perhaps it’s a great thing that Patriots aren’t because the last time it was hosted by them , in 2017 at the Kickoff Game, the Kansas City Chiefs handled easily them.
That is New England’s only loss in four Kickoff Games, but this technically won’t count as you can.
Here is the fourth time in franchise history the Patriots open a year against the Steelers. They also did in 1979, 2002 and 2015 — when the Patriots were coming off a Super Bowl win that the ???02 and ???15 matches were.
They would win both of these games but dropped in 1979. It is the fifth straight-regular season that these clubs play with New England top 4-1. The Patriots’ last loss total (non-preseason version) was 15 last year, 17-10 at Pittsburgh when Brady threw an uncharacteristic late interception deep in Steelers territory.
It’s the 33rd all-time assembly and it is tied at 16.
As they start life without two of their best players in their position in the NFL in All-Pro running back Le’Veon Bell and star receiver Antonio 35, it’s a new era for the Steelers. They’re using the Jets and Raiders.
Pittsburgh is used to playing Bell James Conner established a more than satisfactory replacement with 13 touchdowns that were joint and since he sat out last year all and about 1,500 yards from scrimmage in only 13 games. He will continue being the bell-cow in 2019.
Technically, the Steelers are used to playing without Brown as well as he was benched for Week 17 due to his antics that are selfish. Once Baltimore edged Cleveland to maintain the AFC North, pittsburgh won that match but nevertheless missed the playoffs.
Ben Roethlisberger has a nice Brown replacement in JuJu Smith-Schuster, who caught 111 chunks for 1,426 yards (possibly greater than Brown) and seven scores this past year. James Washington should be considerably more involved as the new No. 2.
Defensively, the Steelers will unveil two new starting linebackers from addition Mark Barron and pick Devin Bush from Michigan. The Steelers are bandied around Bush, that has 4.4 40-yard rate. He is the second Ryan Shazier of the team.
At most of SBR sportsbooks, the Patriots are tied with or only slightly behind the Chiefs to win Super Bowl LIV in Miami over the first Sunday of February. And why not? Sure, Rob Gronkowski is retired (we think he returns after this season), however Brady and Belichick remain there.
Brady will have a full season of receiver Josh Gordon reinstated from suspension. First-round receiver N’Keal Harry begins annually on injured reserve, meaning he’ll miss at least half the season.
In addition, an anchor before Brady for many years, starting center David Andrews, will miss the season after being hospitalized because of blood clots in his lungs. The group likely will begin Ted Karras at centre.
Selected with the 221st choice in the 2016 NFL Draft, Karras has played 45 games — starting in five. There’s also the opportunity it is Russell Bodine, that was recently acquired in trade and has begun 74 NFL matches.
New England is currently 5-1 in Gillette Stadium all time vs Pittsburgh. When Brady was out injured, that loss came from the 2008 period.
He’s 11-3 from the Steelers for example playoffs and has NEVER lost to them at home. That’s surprising. The Pats had won five straight in the show prior to that Week 15 loss this past year.
We like New England by a touchdown.
Free NFL Pick: Patriots -6 at BetOnline
Read more here: http://socceradvantage.com/?p=25270