The matchup of Week 1 is the very first Sunday night game of the season because the Pittsburgh Steelers go to the New England Patriots. This is why we like the home side.
Nowadays, the reigning Super Bowl winner is designed to open the season in the Thursday night time Kickoff Game celebrate that title and then set it.
However, with this being that the NFL’s 100th anniversary season the league opted to put its rivalry, Packers-Bears, from the Kickoff Game.
Thus, the New England Patriots will need to wait till Sunday to observe this Tom Brady & Bill Belichick Era’s sixth Super Bowl title.
The Pittsburgh Steelers will be the competition as they look to beat on Brady on the road for the very first time. More on that shortly. It’s a good thing that Patriots aren’t at the Kickoff Game because the last time it was hosted by them , in 2017, they had been handled easily by the Kansas City Chiefs.
This technically won’t count as one, although This really is the only loss in four Kickoff Games of New England.
This is the fourth time in franchise history the Patriots open a season against the Steelers. They did in 1979, 2002 and 2015 — ???15 matches and the ???02 were when the Patriots were coming from a Super Bowl triumph.
They would win both of these games but dropped in 1979. It is the fifth season that these clubs play with New England top 4-1. The Patriots’ last loss overall (non-preseason variant ) was 15 final year, 17-10 in Pittsburgh if Brady threw an uncharacteristic late interception deep in Steelers territory.
It’s the 33rd meeting and it is tied at 16.
It’s a new era for the Steelers since they start life with no two of the greatest players at their position in the NFL at All-Pro running back star receiver Antonio Brown and Le’Veon Bell. They’re using Raiders and the Jets , respectively.
Pittsburgh is used to playing Bell James Conner demonstrated a replacement with 13 touchdowns that were joint and as he sat out all last year and about 1,500 yards from scrimmage in only 13 games. He’ll remain the bell-cow at 2019.
Technically, the Steelers are used to playing without Brown as well as he was benched for Week 17 due to his antics. Once Baltimore edged Cleveland to maintain the AFC North pittsburgh won this game 16-13 over Cincinnati but still missed the playoffs.
Ben Roethlisberger has a fine Brown replacement in JuJu Smith-Schuster, that grabbed 111 chunks for 1,426 yards (both more than Brown) and seven scores this past year. James Washington ought to be much more involved since the newest No. 2.
Defensively, the Steelers will unveil two new linebackers from pick Devin Bush and free-agent addition Mark Barron from Michigan. The Steelers have been raving about Bush, who has 4.4 40-yard speed. He could be the next Ryan Shazier of the team.
At the Majority of SBR sportsbooks, the Patriots are either tied or only marginally behind the Chiefs to win Super Bowl LIV at Miami on the first Sunday of February. And why not? Sure, Rob Gronkowski is retired (we think he returns later this year ), but Brady and Belichick are still there.
Brady will have a full season of receiver Josh Gordon, recently reinstated from suspension. However, first-round receiver N’Keal Harry begins annually on injured reserve, meaning he will miss at least half of the season.
Moreover, starting heart David Andrews, an anchor before Brady for years, will miss the season. The team probably will begin Ted Karras in your center.
Selected using the selection from the 2016 NFL Draft, Karras has played in 45 games — starting from five. There is also the chance it is Russell Bodine, who had been obtained in trade, and it has started 74 NFL matches in his profession.
Including playoffs, New England is 5-1 at Gillette Stadium all time vs Pittsburgh. When Brady was hurt that loss came from the 2008 season.
Hehas NEVER lost to them at home and’s 11-3 for example drama from the Steelers. That is surprising. The Pats had won five straight in the show before that Week 15 loss last year.
We like New England with a touchdown.
Free NFL Pick: Patriots -6 at BetOnline
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