The Pittsburgh Steelers 2018 regular season will get underway this coming Sunday with a road game against the Cleveland Browns and while the visiting team was initially considered a touchdown favorite in that contest, the betting public is now giving the home team a little better chance to win.
This past, March, CG Technology, which runs several sports books in the Las Vegas area, had the Steelers installed as 7-point road favorites over the Browns in Week 1. However, according to the Vegas Insider consensus as of Monday afternoon, the Steelers are now favored by just 4.5-points in that contest. The largest line they track includes the Steelers being favored by 5.5 points.
The Browns enter their Week 1 opener against the Steelers having won just one of their last 32 regular season games. Additionally, the Browns are just 1-6 in their last seven regular season games against the Steelers with their last win coming at home and at FirstEnergy Stadium in 2014. In their last 30 games against the Steelers, the Browns have a 4-26 record with 3 of those wins coming at home. Last season, the Steelers beat the Browns 21-18 in Cleveland in Week 1 action.
The Brown severely reshaped their team this past offseason and that includes them now having a new general manager in John Dorsey, as well as a new offensive coordinator in Todd Haley, formerly of the Steelers.
The Browns offense now includes quarterback Tyrod Taylor, previously of the Buffalo Bills, opening the regular season as the team’s starter. Cleveland also added wide receiver Jarvis Landry and running back Carlos Hyde, both of whom are former second-round draft picks, as key offseason free agent signings.
The Browns also added some new players on defense this past offseason as they signed cornerback Terrance Mitchell via free agency and acquired safety Damarious Randall via a trade. Those two players now join a unit that already included defensive end Myles Garrett, the team’s first-round pick in 2017, who registered a team-high 7 sacks during his rookie season.
The 2018 Steelers are also a somewhat reshaped team this season, and especially on defense where they added inside linebacker Jon Bostic and safety Morgan Burnett via free agency and moved safety Sean Davis from the strong to the free position.
Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin is 7-4 in regular season openers since taking over the job in 2007 with 3 of those wins coming against the Browns. On the road in regular season openers, Tomlin’s Steelers are 3-3 with 2 of those wins being against the Browns.
As for Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, he enters Sunday’s game with a career record of 22-2 against the Browns. In those 24 regular season games he has completed 436 of his 695 total pass attempts for 5,753 yards with 37 touchdowns and 18 interceptions. He’s been sacked a total of 37 times in those 24 games.
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