The Pittsburgh Steelers will return to the friendly confines of Acrisure Stadium next Sunday when they take on the Arizona Cardinals. And they’ll be favorites by a fairly large margin. According to the consensus line from VSIN, the Steelers are 6.5 points favorites over the Cardinals for next week’s matchup. The over/under is set at 40.
Pittsburgh is coming off a critical AFC North victory, righting the wrongs suffered in Week 11 to the Cleveland Browns and their backup quarterback. Today, the Steelers beat the Cincinnati Bengals 16-10 in one of their best offensive showings of the year. On paper, 16 points looks like same-old-Steelers, but the offense consistently moved the ball and finished with 421 yards, their top output since 2018.
QB Kenny Pickett bounced back from one of the worst games of his career, going 24-for-33 for 278 yards. The yardage was the second-most of his career and the most in any win. Pittsburgh’s running game continued to churn out yards, rushing for 153 yards as Najee Harris nearly hit 100 yards (at one point, he eclipsed the mark before losing a few) and rushed for a score. TE Pat Freiermuth had the best game of his three-year NFL career, a nine-catch, 120-yard performance.
Defensively, the Steelers shut down the Bengals’ running game, holding Cincinnati to just 25 yards. Backup QB Jake Browning was not terrible, but Pittsburgh sacked him four times and picked him off once, a crucial interception by S Trenton Thompson, the first of his career. Trailing at the half, Pittsburgh outscored Cincinnati 13-3 over the final two frames. With the win, they move to 7-4 on the year and back into second place in the AFC North following the Cleveland Browns’ loss to the Denver Broncos.
The Arizona Cardinals fell to 2-10 on the season after an ugly Sunday loss to the Los Angele Rams, 37-14. In his second start back from a 2022 torn ACL, QB Kyler Murray struggled to move the ball and was sacked four times. Arizona’s running game also didn’t do much with ex-Steelers RB James Conner “leading” the team with 27 yards on the ground. Rams QB Matthew Stafford tossed four touchdowns, two to RB Kyren Williams and two to TE Tyler Higbee. Williams, in his first game back from injury, ran for 143 yards as the Rams put up 228 yards on the ground. It’s been a tough first year for head coach Jonathan Gannon, whose Cardinals have just won just one game since October.
Pittsburgh could also get back FS Minkah Fitzpatrick next weekend, a huge boost to the Steelers’ secondary. Kickoff for next week is set for 1 PM/EST.
