The Pittsburgh Steelers will travel to Huntington Bank Field in Cleveland for a primetime tilt with the Cleveland Browns on Thursday Night, and Vegas expects the Steelers to come out on top against the bumbling Browns. The Steelers are consensus 3.5-point favorites on Thursday per VSiN.
DraftKings has the Steelers at -4, while FanDuel and Caesars both have the Steelers at -3. So if you want to get better value for the Steelers as just field goal favorites, betting through FanDuel or Caesars would be the best play.
Pittsburgh is coming off an 18-16 win over the Baltimore Ravens to move to 8-2 on the season, while Cleveland has an inverse record following a 35-14 loss to the New Orleans Saints in Week 11.
The Browns lost starting QB Deshaun Watson for the season after he tore his Achilles, and Cleveland has started QB Jameis Winston over its last three games. Winston led the Browns to a win over the Ravens in his first start in Week 8, and while he followed that up with a three-interception performance in a Week 9 loss, he did throw for 395 yards and two touchdowns against New Orleans, which ran all over the Browns with Tayson Hill scoring three rushing touchdowns.
Pittsburgh is the better team, but anything can happen in the AFC North as the Browns showed with their upset win over the Ravens a few weeks ago. The fact the Steelers have a short week and are on the road also makes things a little more difficult, and it explains why the line isn’t larger despite Pittsburgh playing much better this season and riding a five-game winning streak.
Cleveland also got RB Nick Chubb back in Week 7 after he suffered a gruesome knee injury in Week 2 against the Steelers last season. Chubb hasn’t fully looked like his former self, though, as he has 53 carries for 163 yards and a touchdown, which is just a 3.1 yards per carry average.
The Steelers are also coming off one of their best defensive performances of the season against Baltimore, limiting Lamar Jackson to a 16-of-33 showing with 207 yards and a touchdown with an interception. They’ll look to carry over that defensive momentum on Thursday against the Browns, and they’ll hope that the short week doesn’t negatively impact their preparation for another divisional game.
The Browns would love to play spoiler against one of their division rivals, and they’re going to throw everything they have at the Steelers. If Pittsburgh does wind up winning, it would be another winning season for Mike Tomlin, meaning he still would never have had a losing season as a head coach.
