The St. Louis Rams (1-1) battle the Pittsburgh Steelers (1-1) this week in a game that will feature the NFL’s leading passer, Ben Roethlisberger (720 yards, 4 TDs), and second-leading rusher, DeAngelo Williams (204 yards, 3 TDs). Coming into the game, both the Rams and Steelers are 1-1. Kickoff is at 1:00 p.m. ET on Sunday, Sep 27 and will air on CBS.
In last week’s game, St. Louis suffered a loss at the hands of Washington 24-10. Jared Cook had a good performance in the loss, grabbing five receptions for 47 yards. Pittsburgh is looking to repeat last week when it won big over San Francisco 43-18. Antonio Brown had a huge game for the Steelers, pulling in nine receptions for 195 yards. Ben Roethlisberger also had a great game with 369 yards and three TDs through the air.
Pittsburgh is a slim one-point favorite when they take on the Rams. According to the oddsmakers, the Over/Under (O/U) is currently at 47 points.
Sitting at 1-1 both Straight Up (SU) and Against The Spread (ATS), the Rams will look to improve heading into Week 3. In the third quarter, St. Louis is a formidable challenge, putting up a league-leading 12 points during the third frame.
As for their opponent, the Steelers head into Week 3 with records of 1-0-1 ATS and 1-1 SU. They enter the week as the league’s third-best scoring offense, with an average of 32.0 points per game. Other teams have a high rate of success throwing the ball against the Rams. It might be in Pittsburgh’s game plan to take advantage of the home team’s mediocre pass coverage, 31st in the league at 80.9%. Preparing for Pittsburgh’s top-five scoring defense could be tough for the Rams. So far this year, the Steelers defense has allowed opponents to score an average of 23.0 points. The front seven for the Steelers will be looking to shut down the weak rushing attack of the Rams, which ranks 27th in the league with an average of 71.5 rushing yards per game. The Steelers defense should be able to take away the ball as the Rams rank 26th in the league in fumbles lost with 1.5 per game. St. Louis will want to keep its intensity through the fourth quarter against the Steelers, who average 12 points in the final 15 minutes of regulation.
Predictions: SU Winner – Pit, ATS Winner – Pit, O/U – Under
Notes
St. Louis is 1-4 SU in its last 5 games.
St. Louis is 1-4 ATS in its last 5 games.
The total has gone UNDER in 4 of St. Louis’s last 6 games.
The total has gone OVER in 6 of St. Louis’s last 8 games at home.
St. Louis is 4-2 SU in its last 6 games at home.
St. Louis is 2-4 ATS in its last 6 games when playing Pittsburgh.
The total has gone OVER in 4 of St. Louis’s last 6 games when playing Pittsburgh.
Pittsburgh is 1-0 SU when leading at the half this season.
The St. Louis passing attack is ranked 22nd in the league, while the Pittsburgh pass defense is only ranked 27th. The Steelers’ passing game is ranked second, compared to the 10th-ranked pass defense of the Rams.
Pittsburgh has given up 23.0 points per game this year, which is ranked only 30th in the league. St. Louis has scored 22.0 points per contest this year and is ranked 19th overall.
