Experts Like Rams to Defeat Steelers

The Steelers, despite being 3-2, are a flawed football team. They hope their time off during the bye week will allow them to rejuvenate the team and take it to the next level. Specifically, the offense has to improve, and the Steelers have yet to get to the point where that unit can be trusted. Meanwhile, the defense runs on splash plays. So, how do you read this team, especially going up against a solid Rams team?

Well, most experts like the Rams over the Steelers this week. If you are into beating markets, many experts think the Rams cover the -3 spread. For NFL.com, seven of the ten analysts took the Rams to win. Picking the Steelers were Adam Rank, Marc Sessler, and Kevin Patra. The smallest margin of victory came from Patra, who has the Steelers winning 22-20. Maurice Jones-Drew likes the Rams to win 23-14. No one has Pittsburgh scoring more than 22 points.

The Steelers have some things working in their favor. For one, they should be healthier than they have for most of the season. Despite missing Pat Freiermuth after he aggravated his hamstring injury, Diontae Johnson’s return means a lot. So does the return of James Daniels at right guard. But the team’s issues go deeper than just those personnel issues. The coaching has not been up to snuff, and Mike Tomlin challenged his players and coaches to improve the offense over the bye week after getting hit with plenty of negativity.

Man, I think we have talked about this a lot, haven’t we? You know, we can get better in all areas,” Tomlin said on Tuesday. “And those are our intentions, whether it’s strategy or schematics, whether it’s how we divide the labor up or technique relative to our positions, and that’s been our agenda. We realize that we’ve absorbed some negativity based on performance. We’re man enough to absorb that negativity and stay singularly focused on what’s required to change it and that is work. We’re not interested in assigning blame or making excuses. We’re just singularly focused on getting better. And we’re going to continue to do that. And this Sunday is an opportunity to show progress in that regard.”

If the Steelers do win this game, it is likely the offense has taken at least a slight step forward. But really, Alex Highsmith and T.J. Watt seem like the catalysts for a win. Matthew Stafford has struggled under pressure, and if Pittsburgh can get home, they might have a shot to wreck shop all afternoon.