Cincinnati Bengals at Pittsburgh Steelers Odds
The Pittsburgh Steelers (8-3) will be looking for a seventh win in eight games when they host the Cincinnati Bengals (7-4) Sunday.
The Steelers are currently listed as a 6.5-point favorite with the total set at 42.
It wasn’t pretty, but Pittsburgh managed to stay tied with Baltimore atop the AFC North with a 13-9 victory at Kansas City Sunday night.
Ben Roethlisberger completed 21 of 31 passes for 193 yards with one touchdown and one interception. Four of those completions went to Antonio Brown, who led the team with 81 receiving yards.
Rashard Mendenhall led the way on the ground with 57 of the team’s 108 rushing yards.
Last week, the Bengals battled back from a 10-point deficit to snap a two-game slide with a 23-20 home win over the Cleveland Browns.
Andy Dalton connected on 21 of 31 pass attempts for 270 yards with a touchdown and no picks. Three completions went to fellow rookie A.J. Green, who led the team with 110 receiving yards.
Jermain Gresham hauled in the touchdown pass.
Cedric Benson headed up the ground attack with 106 yards and a score on 21 carries.
Pittsburgh’s offense struggled against the Chiefs, only amassing 290 total yards – 84.5 yards below the season average. A similar offensive performance likely won’t be good enough versus Cincinnati’s stout defense.
The Bengals enter Week 13 ranked fifth in the league with 307.7 yards allowed per game. They rank eighth in scoring defense with 19.5 points allowed per contest.
The Pittsburgh offense has been inconsistent at times this season, but the defense has been a constant.
The Steelers currently rank second in the NFL in total defense with 277.5 yards allowed per game. They rank fourth in scoring defense with 17.1 points allowed per contest. It will be up to the defense to keep Pittsburgh in the game if the offense struggles again this week.
The Steelers have won three in a row and eight of the last 10 in this series with the most recent being a 24-17 victory in Cincinnati on Nov. 13. They are 8-2 against the spread in those 10 meetings.
Pittsburgh is also 30-13 against the number in its last 43 home games when listed as a favorite of 3.5 to 10 points.
The Steelers have had the upper hand in this series, but the fact the Bengals are 6-0-1 against the spread in their last seven road games shouldn’t be overlooked.
As far as the total is concerned, the over just might be the play. These two have finished over the total in five of the last seven meetings. Also, the Bengals have played to the over in each of their last four versus the AFC North, and the Steelers have finished over the number in their last five versus the division.
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