NFL Betting Odds: San Diego at Pittsburgh

The San Diego Chargers have been a complete mystery this year. It seems like they have been contending with the rest of the AFC elite to reach the Super Bowl for years and this was supposed to be their years as soon as Tom Brady went down in the first week of the season. The talent is there with one of the best running backs to ever play the game and a quarterback leading the league in pass rating, but that hasn’t stopped this team from starting the year off 4-5. The good news for the Chargers though is that they are still only a game behind the AFC West leading Denver Broncos. However, things don’t look great again this week as San Diego is a 5.5 point underdog at Pittsburgh.

The Pittsburgh Steelers have been having some issues of their own, but that is mostly due to the health problems on offense. Ben Roethlisberger had his Steelers off to a 5-1 start, but after suffering a partially separated shoulder did not look too hot last week against the Indianapolis Colts. The loss brought Pittsburgh to 6-3 on the year and in a first place tie for the AFC North with division rival Baltimore.

The Charger offense is putting up great statistical numbers, but they haven’t been able to translate that into very many wins. Philip Rivers leads the AFC with a 106.3 passer rating and his last four games has been even better with a 109.8 mark on 92-for-132 passing, 1,171 yards, and ten touchdowns. He will have the best tight end in the league to throw to in Antonio Gates, who has six touchdowns and has gotten to the end zone in the last two games. Vincent Jackson has done a good job at wideout with 621 yards and he has three scores in the past four weeks, as does Malcom Floyd. This Charger offense is still putting up 349.3 yards per game, but the -3 turnover ratio has cost the team. Rivers is second in the AFC with 2,354 passing yards and first with 21 touchdowns. LaDanian Tomlinson has 629 rushing yards to rank third in the conference.

Defensively this team has suffered without Shawne Merriman as they are giving up 368 yards per game and not getting to the quarterback enough without their top pass rusher. Linebacker Shaun Phillips is the best on the team with only 3.5 sacks, while cornerback Antonio Cromartie is the team leader with only two interceptions. You can bet San Diego +5.5 at Sportsbook.com using your debit or credit card.

Pittsburgh has found some success against the AFC this year with their 5-1 record, but they also have dominated this series with the Chargers, going 12-0 with a 28.8 points per game average in those meetings. The Steelers will also have some good news on offense this week as Willie Parker is expected to return from his shoulder injury and was averaging over 100 yards per game in the six games he has played. Hines Ward is coming off his best game of the year against the Colts when he had 116 yards. Nate Washington has had a good season with 21 receptions for 379 yards, that’s 18 yards per catch.

The Steelers still rely on their defense to win games, allowing just 240.3 yards per game this year to lead the NFL. Linebacker James Harrison is a big reason for that with eight sacks over the last six games to rank second in the league with 11 on the year. LaMarr Woodley has also done a great job attacking the pass in racking up 8.5 sacks so far. If you think the Steelers are going to come out on top in this one, BetUS has Pitt at -5 and you can get up to 145% in signup bonuses when you sign up for a new account.

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