{"id":10388,"date":"2010-11-08T09:39:26","date_gmt":"2010-11-08T14:39:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/?p=10388"},"modified":"2010-11-08T09:39:26","modified_gmt":"2010-11-08T14:39:26","slug":"nfl-handicapping-picks-pittsburgh-steelers-at-cincinnati-bengals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/nfl-handicapping-picks-pittsburgh-steelers-at-cincinnati-bengals-10388\/","title":{"rendered":"NFL Handicapping Picks: Pittsburgh Steelers at Cincinnati Bengals"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pittsburgh Steelers at Cincinnati Bengals
\nMonday, 11\/8\/2010, 8:30 PM EST, TV:\u00a0 ESPN
\nOpening Point Spread:\u00a0 Pittsburgh -3.5
\nCurrent Betting Line:\u00a0 Pittsburgh -6
\nOpening Total:\u00a0 42.5
\nCurrent Total:\u00a0 41
\nCurrent Moneyline:\u00a0 Pittsburgh -275 \/ Cincinnati +235<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Cincinnati Bengals RB Cedric Benson will need a big game on the ground to upset the Steelers on Monday Night Football<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Pittsburgh is back in the national spotlight after dropping a 20-10 road contest to the New Orleans Saints on Sunday Night Football last week.\u00a0 The Steelers were unable to move atop the AFC North Division with the loss and will now have their hands full with a team that swept them last year.\u00a0 \u201cYou can\u2019t make excuses,\u201d said quarterback Ben Roethlisberger.\u00a0 \u201cWe never got into any rhythm.\u00a0 This is definitely a gut check for us.\u201d\u00a0 The two-time Super Bowl champion will be playing just his fourth game of the season after being suspended four games for violating the league\u2019s personal conduct policy.\u00a0 He has posted a 6-1 record in Cincinnati with 12 touchdowns and four interceptions.\u00a0 Pittsburgh is 2-2 ATS on the road this season and 10-10 ATS away from Heinz Field the last three years.\u00a0 The NFL lines page has them listed a healthy road favorite.<\/p>\n

The Steelers get a break in playing on Monday Night Football after playing the nightcap the week before and head coach Mike Tomlin is a perfect 5-0 when his team plays on this special day of the week.\u00a0 Pittsburgh will likely look to establish a ground game due to rushing for 162.1 yards per game in its last nine visits to Paul Brown Stadium, but running back Rashard Mendenhall is going to have to elevate his play.\u00a0 The former Fighting Illini runner is gaining just 67.8 yards over his last four games.\u00a0 Defensively, the team is definitely one of the better stop units in the league, but has surrendered 261.5 yards per game through the air over the past four games.<\/p>\n

Cincinnati is set to make its 28th appearance on Monday Night Football and will be playing the Steelers for the eight time, which is their most familiar opponent in this special time slot.\u00a0 The Bengals are coming off a winless October that saw the team drop all four games by a single-possession margin and tonight\u2019s opponent is focusing on making sure the losing streak moves to five.\u00a0 \u201cI don\u2019t know if there\u2019s a worse feeling than losing a bunch of games in a row,\u201d said quarterback Carson Palmer.\u00a0 \u201cThis is definitely a low for this group.\u201d\u00a0 This game can certainly be labeled a \u201cmust win\u201d for the home team tonight, as they sit tied for last in the division and three games back of Baltimore.\u00a0 Cincinnati is 2-5 ATS this season and 9-20 ATS versus conference opponents.<\/p>\n

The Bengals have made nine previous appearances at home on Monday Night Football, tallying a 6-3 record in the process.\u00a0 Cincinnati\u2019s offense has shown signs of brilliance this year, but it hasn\u2019t translated into wins, as the team has a losing record through the first half for the fifth time in the Marvin Lewis\u2019 era.\u00a0 Wide receiver Terrell Owens has provided the team a lift with his ability to make big plays, producing seven catches of 25 yards or more thus far.\u00a0 \u201cI think I\u2019ve probably surprised a lot of people,\u201d said Owens.\u00a0 \u201cAll along I\u2019ve known that I could play.\u201d\u00a0 His quarterback has thrown 12 touchdowns and seven interceptions this year, but has struggled at times to deliver the football.<\/p>\n

Bettors will definitely make note that the Steelers are 7-1-1 ATS in their last nine meetings in Cincinnati, while the Bengals are 5-1 ATS as a home underdog.<\/p>\n

The NFL handicappers at Maddux Sports are delivering winners on a weekly basis and can\u2019t wait for tonight\u2019s contest!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pittsburgh Steelers at Cincinnati Bengals Monday, 11\/8\/2010, 8:30 PM EST, TV:\u00a0 ESPN Opening Point Spread:\u00a0 Pittsburgh -3.5 Current Betting Line:\u00a0 Pittsburgh -6 Opening Total:\u00a0 42.5 Current Total:\u00a0 41 Current Moneyline:\u00a0 Pittsburgh -275 \/ Cincinnati +235 Pittsburgh is back in the national spotlight after dropping a 20-10 road contest to the New Orleans Saints on Sunday […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":181,"featured_media":4276,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1444,132],"tags":[349,506,302,3737,441,346,732],"class_list":["post-10388","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-headlines","category-nfl-handicapping","tag-ben-roethlisberger","tag-carson-palmer","tag-cincinnati-bengals","tag-mike-tomlin","tag-monday-night-football","tag-pittsburgh-steelers","tag-terrell-owens"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10388","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/181"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10388"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10388\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10389,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10388\/revisions\/10389"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4276"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10388"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10388"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10388"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}