{"id":17158,"date":"2011-08-17T14:47:34","date_gmt":"2011-08-17T19:47:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/?p=17158"},"modified":"2011-08-17T14:47:34","modified_gmt":"2011-08-17T19:47:34","slug":"nfl-preseason-philadelphia-eagles-at-pittsburgh-steelers-week-2-preview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/nfl-preseason-philadelphia-eagles-at-pittsburgh-steelers-week-2-preview-17158\/","title":{"rendered":"NFL Preseason: Philadelphia Eagles at Pittsburgh Steelers Week 2 Preview"},"content":{"rendered":"

Philadelphia Eagles at Pittsburgh Steelers
\nThursday, 8\/18\/11, 8:00 PM EST, TV:\u00a0 FOX
\nOpening Point Spread:\u00a0 Pittsburgh -4
\nCurrent Betting Line:\u00a0 Pittsburgh -3
\nOpening Total:\u00a0 34
\nCurrent Total:\u00a0 34
\nOdds Courtesy of Bookmaker<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Steelers<\/a>
Pittsburgh Steelers safety Troy Polamalu is expected to make his preseason debut Thursday night<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Philadelphia is set to play its second preseason game of the season against the defending AFC champion Pittsburgh Steelers.\u00a0 The two teams have met 21 previous times during preseason action, with the Eagles trailing 12-9 in those contests.\u00a0 Head coach Andy Reid has already stated that he intends to play starters for an entire half after limiting them to just a quarter in a 13-6 home win over the Baltimore Ravens last week.\u00a0 Reid gives bettors a sense of optimism with his comments of playing against one of the premiere teams in the league this week, which may help improve upon his 10-2 ATS mark during Week 2 of preseason action.<\/p>\n

The Eagles defense was active against the Ravens in tallying six sacks last week, led by defensive end Darryl Tapp with two.\u00a0 Philadelphia also showed the ability to convert on third downs over the course of the game, picking up first downs on 10 of 16 opportunities.\u00a0 Quarterback Michael Vick gave the team in early 7-3 lead after finishing 4-of-6 passing for 74 yards on a 7:02 scoring drive.\u00a0 He will get his first opportunity to hook up with star wide receiver DeSean Jackson, who missed the opener due to holding out of camp.\u00a0 Running back LeSean McCoy will also be motivated in his return to the Steel City, as he left the University of Pittsburgh with the fourth-most rushing yards in school history.<\/p>\n

Pittsburgh displayed little in its 16-7 road loss to the Washington Redskins last week, as the team didn\u2019t even come in with a game plan.\u00a0 Head coach Mike Tomlin was still disappointed in his team\u2019s effort and will likely have them ready for action tonight.\u00a0 The Steelers are 12-9 all-time against the Philadelphia Eagles in preseason action, including two consecutive wins in 2007-08.\u00a0 Low-scoring affairs have been a common theme for the squad under Tomlin\u2019s watch, as the under is 14-3 during his tenure.\u00a0 Pittsburgh is also 28-22 ATS in its last 50 opportunities as a favorite during the exhibition season.<\/p>\n

The Steelers are also anticipating the preseason debuts of two of their biggest defensive stars, as linebacker James Harrison and safety Troy Polamalu return.\u00a0 Harrison is returning from offseason back surgery, while Polamalu rested with a sore Achilles that has plagued him over the last few years.\u00a0 Since dropping last year\u2019s Super Bowl to the Green Bay Packers, the coaching staff has been focused on improving the team\u2019s secondary.\u00a0 The unit ranked 12th in the league a year ago and Washington quarterback Rex Grossman showed that it has a lot to improve upon, throwing for 207 yards in just a half of action.<\/p>\n

Bettors will likely back the Steelers due to their 3-0 ATS mark in preseason home openers.<\/p>\n

The NFL handicappers at Maddux Sports are ready to deliver profits all season long and long-term packages are currently available.\u00a0 Don\u2019t miss out on all the action!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Philadelphia Eagles at Pittsburgh Steelers Thursday, 8\/18\/11, 8:00 PM EST, TV:\u00a0 FOX Opening Point Spread:\u00a0 Pittsburgh -4 Current Betting Line:\u00a0 Pittsburgh -3 Opening Total:\u00a0 34 Current Total:\u00a0 34 Odds Courtesy of Bookmaker Philadelphia is set to play its second preseason game of the season against the defending AFC champion Pittsburgh Steelers.\u00a0 The two teams have […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":181,"featured_media":8020,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1444,132],"tags":[3728,3977,5316,685,3737,344,346,5315],"class_list":["post-17158","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-headlines","category-nfl-handicapping","tag-andy-reid","tag-heinz-field","tag-james-harrison","tag-michael-vick","tag-mike-tomlin","tag-philadelphia-eagles","tag-pittsburgh-steelers","tag-troy-polamalu"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17158","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=17158"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17158\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17159,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17158\/revisions\/17159"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8020"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17158"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17158"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17158"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}