{"id":19914,"date":"2011-12-01T21:23:46","date_gmt":"2011-12-02T02:23:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/?p=19914"},"modified":"2011-12-01T21:23:46","modified_gmt":"2011-12-02T02:23:46","slug":"bengals-vs-steelers-afc-north-rivals-meet-inside-heinz-field","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/bengals-vs-steelers-afc-north-rivals-meet-inside-heinz-field-19914\/","title":{"rendered":"Bengals vs. Steelers: AFC North Rivals Meet Inside Heinz Field"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cincinnati Bengals at Pittsburgh Steelers
\nSunday, 12\/4\/11, 1:00 PM EST, TV:\u00a0 CBS
\nOpening Point Spread:\u00a0 Pittsburgh -7
\nCurrent Betting Line:\u00a0 Pittsburgh -6.5
\nOpening Total:\u00a0 42
\nCurrent Total:\u00a0 42.5
\nOdds Courtesy of Bookmaker<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
The Pittsburgh Steelers are tied atop the AFC North division with the Baltimore Ravens<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Cincinnati snapped a two-game losing streak by registering a 23-20 win over the Cleveland Browns as 6.5-point home favorites and will now seek revenge from a 24-17 home loss in the first series meeting against the Pittsburgh Steelers.\u00a0 \u201cThe Steelers are one up on us,\u201d stated Bengals coach Marvin Lewis.\u00a0 \u201cIf we want to have the opportunity to win the AFC North, we can\u2019t afford to fall another game behind at this point.\u201d\u00a0 Rookie quarterback Andy Dalton has demonstrated the ability to come back in the fourth quarter, tallying five of the team\u2019s seven wins in the final frame.\u00a0 Cincinnati is 4-2 ATS as a road underdog of 3.5 to 7 points the past two-plus years.<\/p>\n

The Bengals will look to perform better offensively in this week\u2019s rematch, being held to just 279 total yards, as running back Cedric Benson was held to just 57 yards on 15 carries.\u00a0 Cincinnati will be seeking to snap its three-game losing streak in the series, while trying to improve its 4-6 mark when playing inside Heinz Field.\u00a0 Defensively, the unit ranks fifth in the league in allowing just 307.7 yards per game.<\/p>\n

Pittsburgh returns home after sweeping a two-game road trip against the Cincinnati Bengals and Kansas City Chiefs, led by a defense that ranks second in the league in allowing just 277.5 yards per game.\u00a0 The stop unit definitely bailed out the team against the Chiefs, forcing a season-high four turnovers.\u00a0 \u201cYou\u2019re happy to get the win, but also disappointed with how the offense played,\u201d stated Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger.\u00a0 He will be looking to orchestrate a seventh series sweep since the 2000 campaign against the Bengals.\u00a0 Pittsburgh is 8-5 ATS as a favorite of 3.5 to 9.5 points the last two-plus years.<\/p>\n

The Steelers are scoring just 21.2 points per game, but their defense is giving up just 17.1.\u00a0 Pittsburgh is tied atop the AFC North with the Baltimore Ravens, as the two teams play in the only division to have at least three teams with seven victories.\u00a0 The division members have given up the fewest points allowed as a division, with all four teams ranking in the top 10 in the NFL in total defense.\u00a0 Much of the team\u2019s success defensively has been in its secondary play, holding six teams under 175 net passing yards.<\/p>\n

Bettors will likely back the Steelers due to their 5-1 ATS mark as a favorite of 3.5 to 10 points, while the Bengals are 2-8 ATS in the last 10 meetings.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t miss out on a winning season and let the NFL handicappers at Maddux Sports line your pockets with cash.\u00a0 Long term packages are available now!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cincinnati Bengals at Pittsburgh Steelers Sunday, 12\/4\/11, 1:00 PM EST, TV:\u00a0 CBS Opening Point Spread:\u00a0 Pittsburgh -7 Current Betting Line:\u00a0 Pittsburgh -6.5 Opening Total:\u00a0 42 Current Total:\u00a0 42.5 Odds Courtesy of Bookmaker Cincinnati snapped a two-game losing streak by registering a 23-20 win over the Cleveland Browns as 6.5-point home favorites and will now seek […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":181,"featured_media":4302,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1444,132],"tags":[2583,3386,349,190,302,3977,346],"class_list":["post-19914","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-headlines","category-nfl-handicapping","tag-afc-north","tag-andy-dalton","tag-ben-roethlisberger","tag-cedric-benson","tag-cincinnati-bengals","tag-heinz-field","tag-pittsburgh-steelers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19914","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=19914"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19914\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19915,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19914\/revisions\/19915"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4302"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19914"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19914"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19914"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}