{"id":34554,"date":"2014-07-24T12:30:28","date_gmt":"2014-07-24T17:30:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/?p=34554"},"modified":"2014-07-24T12:02:39","modified_gmt":"2014-07-24T17:02:39","slug":"nfl-week-1-predictions-cleveland-browns-vs-pittsburgh-steelers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/nfl-week-1-predictions-cleveland-browns-vs-pittsburgh-steelers-34554\/","title":{"rendered":"NFL Week 1 Predictions: Cleveland Browns vs. Pittsburgh Steelers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cleveland Browns vs. Pittsburgh Steelers
\nSunday, 9\/7\/14, 1:00 PM EST
\nOpening Point Spread:\u00a0 Pittsburgh -5
\nCurrent Betting Line:\u00a0 Pittsburgh -5
\nOpening Total:\u00a0 40
\nCurrent Total:\u00a0 40
\nOdds Courtesy of 5Dimes<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The Pittsburgh Steelers are 7-3 ATS in their last 10 home games against the Cleveland Browns<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Cleveland will have a completely new look under head coach Mike Pettine, who has numerous challenges in hopes of leading this franchise out of the AFC North cellar, with the top priority being the quarterback position.\u00a0 Veteran Brian Hoyer is expected to get the start in this matchup, which is important to consider when making your Week 1 NFL predictions, but he\u2019ll be pushed by former Texas A&M star Johnny Manziel.\u00a0 The Browns will likely keep the ball on the ground offensively to start the year, with Ben Tate and Terrance West getting plenty of carries.\u00a0 Cleveland is 1-8 ATS in its last nine season openers.<\/p>\n

The Browns will likely have one of the best defenses in football, with cornerback Pat Haden leading the charge, as he signed a major contract extension during the offseason.\u00a0 Offensively, the team will likely name its starting signal-caller by the third preseason game, but the unit will be without the services of talented wide receiver Josh Gordon\u2014who may be suspended for the entire year due to violating the league\u2019s substance abuse policy.\u00a0 Cleveland may elect to make the switch to Manziel in Week 2 or thereafter, as its first week opponent is known for confusing first-year quarterbacks.<\/p>\n

Pittsburgh\u2019s window is closing to win a third Super Bowl in the Ben Roethlisberger era, as he needs to become familiar with some new faces at wide receiver, including Lance Moore and Markus Wheaton.\u00a0 The Steelers are capable of building on last year\u2019s 6-2 finish, which can\u2019t be ignored when looking over the pro football odds page.\u00a0 Roethlisberger will have some help in the backfield this year with a pair of bruising running backs, while rookie Dri Archer may become a weapon on third down.\u00a0 Pittsburgh is 5-0 ATS in its last five division games.<\/p>\n

Steelers defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau has cited the signing of defensive linemen Cam Thomas as one of the most significant moves of the offseason.\u00a0 Pittsburgh\u2019s entire season may depend on the development of its linebacker core in its 3-4 scheme, as the franchise has never been a serious contender without this group making some big plays on the field.<\/p>\n

Sports bettors will likely back the Steelers due to their 7-3 ATS mark in their last 10 home games in this rivalry.<\/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

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cleveland Browns vs. Pittsburgh Steelers Sunday, 9\/7\/14, 1:00 PM EST Opening Point Spread:\u00a0 Pittsburgh -5 Current Betting Line:\u00a0 Pittsburgh -5 Opening Total:\u00a0 40 Current Total:\u00a0 40 Odds Courtesy of 5Dimes Cleveland will have a completely new look under head coach Mike Pettine, who has numerous challenges in hopes of leading this franchise out of the […]<\/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":[349,360,7036,31,8405,346],"class_list":["post-34554","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-headlines","category-nfl-handicapping","tag-ben-roethlisberger","tag-cleveland-browns","tag-johnny-manziel","tag-nfl","tag-pat-haden","tag-pittsburgh-steelers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34554","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=34554"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34554\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34555,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34554\/revisions\/34555"}],"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=34554"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34554"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34554"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}