The Cleveland Browns opened as 2.5-point home underdogs against the Pittsburgh Steelers ahead of their Week 4 match-up on Thursday Night Football, according to FanDuel Sportsbook. The over/under on the game is 37.5.
The Browns (2-1) are coming off of a 21-18 victory over the Carolina Panthers. Cleveland’s defense continued to have a stellar day, including pressuring QB Bryce Young on 51% of his dropbacks. They may have given up a lot of excess yardage late, but they still held on and forced several
turnovers on downs. The offense, meanwhile, is slow-but-steady. The penalties by the offensive line are still too much, but QB Deshaun Watson — besides some errant misfires — is making some good runs, and delivering some clutch passes in the red zone. After being blown out in the first game, no one expected Cleveland to be 2-1 heading into this game.
The Steelers (2-1) are coming off what I would deem to be a surprising 30-27 win over the Cincinnati Bengals. After scraping by the first week with a win over the Falcons, Pittsburgh was dominated by the Patriots in Week 2 by a score of 20-3, and looked like an offense that was in trouble. Instead, they had 411 yards of offense against the Bengals “new-look defense,” and Aaron Rodgers tossed three touchdown passes.
This is the second home game in a row in which the Browns are home underdogs. It’s not often that you see that happen, unless there is a clear better team on the other side. However, with Cleveland’s momentum in these last two games, and them not facing a team that is projected to be Super Bowl-bound, seeing the Browns as underdogs is a bit of a surprise. It’s possible the sportsbooks haven’t caught up yet to the Browns being good.
The over/under for the game is 37.5.
What odds would you take if you were placing a bet?
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