By: John Ryan
Pittsburgh has had a long week after their shocking loss to a pesky Tennessee Titans team last Thursday. The extra days of rest certain helps the Steelers in this matchup. So how do we lean on this preview?
NFL Opening Odds Preview: Steelers vs. Bengals
Cincinnati is coming off a horrid loss of their own, losing to the then-winless Cleveland Brownsthis past Sunday.
The Steelers 
are third place in the AFC North Division with a 2-3 record and like the Green Packers before them, are in desperate need of evening their record at 3-3. The Bengals are at 3-3 and alone in second place in the same division, but trail the Baltimore Ravens (5-1) by two games. So, the need to win for both teams is heightened to stay within reach of the Ravens and also be in the wild card race.
are third place in the AFC North Division with a 2-3 record and like the Green Packers before them, are in desperate need of evening their record at 3-3. The Bengals are at 3-3 and alone in second place in the same division, but trail the Baltimore Ravens (5-1) by two games. So, the need to win for both teams is heightened to stay within reach of the Ravens and also be in the wild card race.
The Betting Line
The line for this game shows Pittsburgh to be installed as a modest road favorite. However, the juice levels range greatly from 5 Dimes showing a -1 line with -130 vigorish to Bookmaker installing Pittsburgh as a three point favorite with +105 juice attached. This is somewhat unusual and may reflect the individual imbalances prevailing at each specific shop. All of the top Vegas sports books have Pittsburgh installed as a 2 ½ point favorite laying -110 vig.
The total for this game opened at 46u laying -110 vig and has remained constant in early action. Overseas shops are starting show some 45 ½ -110 lines as UNDER bets are dominating early action. There have been some reports that Cantor, who caters to the large bettor, have accepted several UNDER bets from would-be sharps.
Yards-Per-Point
This stat is a very important tool that identifies how well an offense and defense are performing. An offensive yards-per-point ratio shows how many yards are needed to equate to one point produced on the scoreboard. Conversely, the defensive number shows how difficult it is for an opposing offense to score an average of one point. So, strong offense will have a YPP ratio of 14 or less, average offensive in a range between 14 and 18, and struggling offensive units above 18.
The exact opposite can be said for the defenses with a number below 14 showing a weak defensive unit and numbers greater than 18 singy ones.
The Steelers rank 20th in the NFL with a offensive YPP ratio of 15.5 and this reflects that they need to gain 15.5 yards on average to score one point on the scoreboard. So, they certainly fall in the middle of the pack in terms of offensive efficiency. The Bengals rank 18th in the NFL. They have a slightly better ratio of 15.4, but here again, this falls in the mediocre range of NFL offensive units. By comparison the Chicago bears rank best in the NFL posting an 11.6 yards per point reading while the Philadelphia eagles have held down the last spot all season with a horrid reading of 22.1 yards per point.
Defensively, Pittsburgh has struggled on defense ranking 26th in the NFL posting a 12.9 yards per point reading. The Bengals are right behind them in 27th position of the 32-team NFL field, posting a 12.7 yards per point defensive ratio. This means that opposing offenses have had a fairly easy time scoring points on both defensive units.
Now, you can see by this stat alone just how equal these two teams are and only Pittsburgh’s historic success has them installed as a slight favorite in this game. Looking at three game averages though, the Bengals defense is getting better while the Steelers’ are not. They may possibly be weakening. So, I like the improving defense being the home dog based on this number alone
Early Lean: Bengals ---
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