The first Monday Night Football game of the season will feature two teams looking to bounce back from subpar 2019 seasons with the Pittsburgh Steelers taking on the New York Giants.
The Steelers
For the Steelers, Ben Roethlisberger is making his return after getting surgery on his throwing arm, which caused him to miss nearly all of 2019. Daniel Jones will look to show his offseason improvement for the Giants, and new defensive pieces in Blake Martinez, James Bradberry, and Logan Ryan will hope to prove their worth.
The Steelers have the advantage on paper after having one of the best defenses in 2019. With Roethlisberger sidelined the entire season, Pittsburgh’s defense nearly carried them to a Wild Card berth. T.J. Watt will look to capitalize on a 2019 season that saw him with career highs in sacks (14.5), forced fumbles (eight), passes defended (eight), and interceptions (two). Linebackers Bud Dupree and Devin Bush will also look to continue their dominance with Dupree totaling 11.5 sacks last season and Bush leading all rookies with 109 tackles. Midseason trade piece Minkah Fitzpatrick will also hope to get 2020 started right after co-leading the team with five interceptions last season.
Offensively, the return of Roethlisberger should greatly help a team that lost both it’s starting quarterback and running back, James Conner. This put them 30th in total offensive yards in 2019. Wide receivers JuJu Smith-Schuster, James Washington, and Diontae Johnson all showed flashes last year, but, they will hope to be more consistent with the return of their franchise quarterback. Roethlisberger has also performed well on Monday Night Football. He has thrown at least two touchdowns and had a passer rating of 110 in three of the last four.
The Giants
The Giants’ primary focus will be how Jones handles this pass rush from Pittsburgh, who led the league last year in sacks. Watt, Dupree, and Cameron Heyward can get after the quarterback, so Jones will have to be on his best performance. Jones will also have to deal with a top-five defense in nearly every passing category last season. Running back Saquon Barkley will also look to get his 2020 started right and take advantage of a more average run defense that was 14th in rushing yards allowed in 2019.
On the defensive side, new pieces in linebacker Martinez and cornerbacks Bradberry and Ryan will attempt to make an early impact. Martinez is coming off a 155 tackle season, and Bradberry and Ryan will look to lead a new and young Giants secondary. The defense will be without their rookie safety out of Alabama, Xavier McKinney, for a good amount of time.
Game Info
Date: 9/14/2020
Start time: 7:10 pm
Location: East Rutherford, New Jersey
Stadium: MetLife Stadium
TV Info: ESPN
Betting Odds
Point Spread: PIT -6 (-110) | NYG +6 (-110)
Moneyline: PIT -245 | NYG +210
Over/Under: 46
Pittsburgh should cover the spread of this game rather easily. The chances of the Giants making this a close game is not likely, so take Pittsburgh at -6 this week. The money-line won’t be making much money this week. Take the under this week with it sitting at 46. The Giants aren’t going to put up many points and it would take a huge night from Pittsburgh to make up the difference.
Prediction
While this game certainly won’t be a blowout, things could get out of hand for the Giants if they don’t get the offense going early. Pittsburgh’s defense will set the tone and allow their offense to take advantage of a Giants defense that has a lot of new pieces working together for the first time, and a Big Ben led offense will show new life.
Final Score: Steelers 24, Giants 14
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