NFL Preseason Betting Free Picks: Carolina Panthers at Pittsburgh Steelers

Added on Aug 31, 2010 by Jack Thurman in

NFL

One more week of NFL preseason betting before the games start to count. We’ll take a look at Thursday’s game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Carolina Panthers. Pittsburgh will start the season without suspended QB Ben Roethlisberger, while Carolina will be starting fresh as longtime starter Jake Delhomme won’t be under center for the first time in ages:

Carolina Panthers at Pittsburgh Steelers
September 2, 4:30 PM Pacific

At first glance, this looks like a potential spot to play on Carolina as a road underdog. Pittsburgh obviously could care less about the outcome of this game, while Carolina desperately needs to get their offense in sync. Had the Panthers lost to Tennessee last week, they’d be 0-3 here and might be worth a look on the basis of that. Since they managed to slip by the Titans, however, this game becomes less important to them.

The offense is still a mess—the Panthers averaged 10 PPG in their first three preseason games—but they’re not going to get it going here. Carolina backers will be stuck with Hunter Cantwell and Tony Pike at quarterback for most of the game. Were this prospect not gloomy enough, Pike is still working on making the transition from a shotgun quarterback to playing under center in Carolina’s power running attack. And were *that* not enough to keep you off Carolina, there’s no Steve Smith in the receiving corps (he’s recovering from a broken left foot and hoping to return for the 9/12 season opener) and no Jonathan Stewart at running back. Carolina has gone 42 offensive series in the 2010 preseason without scoring a touchdown. Ouch.

Part of the Panthers’ offensive problems have been personnel related, but a lot of it has been tactical in nature. The offense as currently constructed has struggled bigtime against 3-4 defenses in the preseason. The good news is that they open the season against five straight 4-3 defenses, but that won’t help them here against a deep, well coached Steelers’ 3-4. Even against the Steelers’ reserves, there’s a good chance the Panthers could lay the proverbial ‘goose egg’ on offense.

As far as the Steelers’ offense goes, we actually catch a break due to the Roethlisberger suspension. ‘Big Ben’s’ absence has forced Pittsburgh to prepare well down the depth chart, since for the first 4 to 6 weeks of the season backup Byron Leftwich is the de facto starter and #3 Dennis Dixon the backup. They’re all better prepared than the garden variety backups, and there’s still something of a battle for the starting spot with Roethlisberger on the shelf. Dixon has made a strong case that he deserves the gig ahead of Leftwich, and will get his final opportunity to prove his worth here. #4 QB Charlie Batch has played little in the preseason, and may be fighting to stay on the roster while he’s in. And reports indicate that Roethlisberger will see action as well and with a meeting scheduled with NFL commish Roger Goodell on Friday—presumably to see if his suspension will be reduced—a little mojo from a strong showing won’t hurt. In any case, no matter who is at QB for Pittsburgh they’ll be better than their Carolina counterpart. Since there’s no guarantee that the sputtering Panther offense can answer any points the Steelers put up, it won’t be difficult for the home team to get this victory by a comfortable margin.

Bet Pittsburgh -5’ over Carolina