Indianapolis Colts at Pittsburgh Steelers – Sunday August 19, 2012 8:00PM EST
The Pittsburgh Steelers’ offense is currently playing its own version of “Last Man Standing.” Running back Rashard Mendenhall looks like he has finally run his course with the Steelers as reports of lingering injuries are keeping him off the practice field. The NFL betting experts are hearing murmurs that Mendenhall could be done with the Pittsburgh Steelers for good. At the time those rumors were circulating, the Steelers were not concerned because it had running back Isaac Redman to fall back on. When Redman turned up injured in the first preseason game, and the injury was reported to be season ending, then the Steelers got concerned.
The football betting world is trying to imagine a Pittsburgh Steelers team without a running game and that image is not easy to bring into focus. It looks like the Steelers will have to rely on its passing game to win in 2012. That’s great except for the fact that Mike Wallace, the team’s top receiver, has been holding out for a new contract. The team expects Wallace to report soon, but he would have missed weeks of important practice time with the offense and quarterback Ben Roethlisberger.
Indianapolis Colts
The Indianapolis Colts are pleased with rookie quarterback Andrew Luck’s performance in his first preseason game, but no one is doing the big happy dance yet. The price per head sports experts have respect for new Rams head coach Jeff Fisher, but that St. Louis defense is nothing like the Pittsburgh Steelers’ defense. Even in the preseason, the Steelers can be dominating and intimidating on defense.
The Colts’ defense looked pretty good in its preseason opener as some key players get used to playing new positions. Dwight Freeney and Robert Mathis have been seen lining up on the outside of the defensive line lately. Those two will have to take time to adjust to their new positions.
Pittsburgh Steelers
Did we mention that all-pro Pittsburghlinebacker James Harrison may not play this season because of a recurring knee injury? A bet online review of Steelers’ training camp shows that no good news is coming out of it lately. All of those issues will eventually show up on the field, but probably not until the regular season.
In this game, the Steelers defense is more than capable of handling the newIndianapolisoffense. The Pittsburgh Steelers may spend more time running the ball than throwing it because it needs to find a running back. That will slow thePittsburghoffense down to a crawl.
The Bottom Line
This is the first chance fans will get to see what kind of quarterback Andrew Luck can really be in the NFL. It is only preseason, but it is probably the most important preseason game Luck will play.
Click here to read more about the Steelers and its ongoing personnel issues.
Pick: Indianapolis Colts
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.