Carolina Panthers @ Pittsburgh Steelers: Preseason Week 4 Picks

I’m not real big on picking pre-season games, but for every single game ever played I’ve thought to myself, “Who has the best chance at winning?” Over the last handful of years I’ve changed from just winning to “how about that spread?” Even in the pre-season, I have an opinion – and rarely is it because one team is better than the other. If you pick the “better team” throughout the pre-season, you’ll likely be in the red before the regular season even starts. It’s week 4, a week where even fewer teams play their best players than usual. So I take that into account, here’s my thought process for picking the Steelers with a big spread.

The Steelers are the more aggressive team, both defensively and offensively, and the Panthers are pretty soft up front. Advantage Steelers.

This game will likely come down to who can run the ball and who can stop the ball. Pittsburgh doesn’t have an awesome run game, but it’s solid. The Panthers can’t stop the run. Advantage Pittsburgh.

The Panthers can run the ball as well as anyone, but… Neither of their stud RB tandem will play in this one, and the Steelers have always been great at shutting down their opponent’s rushing attack. Advantage Steelers.

The Steelers have Big Ben (who might very well play more than a series or two, because he might as well get his time in now seeing as though he’s going to miss 2-6 games to start the season because he was an idiot/jerk/moron/insert favorite expression), Dennis Dixon, and Byron Leftwich. All three are definitely capable.  The Panthers have Matt Moore, a rookie, and another guy you aren’t sold on. Me neither. None of those guys have the arm, confidence, or experience to make aggressive teams pay for being aggressive. Advantage Pittsburgh.

Yeah, I’ll take Pittsburgh.

Carolina Panthers @ Pittsburgh Steelers (-5.5)