The New England Patriots are currently 7.5-point road favorites over the Pittsburgh Steelers, per OddsShark.com. The spread has slowly widened between 0.5-1.0 points over the course of the past week.
Vegas appears to like the Patriots as 71% of the money has been placed on the Patriots to cover the spread. The Steelers will be relying on back-up QB Landry Jones instead of QB Ben Roethlisberger, so a big Patriots victory is expected.
Since 2000, the Patriots are 74-8 straight up when favored by 7.5 points or greater and are 43-39 against the spread. The Patriots are 22-3 straight up while on the road. This is just the second time in Steelers franchise history that they have been 7.5-point-or-greater underdogs while at home, and the first time since 1991.
The over/under is currently set at 46, which suggests a 26.75-19.25 predicted final score. 72% of the money has been placed on the over, so Vegas is expecting a high scoring affair, despite the Patriots #2 ranked scoring defense.
Can you predict the final score?