NFL Football Preview: Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Minnesota Vikings
US Football comes to London, England as the Pittsburgh Steelers and Minnesota Vikings tangle at Wembley Stadium. The venue is more synonymous with soccer but in the past few years the NFL has gained a decent sized following in England so look for more games to be held there in the future. In this matchup a pair of 0-3 teams will be looking for their first win of the year. The Steelers have looked bad on offense all season and looked bad on both sides of the ball last week as they were dismantled at home by the Chicago Bears. Minnesota has been much more competitive-after losing their first game of the year to Detroit they dropped their next two contests by 1 and 3 points respectively.
Times are tough in the Steel City and their football team might be happy to be taking a trip overseas at this point. After going 12-4 in 2011 the Steelers slumped to 8-8 in 2012 and there is some concern in the ‘Steel City’ that this iteration of the team has reached the end of the line. Many of their star players are getting older-particularly on the defensive side of the ball. On offense there is growing trepidation that Ben Roethlisberger doesn’t have enough talent around him to win games consistently. There were questions about the quality of the offensive line to protect Roethlisberger coming into this season and things went from bad to worse in the opening game when All Pro center Maurkice Pouncey was lost to injury. And the offensive line has likely been the team’s biggest issue this season-Roethlisberger has been sacked 10 times and turned the ball over 7 times. The result-the Steelers have lost three straight games for the first time in four years.
The Vikings have been competitive but have their own set of issues. Christian Ponder has been turnover prone and the Vikings’ quarterback is listed as ‘questionable’ for this game. The Vikings do have the best-and most dependable-offensive weapon at their disposal in the form of running back Adrian Peterson. That might be enough against a struggling Steelers’ team. At any rate, we’ll gladly take the points and look to go against a Pittsburgh team in decline.
BET MINNESOTA VIKINGS +1′ OVER PITTSBURGH STEELERS