A rash of injuries to major players in recent weeks really has to have the Pittsburgh Steelers just a bit spooked. The sometimes-conservative Mike Tomlin has already seen his team play three times this preseason, which might make this Week 3 preseason encounter with the Buffalo Bills seem a little less important than your average dress rehearsal.
QUARTERBACK ROTATION
Whether the Steelers had lost Maurkice Pouncey last week or not, just watching Jordy Nelson go down with a season-ending ACL injury in the same game had to worry Tomlin. As a result, we're not really all that sure that we are going to see Ben Roethlisberger for that long in this game. Big Ben looked good, going 11-of-14 against Green Bay, and though we know he'll start in this one, we're not all that sure he's going to play the full first half.
Instead, Bruce Gradkowski should get more reps, knowing that he has only thrown five passes thus far.
Rex Ryan has turned the Bills into true wild cards at the quarterback position. At least live bettors know they're going to see some combination of Tyrod Taylor, Matt Cassel and E.J. Manuel, most likely in relatively equal parts. The bottom line is that Cassel has looked the best of the three for our money, and we suspect he's the best one to trust in live betting in this one.
WHEN BUFFALO HAS THE BALL
Ryan really wants to see what he has here with his quarterbacks. He's going to turn them loose and let them throw the ball in this game, and against a porous Pittsburgh secondary and a front seven which just doesn't have that degree of ferociousness it had from yesteryear, the opportunities are going to be there to get the ball down the field.
The end result is probably going to be more throwing and less passing for Buffalo. That's good news for over bettors, knowing that the Bills have proven they can make some big plays in the passing game every now and again, and plays which don't work will stop the clock and create more opportunities.
WHEN PITTSBURGH HAS THE BALL
Gradkowski actually has a pretty good history in the preseason, but by this point in the preseason, he's already in his top form. The veteran backup hasn't taken many live snaps this year due to injuries early on in the campaign, and he is a relatively scary proposition for live bettors as a result.
The one thing we do know is that we've seen enjoy of Landry Jones. Sure, he led two touchdown drives last week against Green Bay, but those were really his only big highlights of a preseason in which he has taken over two-thirds of the snaps for the team. Color us unimpressed.
TREND TO TRACK
Rex Ryan might be a losing coach when it comes to the preseason in totality, but the real hurting has come in Week 1 when his teams are 1-6. Aside from that, the Bills are generally a tossup proposition in terms of wins and losses.
What we do know though, is the deeper Ryan's teams get into the preseason, the harder they tend to play, particularly on the offensive side of the ball. The over is now 18-8 in Ryan's 26 preseason games, and many of those overs, as live bettors should note, have come in the last two weeks of the preseason.
BookMaker opened the spread for this Saturday game at -2.5 in favor of the Buffalo Bills. The NFL odds total surfaced at 42.5. Minute-by-minute spreads, totals and props are available for this game using the live betting platform at BookMaker.
Load your betting bankroll from your smartphone or tablet with BookMaker’s new cashier feature! Depositing and withdrawing funds from your account has never been easier. BookMaker's live betting platform means you always have access to odds and lines to every sporting event. Click here and start wagering today! The game between the Buffalo Bills and Pittsburgh Steelers is scheduled for Saturday, August 29, 2015, at 4:00 p.m. ET at Ralph Wilson Stadium.
