Written By Vegas Matty
Regardless of what happens in prime time during this week’s Sunday and Monday Night Football games, the Pittsburgh Steelers will take on the New England Patriots in arguably the biggest matchup of the season next Sunday. And BetOnline.AG was the first sportsbook to post a line on the game, opening New England as 1-point road chalk at Pittsburgh with home-field advantage in the playoffs on the line.
But first, the Steelers are hosting the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday night before the Patriots visit the Miami Dolphins on Monday in two divisional games that have less meaning than their showdown. The rematch of last year’s AFC Championship Game could not be any bigger, even though New England has found a way to win in four of its previous five trips to Pittsburgh; including the 2005 AFC title game, with a dominant 11-3 edge straight up in the past 14 meetings overall (10-3-1 against the spread).
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The Patriots have already been bet up to -2.5 in early action since the line was released early Sunday, and tight end Rob Gronkowski will return following his one-game suspension. The Steelers will also have rookie wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster back on the field after his one-game ban, so both teams should be close to full strength offensively. From a defensive perspective, Pittsburgh is still hurting from the loss of leading tackler Ryan Shazier for the season due to a spinal injury suffered in last week’s win over the Cincinnati Bengals. Meanwhile, New England hopes leading tackler Kyle Van Noy (calf) will be back.
Here are two other huge NFL divisional games in Week 15:
- On Saturday night, the AFC West lead will be on the line in Kansas City when the Chiefs host the Los Angeles Chargers, and they opened as 1-point home favorites at BetOnline.AG. Both teams were very impressive in easy wins on Sunday, with the Chiefs finally snapping a four-game losing streak that cost them their division lead. Now Kansas City is up to -1.5 and will have a chance to reclaim sole possession of first place with a sweep of Los Angeles that would also earn the team the division title if they end up tied at the end of the regular season.
- Then on Sunday, the Los Angeles Rams will visit the Seattle Seahawks in a Pick’em game with an opportunity to move closer to winning their first NFC West title since 2003. The Rams opened as 1.5-point road underdogs at BetOnline.AG just prior to falling to the Philadelphia Eagles at home and the Seahawks losing to the Jacksonville Jaguars on the road. Seattle won the first meeting 16-10 in Week 5 but lost three of the previous four meetings SU and ATS. If the Seahawks win the second meeting, they will own the tiebreaker by virtue of a sweep too.
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NFL Week 15 Opening Lines:
Denver -2 @ Indianapolis
Detroit -6½ vs. Chicago
Kansas City -1 vs. Los Angeles Chargers
Philadelphia @ New York Giants (N/A Carson Wentz – Knee)
Green bay @ Carolina (N/A Aaron Rodgers – Collarbone)
Minnesota -10½ vs. Cincinnati
Miami @ Buffalo (N/A Tyrod Taylor – Knee)
Jacksonville -11½ vs. Houston
New York Jets @ New Orleans (N/A Josh McCown – Hand)
Washington -4½ vs. Arizona
Baltimore vs. Cleveland (N/A)
Seattle PK vs. Los Angeles Rams
New England -2½ @ Pittsburgh
San Francisco -2 vs. Tennessee
Dallas -2½ @ Oakland
Atlanta -5 @ Tampa Bay
Updated College Football Bowl Game Point Spreads
Troy -6½ vs. North Texas
Western Kentucky -6 vs. Georgia State
Oregon -7½ vs. Boise State
Colorado State -5½ vs. Marshall
Arkansas State -3½ vs. Middle Tennessee State
Florida Atlantic -22½ vs. Akron
SMU -5 vs. Louisiana Tech
Florida International -7 vs. Temple
Ohio -7½ vs. UAB
Wyoming -1 vs. Central Michigan
South Florida -2½ vs. Houston U
Utah -7 vs. West Virginia
Duke -4½ vs. Northern Illinois
Kansas State -2½ vs. UCLA
Florida State -15½ vs. Southern Mississippi
Iowa -3 vs. Boston College
Missouri -3 vs. Texas
Arizona U -3½ vs. Purdue
Virginia -1½ vs. Navy
Oklahoma State -5½ vs. Virginia Tech
TCU -2½ vs. Stanford
Washington State -3 vs. Michigan State
Wake Forest -3 vs. Texas A&M
N.C. State -6½ vs. Arizona State
Northwestern -7 vs. Kentucky
Utah State -4 vs. New Mexico State
Ohio State -7 vs. USC
Louisville -6½ vs. Mississippi State
Memphis -3½ vs. Iowa State
Penn State -2 vs. Washington U
Wisconsin -6½ vs. Miami Florida
Michigan -7½ vs. South Carolina
Auburn -9½ vs. Central Florida
LSU -3 vs. Notre Dame
Georgia -2 vs. Oklahoma
Alabama -2½ vs. Clemson
