Pittsburgh at Tennessee

The Pittsburgh Steelers are off a big rivalry game with Philadelphia, a game in which they had to grind it out for 60 minutes for a 16-14 win. It is tough to come back from that on short rest, especially to play on the road vs. a team that just 1-4 on the season. The Steelers can still bring the defense, but without a solid running game the offense is mediocre, ranking in the bottom half of the league. Tennessee has struggled offensively, scoring 14 points or less in four of their five games. To their credit they have had a taxing schedule, losing to four teams that are a combined 16-5 on the season. They have had to face murderers row: New England, San Diego, Detroit, Houston, Minnesota. Under Mike Tomlin, the Steelers really underperform on the road. They are just 15-22 ATS away from home since he took over. Over the past two seasons, Pittsburgh is 1-8 ATS on the road vs. conference opponents and 3-10 ATS following a win. Obviously this team gets overrated easily and they more often than not fails to meet expectations. Throw in the major injuries on defense (Troy Palamalu out and Lamar Woodley and James Harrison hobbled) and this becomes a tall order on the road. It doesn't get much uglier on defense than it has been for the Titans, as they have allowed each of their first five opponents to score 30 points or more. The NFL is a funny league that way though. When it looks like the lights are ready to go out, they go on. There have only been seven teams since 1990 in the NFL that had the dubious distinction of allowing 30 points or more in five straight games, and those teams went 7-0 ATS in their next game. They also went on to win five of those seven straight-up. The two losses were by just 3 and 1 points. Score one for ugly here and play on the team that is desparate for a win: Tennessee.