NFL Football Preseason - Philadelphia Eagles at Pittsburgh Steelers (-3, 35) Sun. 8:00 PM EST
Philadelphia was sharper than Brad Pitt in an Armani suit in whipping Carolina 27-10 as three point favorites. Donovan McNabb and most of the other regulars struck rapidly, building insurmountable 24-0 lead. "It was good to see Donovan get back in there," said coach Andy Reid. "I thought he played very well.
It looked like he was confident. It didn't look like his knee was bothering him. And he looked just like he did in practice. I liked the way he threw the ball."
McNabb wore a knee brace on his right leg, which he's been doing since training camp started, nevertheless it was hardly noticeable as he showed good mobility in the pocket.
Having a polished receiver from a true passing team like Kevin Curtis doesn't hurt either, as they hooked up for a 27-yard gain on the Eagles first offensive play last week.
New head coach Mike Tomlin is on his fourth preseason game and would like to see more explosiveness out of his offensive troops. Pittsburgh has scored just over 13 points a game in spite of dominating running game, which has averaged 135.3 yards per game.
That is really a distinguished number considering the new coaching staff has been re-evaluating the offense line to find the right combination of players they want.
While points have been hard to come by, Ben Roethlisberger has been on target in limited duty completing 12 of 17 for 174 yards.
Defensively it looks like the old Steel Curtain defense, having begrudgingly given up 30 total points and just 248 total yards per game.
This will be the fifth consecutive year these two teams have met in August, and the favorite and home team is 2-2 straight up and against the spread.
Steelers are listed as a 3-point favorite with a total of 35 at sportsbook.com. Pittsburgh is just 3-7 ATS as home favorite the last five seasons.
Each coach has indicated the starters will play about a half, each searching for confirmation that his team is ready for the regular season.
Total players should take heed; Pittsburgh is 7-0 Under the last two seasons.
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