Week 8 betting preview: Steelers 8.5-point favorites over Browns

Barring a huge swing in the coming days, the Pittsburgh Steelers will open up against the Cleveland Browns as the largest favorites they have been all year, with the current spread showing at 8.5-points and growing as of Friday morning.

While the Steelers have struggled coming off the bye-week in recent years, going 1-3 over the past four seasons, they did not face Cleveland in any of those matchups. Considering Pittsburgh has not lost at home to the Browns since 2003, it is perhaps no surprise to note that an initial spread of 7-points has quickly evaporated. Although 8.5-points is now the standard line from most online sportsbook, a spread of 8-points can still be found with some providers if you move quickly enough.

An early totals position of 50.5-points has been on a slow decline since Monday, to be replaced by 49-points at the time of writing. But it is the moneyline that has been the biggest mover of the week. From an opening price of -323, the best price currently on offer for the Steelers is -370, with several bookmakers offering no better than -400.

According to Oddsshark.com, Pittsburgh is 4-9 against the spread in their last 13 games and 3-3 on the season so far. The total has gone over in six of the Steelers last eight games and the under is 2-4 on the year so far. Pittsburgh is 1-3-1 ATS in its last five games against Cleveland.

After successfully highlighting James Conner as our pick for first touchdown scorer in Weeks 5 and 6, we will be riding his hot streak for a third time in Week 8 and he should still be available at a price of around 5/1 for first game touchdown and around 5/2 for first team touchdown. A saver on Vance McDonald at around 14/1 and 7/1 respectively could also be worth a look this week.