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In case you haven’t heard, the Pittsburgh Steelers and New England Patriots will go head-to-head in a near must-win game for the black-and-gold. The Steelers have lost three games in a row, and have the Baltimore Ravens nipping at their heals in the AFC North division race. But this isn’t just about the division, this is about the postseason.
Could the Steelers lose and still make the playoffs? Yes, but they would need the Miami Dolphins, Indianapolis Colts and Tennessee Titans all to lose in Week 15 to be in the 6th seed spot heading into Week 16 — assuming the Raves are able to beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at home in Week 15.
The Patriots aren’t necessarily riding high entering this game either. They are coming off possibly the worst loss in the Tom Brady/Bill Belichick era after the Miami Dolphins stunned the Patriots on their home turf on a last second, lateral play to win the Week 14 AFC East game.
With all that said, many are wondering who will win the upcoming showdown at 4:25 p.m. ET at Heinz Field? On paper this seems to be a no-brainer. Brady and Rob Gronkowski have tortured the Steelers and Ben Roethlisberger almost his entire career. But who are the experts taking in this game?
Time to check.
For the first time this season, the Steelers are not the heavy favorites in this upcoming game. For the first time in a long time, there is a site, hello CBS Sports, who has unanimously picked the Patriots to win this game. However, there are sites who are giving the home team a chance. Three brave souls at ESPN took Pittsburgh, and a pair of experts at SB Nation also like the Steelers to pull off the upset.
But these are just a few of the sites who produce weekly expert picks. What about all the other sites? This is where NFL Pick Watch comes in. NFL Pick Watch takes all online expert picks and puts them into one easy-to-read chart. According to them, 73% of experts are leaning the Patriots’ way in Week 15.
Will the experts be right this week? Hard to tell, but they all took the Steelers in Week 14 against the Oakland Raiders, and we all know how that played out. So, if you haven’t learned anything yet about the NFL, you just never know in the NFL — that is why they play the game.