Tennessee Titans vs Pittsburgh Steelers 8/25/18 Odds, Preview and Prediction

The Tennessee Titans play the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 3 of the 2018 NFL season at Heinz Field on Saturday, August 25, 2018.

The Titans are still looking for their first preseason victory. They lost to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers last week 14-30 for their second consecutive loss. Meanwhile, the Steelers fell to 1-1 after suffering a 34-51 loss to the Green Bay Packers in a shootout last week.

The last time these two teams played was in November 16, 2017 when the Steelers easily routed the Titans 40-17 behind four touchdown passes from Ben Roethlisberger. On the other hand, the Titans’ quarterback Marcus Mariota got picked off four times during that contest.

Struggled Against The Pass

The Titans suffered a 14-30 loss to the Buccaneers last week but that was because they didn’t keep their starters too long on the field in Week 2 of the preseason. Marcus Mariota took his offense down the field and connected with Taywan Taylor for a 47 yard touchdown pass on their opening drive of the game. Tennessee was up 7-3 after one period when Mike Vrabel started pulling out his starters.

Blaine Gilbert also threw a touchdown pass for the Titans as he went 10-16 for 116 passing yards in a losing effort. Dalyn Dawkins led the Titans’ running game with 32 rushing yards on 11 carries while 3rd string running back David Fluellen added 21 rushing yards on six carries. Receiver Taywan Taylor had a huge game with 92 receiving yards including two touchdown receptions.

On defense, Jayon Brown led the Titans with five tackles and one sack. Otherwise, there was nothing good to say about their defense which gave up 429 total offensive yards to Tampa Bay. Last season, the Titans defense was solid on the ground, allowing just 88.8 rushing yards per game. But they struggled against the pass as they ranked only 25th in the league in air defense.

Steelers Defense Had A Day Off

The Steelers’ defense looked like they had a day off in their second preseason game as they yielded 34 first half points and 51 overall against the Green Bay offense last week. Rookie quarterback Mason Rudolph finished 5-12 for 47 yards with one touchdown but his first pass of the game was picked off and returned for a touchdown by Tramon Williams. On the other hand, Joshua Hobbs threw for 12-18 for 192 yards with two touchdowns and one interception.

Jaylen Samuels led the Steelers with 9 carries for a total of 38 yards and a score while James Conner led Pittsburgh with 57 rushing yards plus a touchdown. On the air, it was James Washington who topped the Steelers with 5 catches for 114 yards including 2 touchdown receptions. The Steelers defense combined for a total of three sacks while L.J. Fort led the team with four tackles.

Starting quarterback Ben Roethlisberger did not see action for the second consecutive preseason game. Roethlisberger suffered a concussion in practice and is being held out on concussion protocol. Le’Veon Bell also hasn’t played for Pittsburgh because of a contract issue. Likewise, wide receiver Antonio Brown did not play for the Steelers last week.

Who Wins?

Pittsburgh’s offense has played very well without Ben Roethlisberger suiting up in preseason play. Backup quarterbacks Mason Rudolph and Landry Jones have combined to throw a total of five touchdown passes in two preseason games and the offense has produced a total of 65 points in two preseason games.

On the other hand, Tennessee’s quarterbacks have combined for just two touchdowns in two preseason games. Defensively, they’ve given up 30+ points in their previous two preseason games. Mike Vrabel is 0-2 while Mike Tomlin is 26-22 straight up in preseason play.

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