Blitzburgh Pick’Em: Week 7

This week the Steelers (4-1) visit the Miami Dolphins (3-2). Jump it to for our staff picks for the Steelers game (good news for Pittsburgh fans) and for all the other games as well.

Bam:

I think the Steelers are in for a close contest this week. Miami’s defense is tough and it could take a while to score some points.

Steelers 17 Dolphins 13.

George:

Since I’m the stat guy, I’ll use stats. Here are the rankings in DVOA and Advanced NFL Stats’ efficiency ratings for the Steelers and Dolphins:

The Steelers are clearly the better team, so your forecast depends on how much you think home field advantage matters here. The Football Outsiders Premium Picks (subscription required, so I won’t link to it here) favors the Steelers, but only slightly, and Advanced NFL Stats agrees, giving the Steelers only a 52% chance to win.

I think the game will be relatively low scoring, with the Steelers defense playing with extra motivation (if motivation has any significant effect on results, it will show itself this week) and Miami at home, but the Steelers will win by at least a touchdown. Steelers 17, Dolphins 10.

Matt:

I see this game as the first real test against the Steelers. Yes, the Ravens game was a test, but not for all of the Steelers. For the first game this year, we have a Big Ben back without questions/excuses of him being rusty…or needing to get used to the speed of the game. I do think this game is going to be close to start, but I think the Steelers can pull away late. Steelers 24, Miami 13.

With that being said, I am actually more excited to see James Harrison hit someone than to see how this game ends. Hopefully Harrison is still the same player, but I think we will see a lot more flags this week…while players and officials are getting used to these “new rules.”

Below are the Staff Picks for the rest of the games this week.

STAFF PICKS

Bye Week: Lions, Texans, Colts, and Jets