When it comes to NFL betting, there are often few better wagers to gamble on than NFL odds boosts. They are bets that are exactly what they sound like: Promotions from sportsbooks that move the odds in your favor on certain bets. Most of them are the specific prop bets that you might be searching for by yourself, and oftentimes the odds are fairly enticing. Rarely can you make a lot of money on these bets because of limits, but our job is to highlight the best NFL prop bets and NFL picks to wager on every weeks. We scour the internet trying to find the best Week 15 NFL odds boosts for you every day from every sportsbook. Tonight, we delve into the Monday Night Football matchup between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Cincinnati Bengals.
The best thing about tonight’s game is the tantalizing odds boosts on the market from the sportsbooks for the contest. The Steelers have plenty of playmakers to create wagers around, notably JuJu Smith-Schuster and Chase Claypool. But there’s also a great one for Ben Roethlisberger on the market that could earn a nice payout. The Steelers are still one of the best teams in the league, and this game is an excellent opportunity for them to return to form after two losses. The Bengals are struggling without Joe Burrow, and their offensive ineptitude is another good chance at an odds boost tonight.
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Week 15 Monday Night Football NFL Picks + NFL Odds Boosts
NFL Picks: Ben Roethlisberger 3+ Passing Touchdowns (+200 BetMGM)
The first time these two teams met, Roethlisberger threw for 333 yards and four touchdowns in an easy Steelers win. Pittsburgh has regressed somewhat since then, but Cincinnati has also had its fair share of problems since that game. The Steelers are now a one-dimensional offense, with Roethlisberger taking on more responsibility with his arm without a sustainable rushing attack. He had thrown 40 or more times in five straight games before the Bills held him to only 37 attempts last week. In the last six games, Roethlisberger has thrown for 16 touchdowns and the Steelers defense has as many touchdowns (two) as Pittsburgh has rushing touchdowns.
So when Pittsburgh scores tonight, there’s a good chance it will be Roethlisberger and the passing game doing the damage against this Bengals secondary. Cincinnati ranks 22nd against the pass, while Pittsburgh now ranks sixth in passing touchdowns so far this season with just the 17th-best passing offense. The Bengals will struggle to contain Smith-Schuster, Claypool, Eric Ebron and Diontae Johnson, a foursome that all has 50 catches and 500 yards so far this season. The sportsbooks even have odds on who will catch the first touchdown, with FanDuel offering +450 odds on Johnson or Claypool, while DraftKings has +820 odds on Claypool scoring first.
NFL Picks: JuJu Smith-Schuster 80+ Receiving Yards & Steelers Win (+300 FanDuel)
In conjunction with what I wrote above, Smith-Schuster is the Steelers’ leading receiver. He has at least six catches in seven of Pittsburgh’s last eight games, though he hasn’t gone over 80 yards in a game since the Week 9 win over Dallas. In the first game with Cincinnati, Smith-Schuster was targeted 13 times and led the team with nine catches, but he gained just 77 yards and scored once in the win. If the Steelers target him as often tonight, it is unlikely he’ll have such a low average gain per catch, so it seems safe that he should be able to exceed 80 yards.
Given Pittsburgh’s struggles in recent weeks, I’d expect the Steelers to target Smith-Schuster early and often as their top playmaker. The Steelers might also try to take the top off the defense early with Smith-Schuster’s speed in order to set up the running game a bit. Pittsburgh needs to jumpstart the offense a bit, and the best way to do that is to find more ways to use their playmakers. In Smith-Schuster’s case, that means targets and taking deep shots to spread the field and open up room for the rest of the attack.
NFL Picks: Bengals Score Under 9.5 Points (+160 DraftKings)
Since Burrow’s injury, the Bengals offense has been largely ineffective with Brandon Allen leading the charge. Ryan Finley will start at quarterback today for Cincinnati, but I don’t know if that will help jumpstart a unit that has scored in the single digits three times in the last four games. Even with Burrow, Cincinnati scored just 10 points on this Pittsburgh defense earlier this season, so it’s not unrealistic to think this Bengals offense will be at least one point worse without him. The Steelers defense is going to be looking to make a statement as they still rank first in scoring defense and second in total defense despite the last two losses.
This wager dovetails perfectly with FanDuel’s +200 odds that Pittsburgh will win by at least 21 tonight. The Steelers need to win out in order to maintain a sliver of hope of the top seed in the AFC, so that will only add motivation to both units. But more importantly, a normal week will do wonders for this team after the chaos of the last three weeks when there wasn’t much time for the Steelers to think between games. Pittsburgh should be raring to go from the outset and Cincinnati is in a tailspin right now and just wanting this season to be over. So I expect a convincing Week 15 Pittsburgh victory in which its defense steals the show and the offense shows some signs of life.
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