Football Playoff Betting – Total Pictures on Jets vs Steelers

Football playoff bettors know that the New York Jet shave already come to Heinz Field in Pittsburgh and beaten the Steelers, but how much of an effect does this have on the "total picture" in the AFC title game? In other words, how many points will these teams produce?

We’ll examine that on this game that holds the key to getting to Super Bowl 45. It begins at 6:30 PM ET at Heinz Field (natural turf). The Steelers are 3.5-point favorites in the football playoff betting odds, with a total of 38.5 points posted on the contest.

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Football Playoff Betting

New York Jets (13-5 SU, 11-7 ATS) at Pittsburgh Steelers (13-4 SU, 11-6 ATS)

Live at Heinz Field

Pittsburgh, PA

Sunday, January 23 — 6:30 PM ET

TV: CBS

Odds – Football Playoff Betting

Pittsburgh -3.5

N.Y. Jets +3.5

Total 38.5

Here are some of the trends as they may impact playoff playoff betting here

• New York has played four of its last five games OVER the total

• New York has won four of its last five games SU

• New York has won 13 of its last 16 road games SU

• New York has played ten of its last eleven road games OVER the total

• Pittsburgh has won seven of its last eight games SU

• Pittsburgh has covered five of its last six games

• Pittsburgh has won four of its last five home games SU

These teams met not long ago, and it useful to look at for football playoff betting purposes. The Steelers,.who were battling Baltimore for the AFC North title, put together 378 yards from scrimmage, compared to just 276 for the Jets, but they came away on the short end of a 22-17 score, losing to the team that has now swept through Indianapolis and New England to get to the AFC title game. Nine of the Jets’ points in the game came from defense and special teams – a kickoff return by Brad Smith that started the game off, and a safety. The Jets engineered only one touchdown drive on offense, and it did go 66 yards in eight plays.

Pittsburgh had a beautiful, 96-yard TD drive that took up 16 plays and over eight minutes off the clock. That happened in the second quarter, and in the second half these teams combined to score 17 points. That game fell over the posted total of 36 points, although if you just took the offensive scoring it would have totaled only 30 points.

Here are the head-to-head football betting trends that have a bearing on football playoff betting on Sunday:

• Nine of the last eleven meetings have gone OVER the total

• Pittsburgh has won 11 of the last 15 meetings SU

• Pittsburgh has covered nine of the last 13 meetings

• Pittsburgh has won five of the last six meetings SU as the home team

When you look at this football playoff betting analysis, you have to respect Pittsburgh’s defense, because the Steelers seem to do those things that would normally thwart a team like the Jets. They are the best in the NFL in defending the run, holding opponents to just three yards a carry, and we know that Rex Ryan likes to play that "ground and pound." The Jets, it should be mentioned, had more success than anybody else against the Steeler front line, gaining 106 yards on the ground, and that averaged out to 3.9 per carry. Can the jets live on that alone? I don’t know about that, and Mark Sanchez, who threw for 170 yards in the first meeting, will have Troy Polamalu to worry about this time.

By the same token, Ben Roethlisberger’s life isn’t going to be trouble-free either. The Steeler quarterback, who was sacked three times by the Jets, will have to concern himself with the various blitzes thrown at him by Ryan, and he’ll have to do it while dealing with a brittle offensive line, which had to shuffle tackles around last week. Flozell Adams is still on shaky ground, and Jonathan Scott says he’s fine, but these guys have still given Big Ben some anxious moments.

We know there is a big trend here, where the Jets have played ten of their last eleven road games over the total. But we are nonetheless looking for careful play, an emphasis on the running game, and defense to rule the day on both sides. It’s not a huge play, but we look for an under in football playoff betting for Sunday.

JAY’S PLAY: UNDER 38.5 **

(Graded on a scale of 1-4 stars)

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