Pittsburgh Steelers vs Tampa Bay Buccaneers Point Spread Picks

Tampa Bay didn't start its first-stringers, but it still came out with an easy 29-7 win over Tennessee, which featured No. 1 draft pick Cam Ward and some starters for a few drives. Pittsburgh defeated Jacksonville for its first preseason win since 2023 after losing all three last year. Baker Mayfield likely won't play at all in the preseason, but Kyle Trask completed 12 of 16 for 129 yards, and Connor Bazelak went 6-for-9 for 48 yards for the Buccaneers, who racked up 178 rushing yards. Todd Bowles is 5-2 straight up and ATS since 2023 in the preseason for the Buccaneers. Aaron Rodgers will not play this week for the Steelers, and Mike Tomlin also said he will keep out several other starters, mostly on defense. Tampa Bay had an outstanding performance by its defense against the Titans, especially the younger players, who showed tremendous potential with disciplined play. Take the Buccaneers.

Tampa Bay is 0-3 ATS its past three games and was fortunate to get by Atlanta 21-15 as the Buccaneers were helped by an awful roughing-the-passer call against the Falcons after sacking Tom Brady. The Buccaneers are not ready to be more than a touchdown favorite on the road even against the Steelers, who were blown out at Buffalo. Brady still has limited options to throw with several receivers and his tight end either questionable or out for this game and Mike Tomlin's teams have bounced back to be 4-0 ATS and 4-0 UNDER their past four games after giving up at least 30 points their previous game. The Bucs have gone UNDER four of their five games this year and they are averaging only 20.6 points and Pittsburgh averages 13.4 points. Kenny Pickett will be more comfortable in his second start after throwing for 327 yards against the Bills and he'll be playing at home. The Bucs are 11-1 UNDER their past 12 games after yielding at least 150 rushing yards their previous game and the Steelers are 10-1 UNDER in Week Six. Take the Steelers and the UNDER.

Tampa Bay is hoping Bruce Arians can get the best out of Jameis Winston unlike Dirk Koetter, who is gone after three seasons. The pressure on Winston should ease a little as Arians likes to get the running game going first to set up the passing plays. Todd Bowles is back as an assistant after four years as head coach with the Jets and he'll take over as defensive coordinator for the Buccaneers, who still have a decent front seven, but need help in the secondary. Blaine Gabbert is Winston's backup and he has started 48 games in his career with four different teams and most recently he played in eight games for Tennessee in 2018 and completed 61-of-101 for 626 yards with four touchdowns and four interceptions. Next is Ryan Griffin, whose career has consisted of injuries and practice squads and undrafted rookie free agent Nick Fitzgerald out of Mississippi State. Pittsburgh will be without Antonio Brown and Le'Veon Bell which may hurt the Steelers offensively, but they do rid themselves of some headaches. Ben Roethlisberger threw for 5,129 passing yards and 34 touchdowns, but he was also picked off 16 times. The Steelers defense still is formidable and could be improved with the free-agent signings of defensive back Steven Nelson and linebacker Mark Barron. The backup QBs are Mason Rudolph, Joshua Dobbs and Devlin Hodges. Rudolph did not get into any games in 2018 while Dobbs did and completed 6-of-12 for 43 yards with no TDs and an interception.  Hodges is a rookie out of Samford. Mike Tomlin is 31-19 UNDER in preseason play and 8-4 UNDER the last three years. Also, Pittsburgh is 10-3 UNDER in Game 1 of the preseason the last 13 seasons. Take the UNDER.