Make a Play for Points
It's our first crack here at showing our pre-season picking prowess for 2013!
We have a solid play in Monday's football game.
The Steelers are visiting our nation's capital to face the Redskins.
Bovada has the total tabbed at 39.5, and I see this one sailing over that. While we won't be watching any of Robert Griffin III's heroics tonight, both teams can supply plenty of seasoned quarterbacking to provide some much needed pre-season fireworks that will get a football fan's juices flowing for September.
The Redskins will start Kirk Cousins, who handled some fill-in work quite well last season when he completed 33 of 48 passes, with four of those completions resulting in touchdowns. He also had an impressive qb rating of 101.6 (don't ask me the formula for that, I just know it's good!).
Last week, the second-year quarterback was 6 of 7 for 52 yards and a score in the Redskins' 22-21 win over Tennessee. Look for him to keep building confidence and show continued progress the more time he gets, as he knows this is his time to shine until Griffin is ready to play again.
But the experience doesn't stop with Cousins. He'll give way to veteran Rex Grossman, who also made a splash -- albeit brief -- in DC backing up Donovan McNabb two season ago.
By no stretch are we indicating that either of these two will light the world on fire any time soon as NFL starters, but in a pre-season game where the total is under 40, expect them to do their fair share in helping the game go over.
The same can be said for Steelers quarterbacks Ben Roethlisberger and Bruce Gradkowski.
They will see plenty of action Monday and may well do so (especially Gradkowski) against defensive personnel lacking the experience these two have calling signals.
You could even look for Landry Jones to have a better outing than his first performance last week. The rookie from Oklahoma had some rough moments in his short stint in that game against the Giants, bumping into runningback Baron Batch while trying to hand him the ball on a routine handoff (or what should have beeen) and then later getting sacked in the end zone for a safety. His cobwebs and butterflies have likely diminished; now he can get down to business.
While watching pre-season football isn't always the most entertaining, betting can actually be quite profitable. We were 4-0 over the weekend. You can see for yourself at our website.
The over here should provide more bankroll as you look to fund the regular season, which is quickly approaching. Enjoy the points!
My pick: Steelers v Redskins over 39½
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UPDATE:
Result ... Washington 24 Pittsburgh 13 Total points = 37 under covers
Steve Sorpano is the handicapper and founder of www.premierticketsports.com