A Super Bowl rematch is on tap for Thursday night on ESPN as the Pittsburgh Steelers host the Arizona Cardinals. If you want to see the starters you better tune in early because neither team is going to play them very long in this preseason opener. The Steelers are a 3 point NFL football betting favorite with a total of 33 in this game. While revenge would normally play a part in a regular season game it has little meaning in the NFL football betting preseason. Both teams want to see a lot of players and avoid injuries. The Steelers are expected to play their starters only a series or two. “Winning certainly is the goal, even in the preseason, but because these games don’t count in the standings the object is to try to win them in a certain way. The front-line players, both on offense and defense, figure to be on the field for only a series or two.” Pittsburgh head coach Mike Tomlin said.
The Steelers have a quarterback rotation of Ben Roethlisberger, Charlie Batch, Dennis Dixon and rookie Mike Reilly. Big Ben is not going to play long but Batch and Dixon should get a lot of time. Pittsburgh has said they want to see a lot of Dennis Dixon this NFL football betting preseason.
The Cardinals have a quarterback rotation of Kurt Warner, Matt Leinart, Brian St. Pierre and Tyler Palko. Warner is not going to play but a series or two so the NFL football betting result will come down to how well Leinart and St. Pierre play. Warner would like to play more but knows it is not going to happen. “I leave it up to the coaches,” Warner said. “They know how much I want to play. I know they want to keep me healthy.”
This is the third preseason meeting between the teams but the first one at Heinz Field. The teams last met in the preseason in 2006 at University of Phoenix Stadium and the Cardinals came away with the 21-13 NFL betting victory. The only other meeting in the preseason was in 1985 when Arizona was known as the St. Louis Cardinals and the Cardinals won 14-6 at home.
Many people will remember the 27-23 Pittsburgh win in Super Bowl XLIII against Arizona but this game is not likely to be anything like that one.