Steelers improve Super Bowl odds

[Lady Steel]

The Pittsburgh Steelers (http://espn.go.com/nfl/team/_/name/pit/pittsburgh-steelers) have done little in free agency, but that hasn’t stopped them from improving their odds of winning the 2015 Super Bowl, according to Bovada, an online sports betting site.

Bovada has the Steelers at 20/1 odds after previously giving them a 25/1 chance (on Feb. 2) of winning the next Super Bowl.

The Steelers have the eighth-best odds of winning the Super Bowl, according to Bovada, and are tops among teams in the AFC North.

Ahead of the Steelers are the Seattle Seahawks (http://espn.go.com/nfl/team/_/name/sea/seattle-seahawks) (6/1), Green Bay Packers (http://espn.go.com/nfl/team/_/name/gb/green-bay-packers) (7/1), New England Patriots (http://espn.go.com/nfl/team/_/name/ne/new-england-patriots) (7/1), Indianapolis Colts (http://espn.go.com/nfl/team/_/name/ind/indianapolis-colts) (8/1), Denver Broncos (http://espn.go.com/nfl/team/_/name/den/denver-broncos) (12/1), Dallas Cowboys (http://espn.go.com/nfl/team/_/name/dal/dallas-cowboys) (14/1) and Philadelphia Eagles (http://espn.go.com/nfl/team/_/name/phi/philadelphia-eagles) (18/1).

The Eagles improved their odds -- they had previously been 20/1 -- despite turning over their roster. The Colts jumped from 14/1 odds after signing wide receiver Andre Johnson (http://espn.go.com/nfl/player/_/id/4461/andre-johnson), running backFrank Gore (http://espn.go.com/nfl/player/_/id/8479/frank-gore), and defensive end Trent Cole (http://espn.go.com/nfl/player/_/id/8560/trent-cole).

Bovada’s Super Bowl odds for the rest of the AFC North are 25/1 for the Baltimore Ravens (http://espn.go.com/nfl/team/_/name/bal/baltimore-ravens), 33/1 for the Cincinnati Bengals (http://espn.go.com/nfl/team/_/name/cin/cincinnati-bengals), and 75/1 for the Cleveland Browns (http://espn.go.com/nfl/team/_/name/cle/cleveland-browns).

The two teams with the worst odds of winning the 2015 Super Bowl, according to Bovada, are the Jacksonville Jaguars (http://espn.go.com/nfl/team/_/name/jax/jacksonville-jaguars) and Tennessee Titans (http://espn.go.com/nfl/team/_/name/ten/tennessee-titans).
Both are 200/1 odds.



http://espn.go.com/blog/pittsburgh-steelers

[steelreserve]

Uhhh ok. Don't add any good players and make the schedule twice as hard - that's a sure recipe for success! Not to mention the team was carried by three guys at once having career seasons (also helped by the soft schedule?); add in the overmatched coach and the crackhead GM, and you've got about the best recipe for a backslide that it's possible to put together.

[fansince'76]

Uhhh ok. Don't add any good players and make the schedule twice as hard - that's a sure recipe for success! Not to mention the team was carried by three guys at once having career seasons (also helped by the soft schedule?); add in the overmatched coach and the crackhead GM, and you've got about the best recipe for a backslide that it's possible to put together.

What about Dallas at 14/1? Talk about being carried by a guy having a career season. They were able to lean on Murray for a ton of production which gave Romo fewer chances to fuck things up like he usually does. Not to mention Denver at 12/1 with Manning's (now) noodle arm and Brock Osweiler backing him up. Good luck with that next year...

[polamalubeast]

Uhhh ok. Don't add any good players and make the schedule twice as hard - that's a sure recipe for success! Not to mention the team was carried by three guys at once having career seasons (also helped by the soft schedule?); add in the overmatched coach and the crackhead GM, and you've got about the best recipe for a backslide that it's possible to put together.

Nobody would have thought that Antonio Brown was going to be even better than in 2013, so yes 3 players have had a career year, but it is not impossible to be better the year after...Many thought that Brown's season in 2013 was his career year, but he has easily beat his numbers in 2014

Brown and Bell will not need to repeat their season if Wheaton and Bryant are better

But I admit that the defense could be one of the five worst in the NFL next year, since right now the steelers have no pass rush and secondary

[Steelerette]

What about Dallas at 14/1? Talk about being carried by a guy having a career season. They were able to lean on Murray for a ton of production which gave Romo fewer chances to fuck things up like he usually does. Not to mention Denver at 12/1 with Manning's (now) noodle arm and Brock Osweiler backing him up. Good luck with that next year...

Murray is for real, I never felt like Dallas used him right. He should be happy to be in Philly but the question at this point in his career is whether there's much left in the tank.

As for the Steelers, if the offseason finishes well and a few things come together, they can be a very, very good team this season - but at this juncture I'm not buying 20/1 odds. That said, the function of Vegas is to make money. The purpose of vegas odds are to influence betting and limit payouts, not necessarily to levy solid predictions. You take these things with a grain of salt. The oddsmakers don't have to predict which teams will win -- they have to predict which teams people will put money on.

[fansince'76]

I expect the offense to be even better this year, with Wheaton and Bryant having another year of experience under their belts. The defense carried the offense and probably the worst OL in Super Bowl history (and which still almost cost us XLIII against the Cardinals - casting an eye at Hartwig the Human Speed Bump here) to a championship against an even tougher schedule back in 2008. It's time for the offense to return the favor.

And if Shazier and Thomas and Jones begin to live up to their billing, we really won't be that bad off on the other side of the ball either. Getting rid of Troy's "freelancing" now that he SIMPLY CANNOT DO IT ANYMORE will help a heap as well, as the second half of this past season will attest. Surely I wasn't the only one who noticed the drastic improvement in the defense (and particularly in Mitchell's play) when Troy wasn't in the lineup and Allen was in there actually playing the traditional role of a strong safety?

[st33lersguy]

Improve odds after the Ben signing? He was going to be back for 2015 anyway. Our only addition was DeAngelo Williams, who was added to the offense to back-up one of the team's best players. We'll improve our defense when we add DBs and OLBs that are capable of being starters.

[steelreserve]

And if Shazier and Thomas and Jones begin to live up to their billing, we really won't be that bad off on the other side of the ball either. Getting rid of Troy's "freelancing" now that he SIMPLY CANNOT DO IT ANYMORE will help a heap as well, as the second half of this past season will attest. Surely I wasn't the only one who noticed the drastic improvement in the defense (and particularly in Mitchell's play) when Troy wasn't in the lineup and Allen was in there actually playing the traditional role of a strong safety?


That's exactly right, but the way things are shaping up, Troy's going to be back. And let's face it, if he can't do his freelancing, he's not very good. Any time in the past several seasons when the other starting CB was out, or Troy was less than 100%, we played the sit-back and the result was a dumpster-wreck-train-fire, I fucked it up but whatever you call it:

http://images.sodahead.com/polls/003807181/train_wreck_xlarge.jpeg


I can only hope that if he doesn't have the sense to retire, we have the guts to politely reduce his role, e.g., to the guy who doesn't play very much.

Or if not that, then we have to hope his latest "groundbreaking offseason training regimen" this time means he's going to be shot so full of steroids that he needs a bigger helmet, and plays every game high on PCP to give him an extra edge. Because you can totally see a guy like Troy doing that.

[fansince'76]

That's exactly right, but the way things are shaping up, Troy's going to be back. And let's face it, if he can't do his freelancing, he's not very good. Any time in the past several seasons when the other starting CB was out, or Troy was less than 100%, we played the sit-back and the result was a dumpster-wreck-train-fire, I fucked it up but whatever you call it:

http://images.sodahead.com/polls/003807181/train_wreck_xlarge.jpeg


I can only hope that if he doesn't have the sense to retire, we have the guts to politely reduce his role, e.g., to the guy who doesn't play very much.

Or if not that, then we have to hope his latest "groundbreaking offseason training regimen" this time means he's going to be shot so full of steroids that he needs a bigger helmet, and plays every game high on PCP to give him an extra edge. Because you can totally see a guy like Troy doing that.

:lol:

[ALLD]

How can the Browns not be worse than 200-to-1? They can barely find their home stadium on gameday.

[Dwinsgames]

if you bet a buck on every team 20-1 or worse you couldn't help but make money if none of the " favorites" won the SB ( and normally they do not ) it wouldn't be much money but it would be a win