Pittsburgh (2-4) at Miami (3-3)
When: Sunday, October 23rd 2022
Where: Hard Rock Stadium,
Miami Gardens, FL
Time: 8:20 ET | TV: NBC
Opening Odds: Miami -6/42.5
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The Week 7 Sunday slate in the NFL will conclude with a matchup of teams in need of some wins, when the Miami Dolphins host the Pittsburgh Steelers on NBC’s Sunday Night Football. We’ll also see the return of two quarterbacks who have been in concussion protocol. Miami’s Tua Tagovailoa cleared concussion protocol late last week and returned to practice on Wednesday. Tagovailoa has been out since the Sept. 29 game against the Bengals when he was taken to the hospital. Miami’s offense has really struggled without him and the team went down to the third-string QB. Rookie Skylar Thompson suffered a thumb injury in the second quarter of last week’s 24-16 loss to Minnesota. Backup Teddy Bridgewater, who cleared his own concussion protocol last week, completed 23-of-34 passes for 329 yards, two touchdowns and two picks. It was Miami’s third-straight loss.
Former Dolphins head coach Brian Flores, who is now Pittsburgh’s linebackers coach and special defensive assistant, and starting safety Minkah Fitzpatrick, will coach and play respectively for the first time in Miami. Flores filed a class action lawsuit against the NFL, alleging racial discrimination in the league’s treatment of minority coaches and executives after being fired by the Dolphins. Pittsburgh played without Fitzpatrick in last week’s win over the Bucs, as well as top tight end Pat Freiermuth. The Steelers closed as 10-point underdogs, making that the team’s biggest upset since beating the Indianapolis Colts in the 2005 divisional round, as well as the largest upset in the NFL this season. Najee Harris rushing for only 42 yards on 14 carries, as the ground attack continues to struggle. The Steelers will play at Philadelphia next week.
At the time of his injury, Tagovailoa led the NFL in QBR and ranked second in passing yards and third in passing touchdowns. It helps that he has two dynamic receivers in Tyreek Hill (leads league in yards) and Jaylen Waddle. They had 177 and 129 receiving yards respectively in Week 6, while tight end Mike Gesicki scored two touchdowns against the Vikings. Miami did lose cornerback Nik Needham to a season-ending injury and linebacker Trey Flowers (foot) was also put on injured reserve. Several Dolphins did not practice on Wednesday including cornerback Keion Crossen (knee), tackle Terron Armstead (toe), defensive end Emmanuel Ogbah (back), defensive tackle Christian Wilkins (hand) and linebacker Melvin Ingram (veteran rest). The Dolphins are 7-2 ATS in their past nine at home.
The Dolphins offense gets a boost with the return of Tua, but the Steelers have been playing tough defense. 7.5 points is a ton in today’s NFL, so I’ll take the points. Miami is 0-6-1 ATS in their last seven October games.
Pick: Steelers +7.5
