Pittsburgh Steelers @ Cleveland Browns Sun. Jan. 2^nd 2011 1pm EST

The Pittsburgh Steelers have had to deal with a lot of off the field issues this season with quarterback Ben Roethlisberger’s legal troubles which warranted a four-game suspension and the endless fines for James Harrison’s hits which are now being considered “illegal”.

Even with all this going on and Big Ben missing the first four games of the season, the Steelers have been able to step up their game and as a result have arguably the best defense in the league. Not only have they been pretty good at stopping the pass this season, but they have the best run defense statistically and will try to use that to their advantage this weekend against up and coming running back Peyton Hillis.

Despite the Cleveland Browns failing to make the playoffs once again, they have seen some improvement this season on the offensive side of the football with a promising young quarterback in rookie Colt McCoy and a running back that seemingly came out of nowhere in Hillis.

Fortunately, even though they will be on the outside looking in on the playoffs this season, the Browns do have a chance to play spoiler against their division rivals as a win over the Steelers could prevent them from winning the AFC North division title.

Even if the Browns were able to somehow get the best of the Steelers like they did last season, the Ravens still have to win their game against the Bengals in order to keep the division title out of Pittsburgh.

As of right now, the Steelers have been given a -6 point edge in this AFC North division showdown and I believe that is just about right as I can’t see Cleveland pulling off the upset this weekend.

Odds and lines for this matchup by leading online sportsbooks:

BetDSI Sportsbook:
Spread: Pittsburgh Steelers -5.5 & Cleveland Browns +5.5
Moneyline: Pittsburgh Steelers -235 & Cleveland Browns +195
Over/Under: Pittsburgh Steelers 110 over & Cleveland Browns 110 under (37.5)

Bookmaker Sportsbook:
Spread: Pittsburgh Steelers -5.5 & Cleveland Browns +5.5
Moneyline: Pittsburgh Steelers -235 & Cleveland Browns +195
Over/Under: Pittsburgh Steelers 110 over & Cleveland Browns 110 under (37.5)

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