Views from 400’s Week 14 Thursday Night Football Roundtable

Just when we thought we were back in on Thursday Night Football, Roger Goodell and the NFL schedule makers give us a turd of a game.

Tonight the 2-10 Patriots travel to the 7-5 Steelers in an AFC clash that no one asked for.

New England is sitting in the basement of the AFC amid absolutely awful quarterback play, while the Steelers are 7-5 and in the hunt for the playoffs despite absolutely awful quarterback play.

Tonight’s game is uglier than winters in the cities these teams call home. The product on the field may make Al Michael’s finally hang up the headphones.

We are still here to cover it though, as very Thursday, the guys from Section 400 are here to answer the biggest questions heading into the Thursday Night Football game.

Read below for our best bets, predictions, and analysis ahead of this abomination.

Steeling a playoff spot?

The Steelers suffered an embarrassing loss at home to the Cardinals last week. Pittsburgh has around a 55% chance of making the postseason according to multiple models. Can this team get in, especially considering quarterback Kenny Pickett is banged up?

BH: The Colts and Texans wins last week really hurt the Steelers chances of getting in. The AFC is more open now with the Trevor Lawrence and Tank Dell injuries, but I don’t see the Steelers scoring enough to beat the Colts, Seahawks, and Ravens on the road. That makes tonight and a Week 15 game against the Bengals must wins, and even that may not be enough.

JA: The Steelers come into this one at 7-5 sitting on the positive side of that wildcard cutoff. Pittsburgh’s record is much better than their play this year. They simply don’t have the offense to make waves in the playoffs, but they should be able to get in with a win tonight.

Boston Massacre

I’m just about lost for words on the failures surrounding New England this season. Where does this team go from here?

BH: I commented early on in this season that Bill Belichick might be on the hot seat. At the time it was a half-joke but now it’s a reality. The Patriots need to tear it down and start over.

JA: The Patriots have been the worst team in football this year, both statistically and to watch. New England needs to rebuild their offense and bring in an offensive coordinator who isn’t a complete bonehead, yeah I’m looking at you, Bill O’Brien.

I’m sorry

Even in gross games like this, I need your best bet tonight.

BH: I’m gonna go with Jaylen Warren over 73.5 rush + receiving yards. He should be a major cog in the offense with Mitchell Trubisky leading things.

JA: The under 30 points should hit easily. Also, this is the week to go ahead and sprinkle for the game to have 0 touchdowns (+1100 on Fan Duel)

Final Score

Who wins this joke of a game?

BH: I’ll take Pittsburgh at home, 17-12.

JA: Pittsburgh wins a game no one will want to rewatch, 9-3.