December 8, 2009
By Bodog


By Richard Gardner | Sportsbook Manager

How much more patience will NFL bettors show with the Pittsburgh Steelers? That’s the big question we’re wondering at Bodog as we set the lines for Week 14 NFL football betting.

The defending Super Bowl champs have lost four straight and were just embarrassed as double-digit favorites at home by the Oakland Raiders. Needless to say, we had a lot of players who lost on that one.
The Steelers travel to Cleveland this Thursday to take on another awful team. The Browns are 1-11 and losers of seven straight, though to their credit they’ve managed to cover their last three.
Most books have the Steelers by 10, but should they really be double-digit road favorites against any team in the NFL? Hell, if Bruce Gradkowski can shred the Pittsburgh secondary for 308 yards, even Brady Quinn might have a chance of making some plays through the air.
As for the team that just shocked the Steelers, it seems the Raiders are a better team with the aforementioned Gradkowski at quarterback. Since taking over the starter’s role from JaMarcus Russell, the 26-year-old Toledo product has led the Silver and Black to wins over Cincinnati and Pittsburgh.
Gradkowski also knows that he can’t afford to get complacent.
“It's tough,'” he said. “I've seen each end of it, the starting quarterback side and then the side when you're on the street for a while. It's just a matter of staying confident in yourself and knowing this happens sometimes. Look at Kurt Warner and Jake Delhomme and guys that have been on the streets, Jeff Garcia coming from Canada. Just examples like that. I think the main thing in this league is you have to persevere, and if you're strong enough to do that you'll succeed.”
Oakland hosts another much-improved team on Sunday when the Washington Redskins visit the Black Hole.
The ‘Skins came oh-so-close to knocking off the undefeated Saints in Week 13 and have covered their last four spreads. The one thing you do worry about is whether or not Washington, which is favored by a point over the Raiders, can keep losing heartbreakers without also losing their desire to come out and compete hard.
Might Washington also be looking ahead to Week 14 and 15 when it could play spoilers against the Giants and Cowboys, respectively? The G-men (7-5) will host a huge NFC East battle this Sunday night against Philadelphia (8-4). A New York win combined with a Dallas (8-4) loss to the red-hot Chargers would result in a three-way tie atop the NFC East with three weeks to play.