Kirk Cousins set numerous franchise records last year as he led the surprising Redskins to the division title. His reward was a franchise tag this year as the team looks at whether he’s the long-term solution at quarterback. But the Redskins did little to address a defense that was among the league’s worst in most categories. Ben Roethlisberger will have plenty of options in a high-powered offense, and the Steelers also drafted well to address their own porous pass defense. Washington has earned the respect it’s getting in this line, but I’ll lay the short favorite.

The Steelers start the season without Le'Veon Bell and Martavis Bryant. Bell was obviously a huge piece of the offense, especially in the passing game, but I'm confident DeAngelo Williams will find success in week 1. The Redskins were near the bottom of the league in run defense in 2015 and project to still be below average this season. The big question is how will the Steelers adapt without Martavis Bryant to compliment Antonio Brown? I think the Steelers will be fine with Sammie Coates, Eli Rogers and Darrius Heyward-Bey. I think Coates and Rogers will surprise people tonight and this season. I respect Kirk Cousins and the Washington aerial attack, but ultimately I think they are too one-dimensional and Pittsburgh will adjust and shut that down by the third quarter. Lay the points with the Steelers as road favorites. If you have access to 5dimes like I do you can get this game at -1 instead of -2.5 currently. My simulations have this game at 29-23 Pittsburgh.

I hate to be on the side that the public likes -- and they really like this one -- but in isolated football games, the public actually does well and the books lose more times than not. In this situation, the Steelers are simply the better team so I'm not going to lecture myself why not to lay points on the road. This is one of the most complete teams in the NFL. I think it'll be a close game for a while, with lots of points scored, but I'm comfortable laying less than a field goal and expect Pittsburgh to win by 3 or more.

This line can be attributed entirely to confidence in the Roethlisberger-to-Brown connection. The Steelers are without Le’Veon Bell and Markus Wheaton, and while DeAngelo Williams shined in the running game last year, he’s 33 and has touched the ball nearly 2,000 times in his career. I have questions about the Steelers secondary, which has to deal with a Washington offense that can attack consistently with different pass catchers. If Washington can scrape together a running game, they should win handily at home. If not, a push seems like the worst-case scenario.