Titans vs. Steelers betting preview: Odds, picks, props, trends, injuries, weather and more for Thursday Night Football Week 9

Sometimes it takes an injury to an established starting quarterback for a young signal-caller to finally get his big break in the NFL. If the Patriots' Drew Bledsoe hadn't gotten hurt early in the 2001 season, perhaps most football fans would have never heard of Tom Brady. Rookie Will Levis made history in his first NFL start for the Tennessee Titans (3-4) this past Sunday, but he faces a much tougher test on Thursday night in the Pittsburgh Steelers (4-3), who are -2.5 on the SportsLine consensus with a minuscule total of 36.5.

With Ryan Tannehill sidelined by a high ankle sprain coming out of the bye week, Levis got the call over Malik Willis on Sunday and led a 28-23 upset of Atlanta by throwing four touchdown passes. Levis became the third player in NFL history with four touchdown passes in his NFL debut, joining former Titan Marcus Mariota (Sept. 13, 2015), who has not had a good NFL career, and Hall of Famer Fran Tarkenton of the Vikings (Sept. 17, 1961). Levis' 130.5 passer rating was the second-highest ever (minimum 25 attempts) by a player in his NFL debut, trailing only Washington's Robert Griffin III (139.9 rating) on Sept. 9, 2012.

RGIII won NFL Offensive Rookie of the year that season. Levis, a second-round pick out of Kentucky, was a massive longshot for OROY ahead of Week 8 but is now +3500 at DraftKings, the ninth-shortest odds overall and second-best for a quarterback behind Houston's C.J. Stroud, the -175 favorite. The Pittsburgh defense Levis will see this week is a lot better than Atlanta's, and Steelers coach Mike Tomlin has only lost a few times in his career to a rookie quarterback. 

Pittsburgh's Kenny Pickett, the only QB taken in Round 1 of the 2022 draft, has started 20 games in his career (11-9 record) and has never had a three-touchdown game. Pickett was banged up in Sunday's home loss to Jacksonville but will play. Given how poorly as Pickett has played at times in his sophomore season, it might not be a good thing that Mitch Trubisky is going back to the bench. Since the start of last season, only Zach Wilson has a worse QB rating than Pickett. Steelers fans are on the young QB's side for the most part, as they blame embattled offensive coordinator Matt Canada for the unit's woes.  

Pittsburgh is plus-7 in turnover differential. Only the Buccaneers are better. Tennessee sits at minus-2. Jacksonville is the only team with more takeaways than the Steelers.

We'll take you through every aspect of the Titans-Steelers Bills game that you need to know before you lock in your bets, including SportsLine expert picks, props, trends, injury information and everything else that will help you know which plays are worth making for the primetime matchup.

Who wins Titans vs. Steelers in the Week 9 Thursday night game, and what critical X-factor makes one side of the spread hit HARD? Join SportsLine right now to see everything you need to know about the game in the Thursday night matchup to kick off Week 9 of the 2023 season!!