Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Washington Redskins Betting Odds, Analysis, NFL Pick

The Pittsburgh Steelers are perennial playoff contenders, but one thing they haven't been recently is quick starters. Pittsburgh is just 1-4 straight up and 0-4-1 against the spread over its past five season openers. The Steelers hope to reverse those trends when they open this season against the defending NFC East champion Washington Redskins at FedEx Field on Monday night.

Point spread: Steelers opened as 2.5-point favorites; the total was 51 early in the week, according to sportsbooks monitored by Odds Shark. (Line updates and matchup report)

NFL pick, via Odds Shark computer: 24.2-16.0 Redskins (NFL picks on every game)

Why the Steelers can cover the spread

Pittsburgh is coming off a 10-6 campaign in which it reached the divisional round of the playoffs before falling to Super Bowl champion Denver. Running back Le'Veon Bell missed 10 games due to injury, and still the Steelers ranked third in the league in total offense, and fourth in scoring. Also, while the Pittsburgh defense ranked 21st overall, they used their top three picks in the draft on defense.

The Steelers will once again be powered by their passing attack. Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger completed 68 percent of his passes last year, while wide receiver Antonio Brown caught 136 balls for 1,800 yards and 10 touchdowns. Bell will miss the first three games of this season due to suspension, but DeAngelo Williams filled in nicely for him last year, rushing for 900 yards and 11 touchdowns in basically 10 games.

Why the Redskins can cover the spread

Washington won its last four games last season to steal the NFC East title. The Redskins lost their playoff opener at home to Green Bay, but hope to build upon what they achieved.

Kirk Cousins emerged as the main man at quarterback for the Redskins last year, completing a shade under 70 percent of his passes for over 4,100 yards and a 29/11 TD/INT ratio. He's also throwing to one of the better receiving corps in the league.

And while the Washington defense ranked 28th overall last year, and 25th against the pass, they added one of the best cornerbacks in the league, Josh Norman, in free agency and used three of their first four draft picks on defense.

Smart pick

Pittsburgh isn't as ground-oriented as it used to be, or as it should be, but it still managed to outrush opponents last year by 17 yards per game. Meanwhile, Washington got outrushed by 25 yards per game. Yes, those are last year's numbers, but for the moment they still mean something. Also, the Redskins went 0-4 both SU and ATS last year against teams that finished with winning records. The smart money here sides with the Steelers.

Betting trends

The total has gone under in the Steelers' last five games against the Redskins.

The Redskins are 1-5 ATS in their last six games against the AFC.

The Steelers are 1-4 SU and 0-4-1 ATS in their last five games in Week 1.

All NFL betting lines and point spreads data courtesy of Bleacher Report’s official odds partner Odds Shark. All quotes gathered firsthand unless otherwise noted. Check out Twitter for injury and line movement updates and Odds Shark YouTube for picks and analysis, or download the free odds tracker app.