NFL Picks Week 4: Pittsburgh Steelers and 3 Underdogs Sure to Cover the Spread

With almost one quarter of the NFL season in the books, the cream is slowly beginning to rise to the top of the NFL pecking order. Still, there are plenty of teams who are tough to get a good read on, and because of that there are many tricky betting lines.

It would be easy to envision many of this week's underdogs winning outright, so we could see a week ripe with upsets. Here are three underdogs who are locks to cover in Week 4.

New York Jets

The New York Jets got a bit of a reality check last week when Darren McFadden and the Oakland Raiders ran wild on them en route to a 34-24 victory. After such a poor performance the Jets will certainly want to get back on the winning track quickly, but it won't be easy against the Baltimore Ravens.

The Ravens are four-point favorites at home after thrashing the St. Louis Rams last week. Being at home, it is understandable why Baltimore is favored. But a four-point spread seems a little much for two evenly-matched teams. I can see this one going either way so it makes sense to hedge your bets and go with the points by taking the Jets.

Carolina Panthers

Despite starting 0-2, it was hard not to be impressed with the Carolina Panthers and rookie quarterback Cam Newton who threw for 400 yards in each of his first two NFL games. Newton proved last week that he could win ugly by leading Carolina to a win over the Jacksonville Jaguars in extremely sloppy conditions.

The Panthers are seven-point road dogs against the Chicago Bears this week. The Bears are coming off back-to-back losses to the New Orleans Saints and Green Bay Packers and will be desperate for a win to keep up with Green Bay and the Detroit Lions in the NFC North. The Bears may win, but Carolina has kept every game within one score this season, and I expect them to do it again.

Pittsburgh Steelers

After being blasted by the Baltimore Ravens in Week 1, the Pittsburgh Steelers bounced back with wins over the Seattle Seahawks and Indianapolis Colts. While neither team may be particularly good, the Steelers certainly seem to be back on track after a rough start.

The Steelers will have a much stiffer test this weekend as they enter their matchup with the Houston Texans as four-point road underdogs. The Texans came very close to starting off 2-1 as they led the New Orleans Saints for much of last week, but ultimately couldn't hold them down. The Texans have an explosive offense, but the Steelers do as well and are significantly better on defense, so I expect an outright Steelers win.