NFL Picks Week 5: Why the Tennessee Titans Will Upset the Pittsburgh Steelers

Why in the world are the Pittsburgh Steelers favored to win a game against a team with a better record?

Right now the Steelers are favored to win by 3.5 points at home against the Tennessee Titans. If you like to gamble, go with the Titans.

(Spread courtesy of Covers.com)

The Steelers' two wins have come against the lowly Seahawks and winless Colts. Sure, the pass defense is still No. 1 statically in the NFL, but remember that two of those games were against Tarvaris Jackson and Kerry Collins/Curtis Painter.

The Texans beat the crap out of them physically, and the black and gold (or black and bruised) are heading into Sunday’s game without DE Aaron Smith and LB James Harrison—two key defensive cogs.

The two main offensive cogs, QB Ben Roethlisberger and RB Rashard Mendenhall, are both listed as questionable. The Titans will be without S Chris Hope, but other than that will be completely healthy.

While both Roethlisberger and Mendenhall will likely end up playing—this is one beat-up team.

The O-Line is among the worst in the league, and the Titans' front four should feast on Big Ben. While forcing quicker decisions, the Titans secondary can play aggressive, and turnovers will ensue.

Big Ben has already accounted for nine turnovers by himself.

The Tennessee defense is ranked in the top eight and will improve on that mark Sunday.

The offense didn’t miss a beat without WR Keny Britt, as Chris Johnson finally got on track against a decent Browns run defense. After scoring two wins without a balanced offense, they registered a blowout once their superstar balanced everything out.

Expect the production of CJ2K to only increase as he finally shakes off the rust of missing essentially all of training camp.

QB Matt Hasselbeck is showing how wrong the Seahawks were in giving up on him and has already thrown for 1,152 yards and eight TDs.

Everything is looking up for the Titans right now—and the opposite can be said about the Steelers.

Prediction: Titans 27, Steelers 24