This game is huge for the Pittsburgh Steelers. With a win in Baltimore and a Houston loss to the Colts, the Steelers will punch their ticket to the post season. Of course, all that stands in their immediate way is a head coach who goes all out to win preseason games. Jon Harbaugh may be sitting his starters but he’s absolutely coaching to win this game. Picking a first TD scorer on the Steelers side will be a little easier with starters intact, but there’s still value on Baltimore’s backups! Nonetheless, onto our Steelers-Ravens first touchdown picks.
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Steelers-Ravens First Touchdown Picks for Saturday
Pittsburgh Steelers First Touchdown Scorer
This is coming down to two players who can benefit from focus on other guys at their position. George Pickens is on an absolute tear with 130+ receiving yards in each of his last two games. While the offense will be facing primarily backups in the Ravens secondary, there will still be overcompensation in slowing down Pickens. To take it a step further, if Pickens will be facing the best backup, then surely a receiver like Dionte Johnson will be facing an even lesser talent.
Speaking of which, yes, Mason Rudolph is still throwing the football for Pittsburgh but that’s ok. He comes off a monster game – for him – against Seattle looking comfortable throwing the ball. So Johnson now becomes a prime target sitting at 10-1. The other player would be Jaylen Warren, the explosive counter to Najee Harris. While Harris has scored three times over the past two games, Warren stands to break out here with a couple of edge runs, again, facing backups who don’t have the speed to contain. He sits at 8-1 so you do lose 200 points of value. The big question is whether or not trust in Rudolph is worth the 200 extra points of return. I think it is.
Lions-Cowboys First Touchdown Picks: Dionte Johnson +1000 at DraftKings for 0.25 Units
Baltimore Ravens First Touchdown Scorer
Justice Hill hasn’t scored since October 8th. That game also happened to be against the Pittsburgh Steelers, yet not in a sit the starters scenario. Despite the lack of productivity in finding the end zone, Hill has still been involved in the running back rotation. His role will increase today as he toes the line between starter and player who sits, getting enough action to start the game to hit this first TD. With so many starters planning on sitting, right up to Lamar Jackson, Harbaugh will rely on guys like Hill who play in meaningful games and are still getting reps against Pittsburgh.
Huntley is going to move the ball until they get to the red zone. That’s usually where he’s struggled to complete drives. Again, Baltimore has another reason to rely on a back like Hill to close out any scoring drives with a TD – especially the first one. Take Hill to score first and thanks to OddsShopper we found a great number at 12-1 on FanDuel.
Lions-Cowboys First Touchdown Picks: Justice Hill +1000 at FanDuel for 0.25 Units
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