New York Jets vs. Pittsburgh Steelers Expert Pick – October 20, 2024

The New York Jets are heading to Pittsburgh to face off against the Steelers in a highly anticipated Sunday Night Football clash. Both franchises recognize that to win a championship in a conference featuring three-time Super Bowl champ Patrick Mahomes and two-time MVP winner Lamar Jackson, tough decisions are essential. Read New York Jets vs. Pittsburgh Expert Pick below. 

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Kickoff

When: Sunday, October 20th at 8:15 PM ET

Where: Acrisure Stadium – Pittsburgh, PA

TV: NBC

The Odds

Odds courtesy of DraftKings

Desperate Franchises

After firing coach Robert Saleh two weeks ago, the Jets traded for star wide receiver Davante Adams reuniting him with Aaron Rodgers in a move to save their season. Owner Woody Johnson who was quoted saying “thinking is overrated” after making his latest decisions, is desperate to end a half-century Super Bowl drought while having the future hall-of-fame quarterback. 

With the Steelers’ last playoff victory coming in 2016, there is a growing sense of urgency that the standard for this franchise must be elevated to have any chance of winning a championship. In a surprise move, Tomlin benched Justin Fields in favor of Russell Wilson, marking the first time in NFL history to happen to a healthy quarterback with a 4-2 record or better. 

“Justin has been really good, and we’ve been really good at times — but not to be confused with great,” Tomlin said Tuesday. “This is a competitive league, man. We’re trying to position ourselves to be that team and we got a player with talent who hasn’t had an opportunity to play.”

Despite playing winning football, the Steelers rank 26th in overall offense and 29th in first-half scoring. Fields has played well throwing 10 touchdowns and only one interception – but his completion percentage has dropped to 57% in the last two games after starting out completing 69% of his pass attempts to start the year. 

“I don’t think I played good enough, if I’m being real with you,” Fields said Thursday. “If I’m being real with myself, I think if I did play well enough I don’t think there would be any sort of ‘who should be playing, who should not.’”

After watching the film from last week’s game, it’s clear that offensive coordinator Arthur Smith has well designed pass plays that Fields fails to exploit. There were numerous examples of receivers being open for splash plays that he didn’t even look at. If an untrained writer from Godzilla Wins can see this, then so can the coaching staff. 

Tomlin is taking the risk of losing his locker room if this doesn’t work out. On the one hand he’s showing loyalty as he keeps his promise that Wilson would be the starting quarterback. On the other, he is replacing a well-liked presence in the locker room that is playing winning football. Nobody said returning to “The Standard” would be easy.

The Pick

The Jets are in an absolute must-win game tonight if they have any shot of making a run for the AFC East division title. It’s the Buffalo Bills (4-2) that they will be looking to catch and losing this week will make that highly unlikely. Rodgers and Adams will be reinvigorated tonight and will test a Steelers secondary that has the 13th ranked pass defense. They will be facing the vaunted Pittsburgh pass-rush that will get a boost with Alex Highsmith returning from injury to lineup opposite T.J. Watt. 

It’s clear to see that Fields’ scrambling ability covered an offensive line that struggled with injuries and poor play. They must play better for Wilson to have the time in the pocket to play to his strengths. Najee Harris looks to build from his first 100-yard rushing game of the season, which will open the play-action game that Smith would love to implement.  

For the first time this season the pick is not going the way of the Black-and-Gold. Russ will be too rusty and the Jets too desperate. This New Jersey team will keep the soap opera going for another few weeks before it crashes to the ground by defeating my beloved Pittsburgh Steelers 24-20.