The Pittsburgh Steelers come into the 2011 NFL season with Super Bowl odds of 10-1 ($100.00 wager would pay back $1000.00) in Las Vegas according to MGM Resorts International Race & Sports and 8-1 in the offshore betting world. Las Vegas opened the Steelers Super Bowl odds at 5-1 but have since pushed the number up as odds on the Patriots, Packers, Jets and Eagles all have moved down. Pittsburgh has a season win total projection of over 11.0 +115 / under 11.0 -135 in Vegas and over 10.5 -125 / under 10.5 -105 from offshore bookmakers. The only teams in the NFL projected to win more games during the regular season are the New England Patriots and Green Bay Packers.

With four of their first five picks in the NFL Draft being on the defensive side of the ball, the Pittsburgh Steelers are looking to ramp up a defense that already was dominant in 2010. The Steelers in the the NFL last year led in rushing yards allowed (62.8), led in sacks (48), second in yards allowed per game (276.8) and fifth in interceptions (21). The one weak spot would be the passing defense where despite being middle of the pack on passing yards allowed were were scorched when playing elite quarterbacks giving up 305 to Drew Brees, 350 to Tom Brady and 304 to Aaron Rodgers. A big positive for the Steelers is they draw the NFC and AFC West this season, which could lead to a #1 seed in the playoffs and a shot at playing in a fourth Super Bowl in seven years.

Cantor Gaming released lines predictions on the entire sixteen game NFL regular season in June and have the following predictions on the Pittsburgh Steelers: Pittsburgh +2.5 at Baltimore, Seattle +11.0 at Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh +1.5 at Indianapolis, Pittsburgh -3.5 at Houston, Tennessee +9.5 at Pittsburgh, Jacksonville +10 at Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh -7.0 at Arizona, New England +1.0 at Pittsburgh, Baltimore +3.5 at Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh -6.0 at Cincinnati, Pittsburgh -3.0 at Kansas City, Cincinnati +10.0 at Pittsburgh, Cleveland +9.0 at Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh -4.0 at San Francisco, St. Louis +9.5 at Pittsburgh, and Pittsburgh -3.0 at Cleveland. Using Cantor as the gauge, the Steelers will be favored in fourteen games and underdogs when playing on the road against the Ravens and Colts. One interesting handicapping note is since 2000, the team that lost in the Super Bowl is 38-70-2 (35%) against the pointspread the following season.

First Round Analysis: Steelers Draft
Pregame Pro Marco D'Angelo and host RJ Bell analyze the Pittsburgh Steelers first round draft choice.