I can’t lay double digit points with Mason Rudolph

The Miami Dolphins road to the No. 1 pick gets at least a modest challenge in Week 8. They travel to face the Pittsburgh Steelers on Monday Night Football, and while Pittsburgh is better than Miami, they have just enough issues to maybe make this one interesting. 0-16 is a real possibility for Miami, but there are a couple games on the schedule that could offer up a chance at a win.

The Steelers are a huge favorite against the Dolphins, although most anybody not based in our nation’s capital will be a huge favorite against the Miami. The Dolphins are 14-point underdogs at DraftKings Sportsbook. The point total is set at 43.

The big news heading into this game is word that running back Kenyan Drake did not travel with the team to Pittsburgh. He’s not hurt and the word is that he is likely on his way out of town before the NFL trade deadline on Tuesday. The Dolphins have been shopping everybody they can to acquire draft picks, so this is not a surprising development. UPDATE: Drake has been traded.

It does not make a huge difference for purposes of picking this game. He’s been fairly active in the passing game, but ineffective as a running back. Mark Walton has replaced him in the starting lineup to a certain degree and provided more value in the ground game. Over the past two games, he’s rushed 20 times for 98 yards, adding five receptions for 43 yards two weeks ago.

The Steelers should win this game for you Survivor pool folks, but there’s no way I can lay 14 points with Mason Rudolph. He could impress, but Rudolph is on the growing list of quarterbacks on which I have zero interest in laying double digit points. In reality, running back James Conner and the Steelers defense will be the ones that make this thing go, but I’m not going to roll the dice with Rudolph at -14.

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