The Pittsburgh Steelers are the only team remaining in the NFL without a loss. Their record stands at 11-0 but as they released their final injury report earlier today, all-star QB Ben Roethlisberger, cornerback Steven Nelson, and placekicker Chris Boswell were all listed as doubtful and/or questionable, respectively. All three men did not practice on Saturday, which should make holes in much-needed spots on the roster.
Big Ben did not mention his knee injury as an issue, nor did head coach Mike Tomlin or offensive coordinator Randy Fichtner during their interviews on Friday.
The Steelers may need to trust backup Mason Rudolph, who took Roethlisberger's place in practice the past two days.
It was a very short week for the Steelers as they played the Ravens last Wednesday night. They won 19-14 but it was a close game and the Steelers seemed vulnerable at times.
Washington is coming off two big wins, last week against the Cowboys, 41-16, and the week prior against the Bengals, 20-9. They look strong and could still be able to turn the season around with a few more wins.
Washington QB Alex Smith is averaging 4.91 yards in the air per pass attempt, the shortest among 33 NFL passers. It is the lowest grade by any QB with over 150 attempts in a season since it was first recorded in 2006. But 58.2% of Washington's receiving yards have come after the catch on the ground. This is the highest rate in the NFL this season, and Terry McLaurin leads all wide receivers with 445 yards after the catch.
Monday Night Football Betting
The Steelers are big favorites in this prime-time matchup. With or without Big Ben, the Steelers should still easily win this game and have a lot of weapons left on the field.
bet365 Sports has the Steelers listed at 1.33, while Washington is at 3.40.
The odds in this article at the bookmaker mentioned above were accurate at the time of writing on December 7 at 10:30 GMT.