The Kansas City Chiefs and Pittsburgh Steelers open NFL Week 17 with a showdown of AFC contenders at Acrisure Stadium in Pittsburgh on Christmas at 1 p.m. ET on Netflix.
Beyond spread and total bets, I'm looking at Chiefs vs. Steelers anytime touchdown scorers and have a pick for each team on Christmas Day.
Here are my two SNF anytime touchdown scorer bets.
Chiefs vs. Steelers Anytime TD Scorer Bets
- DeAndre Hopkins Anytime Touchdown (+280, FanDuel)
- Pat Freiermuth Anytime Touchdown (+300, Caesars)
DeAndre Hopkins Anytime Touchdown (+280)
The Steelers play a lot of man coverage, at the sixth-highest rate in the NFL. Also, Joey Porter Jr. got hurt against the Ravens and might not be 100% if he’s even able to play.
The Chiefs’ best receiver this season against man coverage: DeAndre Hopkins.
Hopkins has a 25% target share against man coverage and leads Kansas City in yards per route run. While Travis Kelce and others in the Chiefs offense eat up zone by running routes under the coverage, Hopkins thrives when it’s him against the defender.
Pat Freiermuth Anytime Touchdown (+300)
Pat Freiermuth leads the Steelers with three touchdowns this season against man coverage, which is a good place to start here.
The Chiefs are 10th in DVOA in defending the pass, but they’re just 19th in defending opposing tight ends. Kansas City ranks in the bottom five in the NFL in targets, catches and yards conceded to TEs, and it has allowed the position to score six touchdowns this season.
If George Pickens plays, I like this bet even more. That will be more attention taken off Freiermuth, who is a reliable target in the Steelers offense.
Let’s just hope we don’t get vultured by Cordarrelle Patterson or MyCole Pruitt this week.
