Nov 23, 2016 3 min read

As you read this, getting ready to eat or already digesting your turkey, think about the times you’ve had to travel long distances for this particular holiday.

Thanksgiving always falls on a Thursday and the NFL has played games on the holiday since the league was formed.

At one point, it was considered a huge advantage for the home team. After all, the game was played on a short week, which was even shorter for the team that had to travel.

Since the NFL went to holding three Thanksgiving Day games in 2006, home teams have won 15 times and away teams have won 15.

This is in a league where just six teams – the Browns, Rams, Bengals, Cardinals, Raiders and Texans – have a losing record at home since the start of the 1990 season.

That’s good news for the Steelers today as they prepare to play in Indianapolis.

The Steelers are just 1-7 in their history in Thanksgiving Day games, with that one win coming in 1950 at Chicago.

So maybe they’re due.

To that point, it appears the Steelers will catch a big break today against the Colts, who will be without star quarterback Andrew Luck.

Luck, who suffered a concussion in a 24-17 win Sunday against the Tennessee Titans, will miss a game against the Steelers for the second consecutive season. Scott Tolzien will start in his place.

Matt Hasselbeck started against the Steelers last season and managed just 169 yards passing in a 45-10 Pittsburgh rout.

The year before, Luck did play and the Steelers still won in a rout, 51-34.

Notice a trend here?

Indianapolis’ defense offers little resistance to Ben Roethlisberger and company. In his past two games against the Colts, Roethlisberger has thrown for 886 yards and 10 touchdowns.

At that pace, if Roethlisberger played the Colts every week, he’d throw for 7,088 yards and 80 touchdowns.

This game, however, is in Indianapolis, while the previous two meetings were at Heinz Field.

Even though the Steelers won last weekend in Cleveland, Roethlisberger threw for just 167 yards and no touchdowns on a cold, windy day. The good news is that for the first time this season, he didn’t turn the ball over in a road game.

So there was some progress.

The Steelers have yet to establish a second receiver to work opposite Antonio Brown, which remains a problem. But indoors, we could see Sammie Coates re-emerge after a hot start early.

Coates has just one catch in the five games while dealing with two broken fingers on his left hand and hasn’t had many opportunities of late.

Being indoors this week, the Steelers could try to take advantage of his deep speed against an Indianapolis defense that is last in the league against the pass, allowing 285 yards per game.

With Luck out, the Steelers are 8 1/2-point favorites to win this game. They should do that.

Take the Steelers, 31-13

The Lions always seem to make things interesting but still find ways to win. The Lions won 22-16 in overtime earlier this season in Minnesota.

Take Detroit, 27-23

The Cowboys won 27-23 way back in Week 2 to start their current nine-game winning streak. The Redskins don’t stop the run well enough to win the rematch.

Take Dallas, 30-20

Last Week: 9-4 ATS; 9-4 Straight up

Overall: 66-75-4 ATS; 81-66-2 Straight up

Dale Lolley can be reached at dlolley@observer-reporter.com.