Viva Las Vegas and viva refreshing sports notes! Bet over your head, not with it.

• The Steelers will beat host Buffalo in the opener. The constant covid debate surrounding the Bills has them disheveled. The Steelers are all football. Steelers win. You heard it here.

• Shouldn’t T.J. Watt be signed by now?

• Is Stephon Tuitt hurt or mourning the death of his brother? (It really doesn’t matter.)

• The Steelers should start rookie Dan Moore Jr. at right tackle because he’s had a superior training camp but also because Zach Banner is proving again that he can’t be counted upon. Banner missed all last season hurt. Further injury limited him to 12 snaps in exhibition games and sporadic participation during the entire preseason. That’s OK for established veterans. But Banner has played just 23 games and started only two since entering the NFL in 2017. He’s mediocre at best and lacks the key ability of availability.

• The hype about Dwayne Haskins “battling” for the No. 2 quarterback job was unbearable and false. He’s a bum who will be out of the NFL by 2023. Some say Haskins was hurt by a flawed system and culture in Washington. But that team will win more than the Steelers in 2021.

• When inside ‘backer Robert Spillane was in coverage Friday during the Steelers’ final exhibition at Carolina, the result was 5 for 6, 61 yards, five first downs and two touchdowns. Spillane was never good. He was a stop-gap who got glamorized for one big hit. He’s special-teams filler. Joe Schobert is an upgrade of great significance. Schobert saves that defense.

• Offensive line is the Steelers’ biggest concern. But depth at defensive back as reflected in the sub packages isn’t far behind, especially since presumptive slot corner Antoine Brooks Jr. got hurt then released. James Pierre had an impressive minicamp and training camp but has played all of 27 defensive snaps in the NFL. Justin Layne looks like a bust after being a third-round pick in 2019. Arthur Maulet has been cut so many times, it’s a wonder he hasn’t bled to death.

• Baltimore running back J.K. Dobbins got a season-ending knee injury in the Ravens’ preseason finale. There were no exhibition games last season, and the quality of play in the regular season did not suffer. Is it worth the money from preseason ticket sales to put important assets at unneeded risk in games that don’t count? Ditch the exhibition games, or don’t ever play starters.

• Jamal Adams got $70 million over four years. Harrison Smith got $64 million over four years. Minkah Fitzpatrick is a better safety than both. What will the Steelers have to pay him?

• The Pirates cut Gregory Polanco a second time. This time, it took. He’s gone. This prompted a flurry of “kumbaya”-style tributes grieving his exit. Polanco was a career underachiever who let the Pirates down more often than not. Imagine if a good player left. We’d all be wearing black armbands. (Actually, good players leave all the time. But that’s just part of being the Pirates.)

• The Pirates are a flat-out joke subject to lopsided losses and long periods of futility. By way of evidence: Position players have pitched five times for the Pirates. For pre-game introductions, the Pirates should all get out of the same car in front of their dugout, then run onto the field.

• Yoshi Tsutsugo’s hot streak is reminiscent of John Nogowski’s, and Tsutsugo ultimately will go the way of Nogowski: DFA. But, for now, the stooges sing his praises and the marks get fooled.

• Javy Baez of the New York Mets is upset about being booed at home. So, when the Mets do well and fans cheer, some Mets players “celebrate” by making a thumbs-down gesture. “(The fans) are going to get booed when we get success,” said Baez. But the Mets are 8-19 in August, four games under .500 and 7½ games back in the NL East after having a four-game lead on July 31. Baez is hitting .207 since joining the Mets the day before. Don’t be defiant. Be better.

• Unless coach Mike Sullivan flips P.O Joseph to his off-side, Chad Ruhwedel will be the Penguins’ right-sided defenseman on the team’s bottom pair. Less is more with Ruhwedel: He plays best when sporadically used. He’s a good No. 7. Maybe the Penguins finally can fulfill management’s promise of getting bigger and more physical by bringing back Erik Gudbranson, who is a free agent. Gudbranson is 6-foot-5, 217 pounds. But he’s not fast. Sullivan wants fast and only fast.

• Montreal signed restricted free-agent winger Sebastian Aho to an offer sheet in 2019. Carolina retained the winger by inking him to a five-year deal. Now Carolina has signed Montreal center Jesperi Kotkaniemi to an offer sheet, and it’s hyped as the Hurricanes somehow getting “revenge.” Why? The whole process is approved by the NHL’s CBA. Pettiness is a stinky cologne.

• I was at the Mandalay Bay casino sportsbook Saturday in Las Vegas. I bet on Liverpool FC to beat Chelsea. I asked them to put the game on one of the five big-screen televisions. They refused, consigning it to a smaller TV. The five big screens were occupied by replays of previously contested events. One game had action, but it played second fiddle. That’s the state of soccer in America. (Worse yet, the game was a 1-1 tie. When you bet a win in soccer, a draw is a loss.)

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