With a 4-10 record in Week 16, you’d assume a straight up bet against the Texans makes sense, under the assumption that they’d tank the game to improve their draft position. But you’d be wrong to think they’d throw this one.
To get the former Clemson rookie superstar quarterback Deshaun Watson (now injured) overall in the 2017 draft, the Texans had to give away their first-round draft picks for both this year and the next. Cleveland also owns the Texans’ 2018 second-round pick which stemmed from a trade involving Brock Osweiler. So a loss this week does nothing to help this team. They may as well shoot for a .500 record (assuming a Week 16 and 17 victory).
The Pittsburgh Steelers are 3-2 all-time against Texans, with the teams most recent meeting way back in 2014.
We have reached week 16 of the NFL season and most games this week have at least some impact on the playoff races and seeding. That is no different in this game as the Pittsburgh Steelers will look to bounce back against the Houston Texans on Christmas Day.
The Pittsburgh Steelers still have a chance for the number one seed, but they are going to have to win the last two games and get some help. They come into this game off a loss against the New England Patriots, a game they really should have won, but the key is they can’t let that loss turn into two this weekend. They are the more talent team, and the only way they are going to be beat is if they aren’t focused, something that would be easy to do after their last loss.
The Steelers had won eight games in a row before their last loss weekend against the Patriots. They had a touchdown catch overturned and then threw an interception at the goal line.In this game they need to try and turn the ball over a few times. The Texans offense will turn it over if you put pressure on them.
On the other side of this match up is the Houston Texans who come into this game not having anything to play for in terms of this season.Their injuries all across the field have really hurt their chances to have success and make the playoffs, something that most people believed would happen this year.
As of late they have really struggled on both sides of the ball. In the last game against the Jaguars they gave up 45 points and could only score seven points against a very good defensive team. To win this game it’s going to take a near miracle. They are going to need to not turn the ball over, and are probably going to need to force a few turnovers themselves.
Writer’s Prediction
The better team in this match up is the Steelers and it will show early and often.They will dominate the game from the beginning and that will lead to an easy victory.
