{"id":512154,"date":"2026-01-13T02:10:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-13T02:10:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/512154\/"},"modified":"2026-01-13T02:10:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-13T02:10:10","slug":"steelers-vs-texans-prediction-steelers-depot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/512154\/","title":{"rendered":"Steelers Vs Texans Prediction – Steelers Depot"},"content":{"rendered":"

As we\u2019ve done in the past, below are the keys and my prediction of the Pittsburgh Steelers winning (or losing) today\u2019s game. Three things that need to happen for the Steelers to end up on the right side of the score and vice versa in their Wild Card game against the Houston Texans.<\/p>\n

My Steelers prediction is at the bottom.<\/p>\n

The Steelers Will Win If\u2026
\n1. Aaron Rodgers\u2019 Experience Fools Texans\u2019 Young Secondary<\/p>\n

Houston\u2019s strength rests in its defense. In its pass rush, the area getting most attention, but also its secondary. These two facets go hand-in-hand, but even still, a defensive back core of All-Pro Derek Stingley Jr.,<\/a> Kamari Lassiter (healthy and available Monday night), Jalen Pitre and Callen Bullock is formidable.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also a young group. Pitre is the \u201celder\u201d at 26 years old with Bullock, Stingley and Lassier no older than 24. While they have a fair amount of starting experience, their combined 171 starts are still fewer than Aaron Rodgers\u2019 career 257. Can Rodgers use that to his advantage? Houston also plays a static defense that doesn\u2019t rely on overly complex schemes or wrinkles, instead trusting talent to win out. Rodgers needs to be able to fool this comparatively young crew. If he does, it could be a big day.<\/p>\n

Another key point worth squeezing in. A faster start or put another way, avoiding a big early deficit. Pittsburgh\u2019s been outscored an incredible 73-0 in the first quarter of its last six playoff games \u2013 all losses. The defense must step up but Rodgers needs to get this offense on the board in a hurry.<\/p>\n

2. Texans\u2019 Offense Becomes One-Dimensional And Folds<\/p>\n

Houston\u2019s rushing attack pales in comparison to Baltimore\u2019s. Woody Marks has made plays but not a ton of them, and the ground game isn\u2019t the Texans\u2019 strength. Pittsburgh\u2019s run defense has improved the last month and could shut down one dimension of Houston\u2019s offense. Even knowing the Texans can move the ball through the air, it\u2019s tough sledding for any team to solely rely on the pass game, especially on the road in a hostile place like Acrisure.<\/p>\n

3. Defense Stops Switch Routes<\/p>\n

Houston\u2019s pass game has natural talent but combines it with sound scheme. On third down, the Texans love using bunch sets and switch routes that force defenses to adjust and match on the fly. Pittsburgh\u2019s defense has communicated better this year than last but had its issues in Week 18 and has generally struggled against motion and these sorts of post-snap changes.<\/p>\n

Pittsburgh must win in these moments. Either with banjo calls to pass it off, matching routes, or having appropriate spacing to avoid running into each other.<\/p>\n

The Steelers Will Lose If\u2026
\n1. Houston Doesn\u2019t Only Score On Offense<\/p>\n

Houston doesn\u2019t have an elite offense, but it\u2019s scoring doesn\u2019t come just from the offense. The Texans\u2019 defense has a pick-six and three fumbles returned for a touchdown. That\u2019s one of the NFL\u2019s top numbers.<\/p>\n

While rookie receiver Jaylin Noel hasn\u2019t scored in the return game, he\u2019s a threat. He sports healthy averages in the kick and punt return game with 50-plus returns in both. That can flip field position in a hurry.<\/p>\n

Though this\u00a0is\u00a0on offense, kicker Ka\u2019imi\u2019 Fairbairn is tied-fourth in the NFL with nine boots from 50-plus yards this year. Doing so in Pittsburgh will be harder but there\u2019s a lot of ways this group can put up points or at least put themselves int position to score. That can be the difference in the postseason.<\/p>\n

2. Pittsburgh\u2019s \u2018Chip Plan\u2019 Limits Offense<\/p>\n

Pittsburgh didn\u2019t have to worry about a top pass rush threat against Baltimore, making it no coincidence that RB Kenneth Gainwell had a prolific day<\/a> in the passing game. That task will be tougher against a Houston rush boasting fierce talent at defensive end in Danielle Hunter and Will Anderson. Officially, two All-Pros.<\/p>\n

That means dedicated more chip and help. That could dredge back up the issues of Week 17 against Cleveland, limiting route trees for tight ends and backs. Even with DK Metcalf back, undoubtedly a big boost, it\u2019s still going to be a tough challenge if Rodgers can\u2019t spread the ball around like he prefers.<\/p>\n

3. Secondary Can\u2019t Stop Houston\u2019s Size<\/p>\n

Pittsburgh has faced talented receivers, but hasn\u2019t dealt with the size Houston\u2019s wide receivers have in a while. Nico Collins is 6\u20194. So is Jayden Higgins. Collins is Tee Higgins-like and will be a handful. Higgins is ascending and tight end Dalton Schultz finished third at his position in receptions.<\/p>\n

The Steelers can match with size at cornerback but there\u2019s little defense for a jump ball where a receive just goes up and makes a play. Houston is certainly capable of producing them.<\/p>\n

Prediction<\/p>\n

Steelers:<\/strong> 24
Texans:<\/strong> 16<\/p>\n

Season Prediction Record<\/p>\n

4-13<\/p>\n

I know you are all very disappointed in my prediction. I started the week feeling like I was going to pick Houston. The more I thought about it and the more I studied the Texans, the more confident I became in the Steelers. On Monday night, Pittsburgh will have to defeat Houston and the Kozora Curse. Just imagine if they do. Talk about a team of destiny.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As we\u2019ve done in the past, below are the keys and my prediction of the Pittsburgh Steelers winning…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":512155,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[2505,1232,1545,62,939,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-512154","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl","8":"tag-houston-texans","9":"tag-nfl","10":"tag-pittsburgh-steelers","11":"tag-sports","12":"tag-trending","13":"tag-united-states","14":"tag-unitedstates","15":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115885364297649147","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/512154","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=512154"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/512154\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/512155"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=512154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=512154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=512154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}