Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Houston Texans: Last Minute Spread Info and Predictions

The Pittsburgh Steelers are coming off a scary-close win and headed into Houston to take on the Texans for a Sunday afternoon battle between fringe AFC contenders.

Where: Reliant Stadium, Houston, Texas

When: 1 p.m. ET, Oct. 2, 2011

Watch: CBS

Over/Under: 45

Over. Houston usually gets high over/under lines because they have one of the high-powered offenses in the league, but the Steelers get abnormally low ones because of their "tough" defense.

The Steelers defense is completely overrated this season and these two teams are going to put up points on each other. A 45-point spread means this could be a 24-21 game but I picture it closer to 35-28. Go over.

Spread: Houston Texans -4

Lay the points for the home team and take Houston.

The Steelers are completely overrated and the Texans are legit this season. They have a balanced offensive attack and will be able to beat the Steelers on the air or ground, whichever they choose to give them.

The Steelers could barely stop the Peyton Manning-less Colts on Sunday night and won’t be able to handle Matt Schaub, Andre Johnson and Arian Foster. 

Key Injuries

Steelers

CB Bryant McFadden – OUT (hamstring) – This is a huge blow to a team that needs all the help they can get to stop a high-powered offense on Sunday. William Gay will start in his place.

WR Mike Wallace – PRB (ribs) – It is likely that Wallace plays on Sunday barring any setbacks, but he has been limited in practice.

Texans

WR Andre Johnson – PRB (knee) – Johnson returned to practice on Thursday and should be 100 percent on Sunday.

RB Arian Foster – PRB (hamstring) – Foster no longer has any issues with his hamstring and is going to make his first meaningful start on Sunday.

Fantasy Big Plays

Arian Foster – For all of those who drafted him early in the first round in fantasy, you can finally start him this week comfortably.

Tate is going to be limited to eight to 10 touches in all likelihood so Foster could have his breakout performance against an overrated Steeler defense.

Antonio Brown – This guy has sneakily emerged as the No. 2 receiver in the Pittsburgh offense judging by the amount of balls thrown his way. He’s definitely worth a shot in deeper leagues.

Keys to a Steelers Win

Ben Roethlisberger. This guy needs to get it together this season. After leading his team to into the Super Bowl last season following a dramatic offseason and suspension, he has yet to put it together in 2011.

He had a quiet offseason so there should be no distractions on that front. Ben is a two-time Super Bowl champ so look for him to figure it out.

Keys to a Texans Win

Get Arian Foster the rock. He is back and healthy, so they need to use him as a go-to guy once again.

If he can play like his All-Pro season last year against this Steelers team, it’s going to give Schaub time to throw and open up play-action downfield against a weak secondary.

Prediction

Texans 35, Steelers 28