Week 12 NFL Picks: Steelers and The Safest Road Favorites to Back

The Pittsburgh Steelers are going to embarrass the Kansas City Chiefs coming off their bye week. Taking the 10.5-point spread is the smart move—who cares if it’s at Kansas City.

Ben Roethlisberger and the Steelers' seventh-ranked pass offense is racking up passing yards at a ridiculous rate (2877 yards, 16 TDs), and they're doing so with a running game that hasn’t been very good this year (17^th in the NFL).

It won’t mater against a Chiefs defense that is coming off a short week and can see the writing on the wall of a lost season. After watching Tyler Palko against the Pats 32^nd-ranked pass defense, how do you think he’ll fare against the third-ranked Steelers unit that is fully rested?

Prediction: Steelers 31 Chiefs 13

Here are two other road favorites worth taking in Week 12:

(Spreads courtesy of Covers.com)

Houston Texans -3.5 @ Jacksonville Jaguars

Vegas is terrified of Matt Leinart starting his first game since 2009, but the overall team is good enough to keep the ship sailing against a horrific Jaguars team that couldn’t put up more than a touchdown against the hapless Browns. You think Blaine Gabbert is going to move the chains against a defense that is ranked second against the pass (178 YPG) and fourth against the run (91 YPG)?

Arian Foster and Ben Tate form the second-ranked rushing attack, which already gashed the Jags for 156 yards earlier in the season.

Leinart begins his new game manager role with a healthy Andre Johnson, which will be more than enough to beat the reeling Jaguars.

Predictions: Texans 24 Jags 17

Carolina Panthers -3.5 @ Indianapolis Colts

The Colts are coming off an extra week to think about how awful they are. The Panthers may be winless on the road, but at least they are in the win column.

Cam Newton will destroy the weak Colts secondary and make them pay any time Indy blitzes.

I do think Donald Brown can have a strong game against the 30^th-ranked Panthers run D, but Curtis Painter has no shot of keeping up with Killa Cam and the superior Carolina offense.

Prediction: Panthers 31 Colts 19