NFL Week 12 Predictions: Road Teams Ready to Conquer Hostile Environments

There are three road teams ready to silence the opposing fans, as they will pull out key road victories.

Home-field advantage will not be enough for the following teams to make up for the matchup deficiencies they face.

Houston Texans at Jacksonville Jaguars

No Matt Schaub, no problem for the Texans. At least in this game.

The Texans won't have a deficiency in QB in this game. Rookie Blaine Gabbert has taken his rookie lumps this year. The Jaguars are 32nd in passing yards. They are also 32nd in yards per pass. Gabbert has six touchdowns to just five interceptions.

It is impossible to predict what we will get out of Leinart, but it isn't likely to be worse than what the Jaguars are getting.

This game isn't going to come down to the passing game, though. It will be about the run game and defense. The Jaguars are decent in both. The Texans are excellent in both.

Jacksonville is fourth in rushing yards allowed and 15th in passing yards allowed. Houston is second in passing yards allowed and fourth in rushing yards allowed.

The edge there goes to the Texans in a big way.

The Jaguars are going to have a hard time running the ball on the Texans, which means they are going to have a hard time moving the ball. This will leave the Texans with great field position, and that will lead to easy points.

The Texans have the league's second-ranked run game. Put that second-ranked run game consistently on a short field, and you have an offense that won't need much from their QB.

Prediction: Texans 24, Jaguars 10

Denver Broncos at San Diego Chargers

The Chargers' losing streak is about to get extended to six games. And no, this has nothing to do with Tim Tebow. While Tebow is hogging all of the buzz about the Broncos recent success, that success is far more attributable to their defense.

Since Tebow took over, the Broncos defense has held their opponents to 15 or fewer points in three of five games.

Denver is eighth in the league in yards allowed per rush. That rush defense has been fairly solid all year. Where this team is making big gains is in their pass defense. On the season, they are 23rd in yards allowed per pass attempt.

Over the last three games, they have allowed 6.2 yards per pass. If that number was for the season, they would be ranked eighth in that category as well.

This defense is going to make life hard on a San Diego team that has lost its way.

The Chargers are still moving the ball through the air. They are fourth in passing yards, but Philip Rivers is chucking interceptions at an alarming rate. San Diego has thrown an interception on 4.44 percent of their passes. That is fourth worst in the league.

Over their last three games, the Broncos have hauled in 3.67 percent of passes for interceptions. That would be the ninth best percentage on the season. They will get a chance to improve that number in this one. And Tebow and the Broncos offense will do enough against the Chargers 22nd-ranked rush defense to pull out another low scoring victory.

Prediction: Broncos 17, Chargers 13

Pittsburgh Steelers at Kansas City Chiefs

Kansas City is going to have a hard time avoiding a shutout, let alone winning. The Chiefs have scored a combined 16 points in their last three games. There last was a three-point effort against the Patriots in Tyler Palko's first game under center for the injured Matt Cassel. Palko chucked three picks in that game, and that was against a Patriots team ranked 32nd in passing yards allowed.

This week, he will be going against a Steelers defense that is third in passing yards allowed. That means it is going to be up to the Chiefs' ninth-ranked rushing attack to move the ball in this game, and that is not going to happen.

The Steelers are sixth in rushing yards allowed. They have also been getting better stopping the run as the season has gone on. Over their last three games, the Steelers are allowing just 3.4 yards per rush. That number would have them tied for first in the league if it was for the season.

The Chiefs offense is facing 60 minutes of fail, and that is going to put way too much pressure on their defense. This game will be a cake walk for the Steelers.

Prediction: Steelers 24, Chiefs 0