Arian Foster is back for the Texans. Will he impact the final score?

Pittsburgh at Houston

The Steelers are a proud team and won't just roll over in this one, but the matchup might just be too much for the Steelers to overcome.  The Steelers offensive line wasn't very good to begin with but now that they are this injured, they are downright bad.  Averaging only 3.3 ypc is a tough way to go about business for any team.  Bruce Arians will probably abandon the run fairly quickly and if that happens, the Texans will have a much easier time getting their pass rushers up the field and after Roethlisberger.  If they don't get there, however, the Steelers have the deep speed to make the Texans pay.

On the offensive side of the ball for the Texans, they have Arian Foster back and his versatility is extremely important against a creative DC like Dick LeBeau.  The key to the Steelers defense has always been their ability to shut down the run and then force teams into bad down and distance spots where the Steelers pass rush would tee off.  Now, the Steelers are allowing 4.6 ypc and have not been able to simply control opposing offenses like they've done in the past.  The Texans running game should have some success against the Steelers, but don't be surprised to see the Texans spread the Steelers out or even run some type of hurry up to force LeBeau to keep his base package on the field and out of exotic packages.

Texans - 24    Steelers - 20

Detroit at Dallas

The Cowboys got a much-needed win on Monday night despite kicking only field goals and I'm sure the team's respect for Tony Romo went way up as well as he played through quite a bit of pain in the win.  The Cowboys have a great matchup with Dez Bryant taking on the Lions CBs, but that is mitigated somewhat by the loss of Miles Austin who would have given the Cowboys a lethal 1-2 punch in this spot.  While the Cowboys will still rely on Jason Witten, is it enough?  The Cowboys appear to be over-matched in the middle of their offensive line so don't expect there to be much of a running game and if that happens, Romo is going to take more hits in the passing game than he would like.

The Lions have had to make two, big second half comebacks to find themselves at 3-0, yet here they are.  While Jahvid Best isn't a big threat to dominate on the ground, he is still highly explosive and equally tough coming out of the backfield.  Calvin Johnson is a nightmare for any secondary and that is obviously the case here, but Nate Burleson and Brandon Pettigrew have the ability to stress the Cowboys as well.  The Cowboys OLBs could have a big day against the Lions tackles.  Usually, this would be a great spot for the Cowboys, but with them coming off of a Monday Night game and with Romo banged up and Austin out, I can't get behind them here.

Detroit -23     Dallas - 17