Steelers vs. Texans 2017 live stream: Time, TV schedule, and how to watch online

The Pittsburgh Steelers already clinched the AFC North for the second straight season. Now, they are trying to clinch a first-round bye in the playoffs. In order to keep that desire alive, Pittsburgh has to knock off the Houston Texans on Christmas Day at 4:30 p.m. ET. NFL Network and NBC (live stream) will broadcast this game.

Pittsburgh (11-3) failed to beat the New England Patriots, the top-seeded team in the AFC, last week. Pittsburgh had a chance to defeat the New England Patriots last week, but a Jesse James “drop” at the goal line ruined the Steelers’ chance to win.

Pittsburgh can beat the Texans by feeding Houston’s defense a heavy dose of Le’Veon Bell, who leads the league in rushing with 1,222 yards. A milestone to keep an eye on: Bell has the opportunity this week to reach 8,000 yards from scrimmage for his career in what will be just his 61st game. By doing so, Bell would surpass Hall of Famer Eric Dickerson for the fewest games to reach the mark. Dickerson took 64.

Houston (4-10) doesn’t have much of a chance to beat Pittsburgh — especially since its top two quarterbacks, Deshaun Watson and Tom Savage, are on injured reserve. The Texans will have to depend third-string quarterback T.J. Yates and their defense to collect a fifth win. Yates only completed 45.6 percent of his passes over the past two games. Houston’s 25th-ranked defense only collected 31 sacks and forced 16 turnovers this season. Yates and this defense has to play flawless football to win.

The Steelers hosted the Patriots in a game that would give the winner an inside lane to the AFC No. 1 seed and home-field advantage in the playoffs. Pittsburgh appeared to score a late go-ahead touchdown, but referees determined that tight end Jesse James “did not survive the ground” — which is an apocalyptic way of saying that James was going to the ground as he made the catch and did not maintain possession at the end of the play.

The Patriots are lined up in an empty set, in 11 personnel (one running back, one tight end). The back, James White, is split wide to the left, with Rob Gronkowski in the left slot. All three wide receivers are to the right: Danny Amendola is nearest to the right guard, Brandin Cooksin the middle, and Phillip Dorsett split wide.

Defensively, the Steelers are in Cover-1 with Nickel personnel, with cornerbacks Artie Burns, Mike Hilton and Cameron Sutton manned up with Amendola, Cooks and Dorsett, respectively. Strong safety Sean Davis is on Gronkowski, and Vince Williams is covering White. Free safety Mike Mitchell is the deep safety.

The Houston Texans are a mess, and so is their offensive line. In the 2015 season, the strength of the team was their offensive line. Once their preseason line composed of Duane Brown-Xavier Su’a-Filo-Ben Jones-Brandon Brooks-Derek Newton become their actual line against Cincinnati, they began churning defensive lines and gave Brian Hoyer plenty of time to be mediocre.

Since the end of that season, things have fallen apart. Rick Smith let the average Ben Jones walk to Tennessee, where he has been a better player there than he was in Houston. Smith opted to sign Jeff Allen over retaining Brandon Brooks. In the draft, they selected Nick Martinin the second round; Martin missed his entire rookie year with an ankle injury and was replaced by Greg Mancz. Really good became mediocre last season.

Amid all the speculation and argument about whether Bill O’Brien’s stay in Houston should extend into 2018, there hasn’t been as much attention focused on whether Rick Smith’s future should also be under scrutiny. Here at BRB, we’ve talked about it for years, but it hasn’t gotten as much play in the more traditional media outlets as the 4-10 Texans stumble toward the finish line of the 2017 campaign.

Sean Pendergast, however, took pen to paper and recently examined the Texans’ achievements during Rick Smith’s tenure with the organization. It’s a read that’s worth your time, but here are some notable excerpts:

Pittsburgh should have no problem winning this game, and Bell should eclipse 100 rushing yards with ease. All of SB Nation’s NFL experts chose Pittsburgh to win this game.