The Pittsburgh Steelers earned a first round playoff “bye” with a 34-6 victory over the Houston Texans Christmas Day. Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger threw for two touchdowns and running backs Le’Veon Bell and Roosevelt Nix rushed for touchdowns. It was Roethlisberger’s 200th career game, tying Mel Blount for fourth-most in Steelers history.
With the victory, the Steelers improved to 12-3 overall. They host Cleveland for their regular season finale Sunday, then will play in the second round of the AFC playoffs January 13th and 14th.
Kicker Chris Boswell set a Steelers record with his 35th field goal of the season. He surpassed Norm Johnson, who had 34 in 2005. Boswell needs three points to break Johnson’s season record of 141 total points in a regular season.
The NFL released the Steelers opponents for the 2018 season Sunday. The Steelers will host New England, Kansas City, Atlanta, Carolina and the Los Angeles Chargers at Heinz Field along with their AFC North division foes. The Steelers will have road trips to Oakland, Denver, New Orleans, Tampa Bay and Jacksonville.
Last night in the other Christmas Day game: Philadelphia defeated Oakland 19-10. The Eagles maintained the best record in football at 13-2.