OL’ SAINT PICK!
PHILADELPHIA — Jake Elliott kicked a 48-yard field goal with 22 seconds left, and the Philadelphia Eagles clinched the No. 1 seed for the NFC playoffs with a sloppy 19-10 victory over the Oakland Raiders on Monday night.
Ronald Darby intercepted Derek Carr’s pass and ran it back 52 yards with 54 seconds left, but was ruled down by contact at the spot of the pick. Nick Foles then completed four straight passes for 21 yards. After an incomplete pass, Elliott nailed his kick right down the middle. Derek Barnett returned a fumble for a touchdown after picking up a lateral on Oakland’s final play from scrimmage.
The Eagles (13-2) went to the Super Bowl and lost, 24-21, to New England the last time they had home-field advantage following the 2004 season.
Coming off a 12-4 season, the Raiders (6-9) were a popular pick to challenge the Patriots for the AFC title. But they’ve had a disappointing season and were eliminated from the playoff chase on Sunday.
In Houston, Ben Roethlisberger threw for 226 yards and two touchdowns, and the Steelers clinched a first-round playoff bye.
Roethlisberger threw passes to six players as Pittsburgh (12-3) romped over the lowly Texans (4-11) despite missing NFL leading receiver Antonio Brown, who sat out with a calf injury.
The Steelers led 20-0 at halftime after taking advantage of two turnovers by the Texans. Le’Veon Bell added a 10yard TD run late in the third quarter and rookie JuJu Smith-Schuster made it 34-6 with an 18-yard touchdown grab in the fourth. Bell finished with 14 carries for 69 yards and Smith-Schuster had six receptions for 75 yards. T.J. Yates was 7 of 16 for 83 yards and a touchdown for the Texans, who lost their fifth straight game and for the eighth time in nine games. Yates made his second straight start since Tom Savage sustained a concussion. Yates left the game briefly on Monday to be evaluated for a concussion, and his replacement, Taylor Heinicke, sustained a concussion on his only full possession.
Roethlisberger was replaced by backup Landry Jones with about six minutes remaining and the game well in hand.
The Steelers hurried and harassed Yates all day with Mike Hilton leading the way with three sacks and three quarterback hits, Cameron Heyward adding two and forcing a fumble.
The Texans couldn’t do much right on a day their home stadium was overtaken by vocal Steelers fans waving their Terrible Towels. One of the few highlights came on an acrobatic 3-yard touchdown reception by DeAndre Hopkins in the fourth quarter.
Hopkins deflected the ball with his right hand, reeled it in with his left and got both feet down before falling out of bounds for his NFL-best 13th touchdown reception.
The Steelers took a 10-0 lead when Roethlisberger connected with Justin Hunter on a 5-yard touchdown pass in the first quarter.
Alfred Blue had a 48-yard run on the first play of the second quarter to get the Texans to the Pittsburgh 18-yard line. The Texans got to the 1 on second down later in that drive, but couldn’t do anything on the next two plays before Yates was intercepted in the end zone.