10/20/14 Texans @ Steelers Recap

Boy, is that a relief.

http://www.nfl.com/gamecenter/2014102000/2014/REG7/texans@steelers#menu=drivechart&tab=analyze&pbp=gc-pbp-4

In a much needed game, the Pittsburgh Steelers found their groove and defeated the Houston Texans 30-23, including a run of 24 unanswered points.

The Steelers got the ball first but their drive stalled near mid field. The scoring started in the first quarter when Houston began with 1st and 10 at their own 6. Ryan Fitzpatrick calmly marched his offense down the field, converting a couple a key 3rd downs, including a 33 yard run by Arian Foster that set Houston up at the Pittsburgh 11. Alfred Blue pulled in a short pass from Fitzpatrick and found the end zone for his first NFL touchdown to give the Texans a 7-0 lead. The Steelers started to put a drive together, but disaster struck once they got into Houston territory. On 3rd and 9, Whitney Mercilus sacked and stripped Ben Roethlisberger and J.J. Watt recovered the fumble for the Texans.

Houston was able to turn the takeaway into points as Randy Bullock banged a 39 yard field goal to give the Texans a 10-0 lead. After another Steelers 3-and-out (sigh), the Texans marched right down the field again. The defense finally stiffened inside the 30, prompting Braddock to come out for his second field goal of the night to make it 13-0 Houston.

During the next drive, when the Steelers faced a 3rd and 15 from their own 9, prospects looked pretty bleak at Heinz Field. A smattering of boos could be heard in the audience.

Then, as if somebody flipped a switch, all the momentum went Pittsburgh’s way.

An offside penalty on J.J. Watt gave the Steelers a 3rd an 10 from the 14. From there, Ben hit LeVeon Bell with a short pass that Bell turned into a 43 yard gain that got the Steelers to the Texans 43. After a 13 yard pass play to Heath Miller, the Steelers got on the board with Shaun Suisham’s 44 yard field goal to make it 13-3. The defense got a big 3-and-out and, 2 plays later, the offense found itself in the end zone. Bell turned another short pass into a 37 yard gain and, on the very next play, Ben hit Martavis Bryant for his first NFL touchdown to cut the Houston lead 13-10.

With Heinz Field in a frenzy, Houston’s Danieal Manning had trouble fielding the kickoff and was tackled at the 4 yard line. On the ensuing drive, Arian Foster was dropped for a loss on 2nd and 9 and the original ruling was that he was downed by contact. Mike Tomlin issued a challenge on the play and the ruling was overturned, giving a strip to Jason Worlids, a recovery to Sean Spence, and, more importantly, the ball to the Pittsburgh Steelers at the 4 yard line. On the very next play, Antonio Brown found Lance Moore open on the wide receiver option gadget play to give the Steelers a 17-13 lead.

Ryan Fitzpatrick found Brett Keisel for the interception on the ensuing drive as the ball bounced off Keisel to Lawrence Timmons and back to Keisel. The Bearded One returned the ball 16 and, 2 plays later, Ben found Bell for his first career receiving touchdown giving the Steelers a 24-13 lead as Suisham hit his third straight extra point.

That’s 24 unanswered points in 2 minutes and 54 seconds. (eyes bug out of head)

Houston got the ball to start the 3rd quarter with the football, but they went 3-and-out as Foster was held shy of a first down. Pittsburgh took the ball to the Houston 41 before the drive stalled. After taking a delay of game penalty, Brad Wing and the punting unit pinned Houston back to their own 7 yard line. DeAndre Hopkins hauled in a 21 yard pass play to get Houston out of troubled field position and, 4 plays later, the Texans executed a fake punt on a 7 yard run by Blue to keep the drive alive. After the drive stalled in Pittsburgh territory, Houston’s punt team was on the field again a second time and would punt the ball away.

Houston did manage to pin the Steelers back to their own one yard line. On 3rd and 9 from their own 2, the Steelers got a big lift as Ben hit Darius Heyward-Bey on a 17 yard strike out to the 19. After picking up another first down, the teams headed to the fourth quarter.

The Steelers nearly had disaster strike for a second time as Keenan Lewis, the former Steeler, recovered a fumble on Lance Moore. After review by the replay official, however, the play was overturned and the Steelers were able to punt the ball away. Houston started a drive down the field aided by a pass interference penalty on Cortez Allen and a big 24 yard catch by Andre Johnson. On a big 3rd and 7 from the Pittsburgh 36, Fitzpatrick found Johnson again, this time for 21 yards to the 15 yard line. On 3rd and 7 from the 12, Fitzpatrick found Darius Johnson open, but he could not hold on. The Texans had to settle for Bullock’s 3rd field goal of the game, a 31 yard effort to make it 24-16 with 11:52 remaining.

After the Steelers got some help on their next drive from a Houston penalty for 12 men on the field, Bell ripped off a 20 yard run to give the offense a spark. Houston shot themselves in the foot again 3 plays later with a defensive holding penalty on Koreem Jackson that kept the drive going. On the next play, Ben found Antonio Brown for a big 30 yard reception for a 1st and 10 at the 16. After an overturned touchdown on Brown, he tried to make amends by coming up with the first down on 3rd and long, but ended up just one yard short. With a delay of game penalty forcing the ball back to the 13, Suisham banged a 30 yard field goal to give the Steelers a double digit lead again at 27-16 with 5:55 remaining.

On the ensuing Houston drive, Fitzpatrick hit Hopkins for a big gain, but Mike Mitchell and Arthur Moats knocked the ball out of his hands. Troy Polamalu was there for the scoop and he returned the ball 13 yards to the Houston 39. The Steelers were able to advance the ball to the 28 where Suisham tacked on his 3rd field goal of the night to make it 30-16.

The Texans did not give up without a fight. Fitzpatrick found Johnson again for a 22 yard pass play and 15 yards were added on to that because of a personal foul penalty on James Harrison. Two plays later, Houston was at the Pittsburgh 17 with a 1st and 10 at the two minute warning. Fitzpatrick hit Hopkins on more time to set up first and goal at the one. Arian Foster pulled in the touchdown pass with 1:31 remaining to make it 30-23.

On the ensuing onside kick, after a bounding ball that squirted around and could not be handled, Michael Palmer finally fell on it. After the kneel down by Big Ben, the final seconds ticked off the clock. The Steelers improve to 4-3 with the victory, and Houston has now lost 3 in a row to fall to 3-4.

The Steelers will welcome the Indianapolis Colts to Heinz field next Sunday to try to get consecutive victories for the first time this season.

This one feels pretty good.

Texans @ Steelers Preview

It’s a battle of mediocrity on Monday Night Football, with two teams about whom everyone around the National Football League says, “Meh, they’re okay.”

As the Pittsburgh Steelers prepare to defend their 8-0 mark at Heinz Field under the Monday night lights, they are a team that is much in need of an identity. On paper, they should be a solid running team as they are 5th in the league in rushing and Le’Veon Bell is 2nd in the league in yards from scrimmage, but they are scaring anybody as a rushing team because they are not consistent with the running game. They’re 6th in the league in passing and Antonio Brown is among the leaders in the AFC in receiving yardage, but the team is simply not scoring enough points for all of the yards they are collecting. They are 23rd in the NFL in scoring and 31st in red zone percentage, which tells me this: they can move the ball at will on their opponent until they get down in the red zone and that simply must change.

On defense, the Steelers are middle of the road, or “soft” according to former head coach Bill Cowher (God love him). Troy Polamalu and Brett Keisel are playing well, as is Cam Heyward, but the Steelers have only been able to come up with 6 takeaways on the season and they have allowed at least 24 points against an opponent in all but two of their games (they held Carolina to 19 and Jacksonville to 9). They have had to play the last 3 games without two of their starting linebackers in Jarvis Jones and rookie Ryan Shazier, and Cleveland was able to move the ball at will on the Steelers defense after the first quarter in last weeks game.

The Texans, meanwhile, are a team looking to regain the spark that led them two their 3-1 start. Coming off consecutive tough losses to Dallas and Indianapolis, Houston looks to equal the success that they had against Pittsburgh in their last meeting, which was a 17-10 victory back in 2011. Quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick will be making his 4th career start against the Steelers with a 3rd different team. He’s 0-3 against the Black and Gold so far, but the teams he was with before were the Bengals in 2008 and the Bills in 2010. Perhaps not the best sample.

While the Texans rank 28th in defense against the pass and 26th against the run, they are the 4th best unit in points allowed. They bend, but, unlike the Steelers, they don’t break. J.J. Watt is in the midst of a career season, including a rather unique statistic. He’s the only player in the NFL this season to have a receiving touchdown, a fumble recovery for a touchdown, and an interception returned for a touchdown. He also has 7 passes batted down and 4 sacks.

The offense, which ranks 28th in passing, is probably going to be leaning heavily on star running back Arian Foster and star receiver Andre Johnson. Johnson needs just 10 more yards to surpass Steve Largeant for 14th place on the all time receiving list. Meanwhile, Foster is averaging 110 rushing yards per game, good for 2nd in the NFL, and he rushed for 155 in the last meeting with Pittsburgh.

This has the makings for a very interesting football game. The Steelers will be looking to continue their trend of alternating wins with losses and the Texans will be looking to bounce back and avoid a three game losing streak. One of these teams may be in panic mode after this game is over.

No matter what Ben Roethlisberger says.