It looked like the same old Steelers for the first 27 minutes Monday night against the Houston Texans – then, something magical happened.
With maybe the season on the line – the Black and Gold finally played like the team many have waited to see, reaching down deep for that something special Steelers fans have waited all season to see.
The result – an amazing 24 points over 2:54 to erase a 13-0 deficit and take a 24-13 halftime lead, helping the Steelers beat Houston 30-16 to move to 4-3 on the season.
The Texans, who simply dominated the first quarter and well into the second quarter, fell apart, thanks to a big-play to a rookie for the Steelers and a defense the woke up just in time.
There was no doubt about the two biggest plays of the night that were the biggest factor in the win for the Steeelrs.
Ben Roethlisberger hit rookie Martavis Bryant for a 35-yard touchdown on his first career catch, and Brett Keisel picked off a Ryan Fitzpatrick pass to help the Steelers get their first lead of the night.
The defense forced another turnover on a Arian Foster fumble to help them get another score to make it 24-13 at the half.
The second half saw the Texans draw within 8 at 24-16 on a field goal, but the Steelers put together a huge drive that saw them drive down and get a Shaun Suisham 30-yard field goal to make it 27-16 with 5:50 to play.
A fumble recovery by Troy Polamalu helped the Steelers get another three to make it 30-16, and the Texans scored late to make it 30-23, but Michael Palmer saved the day, recovering the onside kick to save the win.
Roethlisberger was 23-for-33 for 265 and two scores, Antonio Brown caught 9 passes for 90 yards, Le’Veon Bell ran for 57 yards to lead the team.
The three-game homestand will continue Sunday at 4:25pm as the Steelers have a huge test against the best team in the AFC South, the Indianapolis Colts, who come to Heinz Field after a 27-0 shutout of the Cincinnati Bengals Sunday.
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DaveB.
October 21, 2014 at 5:18 am
Its a nice win but lets accept it for what it is . The Steelers beat a 3-3 football team . One question was answered however , Martavis Bryant proved last night he should be starting over Marcus Wheaton . Why hes been standing on the sidelines for the last six weeks only Haley an Tomlin know the answer to that . Lastly , we have Andrew Luck an the Colts next Sunday , and after what the Colts did to the Bengals on Sunday , I’d say the Steelers are in for a long day . Time will tell .
DrGeorge
October 21, 2014 at 8:43 am
Couldn’t agree more, Dave. We beat a 3-3 team 30-23, by only 7 points. The Texans handed us three turnovers, including an improbable muff by Arian Foster on his own three and an equally improbable ricochet interception by Keisel off the helmet of a teammate that gave the offense the ball at the eight. Our offense then went a total of 11 yards to score two TDs. Not many teams will be that obliging.
But let’s give credit where it’s due. I made a big deal about play calling before the game. It was a factor. For the first quarter and a half, Ben R. seemed to be calling his own plays out of the no-huddle, and the offense went nowhere, Ben took two sacks, we got down 10-0, and the fans were booing — in Heinz Field. Then, somebody threw a switch, and Ben began running the offense. Suddenly, the offense began making yards and Bell looked like Superman — because Ben was running the system, distributing the ball instead of trying to do it all himself. Ben’s long throw to Bryant and that checkdown to Bell that resulted in long yards were not improvisations; they were designed plays. The proof of the pudding is that Ben had only 251 yards passing total and most of that came on short passes that turned into long gains. Bell had only 57 yards rushing (not good) but 88 yards receiving, mostly on short passes. It doesn’t take an All-Pro QB to run this offense when it is run right.
The big kudos must go to LeBeau and the defense, who are playing with meager talent. They too got off to a rocky start, but the infusion of new faces seemed to make a difference just as it did on offense. Everyone contributed and played reasonably well — McCullers, Moates, Spence, Heyward, McKain, Tuit, Keisel — although Fitzpatrick picked on Allen and Gay successfully when the pass rush failed to hurry him and sometimes even when it did. And the D forced two of the three turnovers.
The bad new is that the defense played about as well as it could, and that won’t be good enough against most top level teams, like the Colts. DaveB is right about that. Which means the offense must produce at least 30 against the Colts to win. That seems unlikely. Nor are the Colts likely to give us three turnovers.
But if the team continues to play this hard on both sides of the ball, win or lose, I won’t fault them, and those many empty seats in Heinz Field will fill up again. Pittsburgh fans love to win, but more than that they want to see effort and crisp execution. Last night, they finally got a little of both.