Battle Red Blog
The Houston Texans have done it! After one of the most demoralizing starts to the regular season in recent history, the Texans have fought their way back into the playoffs and have won their first road playoff game in franchise history against the 10-7 Pittsburgh Steelers. With that win, the Texans have sent hall-of-fame QB Aaron Rodgers packing into retirement, sent Steelers’ longtime head coach Mike Tomlin off the podium, and reached the high watermark of every Houston Texans team of the past. That’s right, there has never been a Texans team to reach beyond the divisional round of the postseason, so what special sauce do the 2025 Texans have hidden up their sleeve that will blast them through that glass ceiling? Well, after watching that big wildcard win, I’ve come away with 5 big takeaways that I think Texans fans can hold onto as they prepare for the biggest game of the DeMeco Ryans/CJ Stroud era to date:
Try to remember what you thought of QB Aaron Rodgers four years ago, right after the 2021 season. He’s fresh off of his second MVP season in row, thrown for over 4,000 yards, 37 touchdowns to just 4 interceptions, and his Green Bay Packers just clinched the 1-seed after a dominant regular season. Rodgers was already 38 years old at the time, so many were already wondering when his final season might be here – if it wasn’t here already. What do you think his last game would be like? Would it end in a climatic final playoff game with the Packers, with Rodgers throwing Hail Mary’s until the very end? Would he ride off into the sunset like QB Peyton Manning, winning a Super Bowl in his last game? Or…would it be in a wildcard blowout while he’s playing for the Pittsburgh Steelers? Something tells me you wouldn’t have predicted that last one, and not only has it come true, but his final pass as a Steelers QB (and potentially as an NFL player) will go down as a pick six thrown directly into the hands of Texans S Calen Bullock. Even though these great quarterbacks are held up as kings amongst men, their final moments are often a bit ugly, and Rodgers’ final game was no exception.
Rodgers knew the danger of targeting Houston’s ball-hawking secondary coming into the game, so for much of the contest, he routinely targeted the flat and space just beyond the line of scrimmage, looking for his RBs or TEs to find an opening and make a play. But, to his surprise, LBs Azeez Al-Shaair, Henry To’oTo’o, and S Jalen Pitre stuck to Steelers’ receivers like glue, blasted through would-be blockers, and ruined plays meant to give the Rodgers-led offense a fighting chance. And, when Rodgers wasn’t finding a receiver to quickly take the ball from him, he was in for a world of pain administered by the entire Texans defensive line. It...
