Battle Red Blog
How sweet it is. Three seasons under DeMeco Ryans and three times the Texans have won big on Wild Card weekend. This time they finally won on the road as they smothered the Pittsburgh Steelers and almost literally put Aaron Rodgers into a sleeper hold. The final score will say this one was a blowout and the numbers will probably tell the same tale, but it did not feel like a blowout through the first three and a half quarters. It took a series of great defensive plays to take the issue out of doubt.
We will go over the numbers as we usually do. There were some major differences in this game that allowed for it to deviate at least in part from the normal Texans victory throughout their ten game winning streak. As per usual, we will look at the great, the good, and the bad as well. However, we always start with the numbers and that is where we are focused.
Obviously, the only category that was radically different was the turnovers. It changed the whole complexion of the game in positive and negative ways. Unlike almost every other game this season, the Texans converted both fourth quarter turnovers into immediate points on returns for touchdowns. On the flip side, the Steelers turned one Stroud fumble into three points when their drive stalled out. The other two turnovers probably removed six points from the board. Otherwise, the numbers above look like they do almost every week.
Everybody on the field is paid to play football. This isn’t the SEC battling against the Big Sky conference. The talent differential is just not that great. So, the Steelers offense was going to make some plays. D.K. Metcalf is an accomplished wide receiver. We could debate about whether he is a true number one receiver, but that would be getting into the weeds. Aaron Rodgers can still do some things on a football field. Their running backs are still capable of making guys miss on occasion.
Still, that was as thorough a beatdown as I have ever seen. They really only had one drive of note and it resulted in a field goal. The second field goal was handed to them by Stroud in one of the more inexplicable plays of the season. However, the biggest takeaway is that we aren’t surprised. This did not come out of nowhere. They have been doing this all season. The defense outscored the Steelers 14-6. That’s all you really need to know about this football game.
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