J.J. Watt Makes Biggest Impact In Texans 30-23 Loss To Steelers
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Brien Straw
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While he is without question the Texans best player, and most likely the best defensive player in the NFL, a J.J. Watt mistake turned last night’s game 180-degrees in the Steelers direction as Pittsburgh rallied while the Texans fumbled their way to a 30-23 loss.
Looking to solve what seemed like the teams’ biggest issue – slow starts, the Texans scored on its first two possessions. First a ten-play drive that started at their own six yard line was capped by a Fitzpatrick dump pass to Alfred Blue who ran in from the eleven to give the Texans a 7-0 lead. The drive was perfect as instead of relying on a hot start from Fitz, Bill O’Brien called on Arian Foster to carry the ball on five of the ten plays, and Foster responded by gaining 59 yards.
An eight play Steeler drive followed but was stopped when Watt recovered a Ben Roethlisberger fumble after he was sacked by Whitney Mercilus. A nine play Texan drive ended with a Randy Bullock 39 yard field goal for a 10-0 Texans lead. That second drive included five runs, three passes and the Bullock FG.
Then the Texans forced a three-and-out from the – at least at this point – anemic Steeler offense and the Texans’ offense responded with a ten play drive which included five runs, four passes and another Bullock field goal, this time from 38 yards for a 13-0 lead.With Pittsburgh starting their next drive at their own 14, J.J. Watt sacked Roethlisberger on first down for a second and 19 from the Steeler five. A four yard pass to Antonio Brown set-up a Pittsburgh third and 15 from their nine. Roethlisberger’s pass to Brown was incomplete, but instead of that incompletion forcing a Steeler punt, Pittsburgh was given a second chance to convert the third down because J.J. was offsides on the play. Big Ben found Le’Veon Bell for a short pass over the middle, and Bell raced 43 yards (the longest play from scrimmage this season for Pittsburgh) to the Houston 43 yard line.
The Steelers ended the drive with a Shaun Suisham 44 yard field goal to get on the board with 3:08 left in the half, trailing 13-3.
What followed was historic. The Steelers forced a three-and-out and then, with 1:46 left in the first half added 21 points. Scoring three touchdowns in such a short period of time had not happened in twelve years.
The scoring spree started with a two play drive. First a shorts pass to Bell in which he outran Brian Cushing for 28 yards. Then a bomb to Martavis Bryant – playing in his first game – for 35 yards in the back of the end zone as he flew by A.J. Bouye and the Texans lead is cut to 13-10.
On the ensuing kickoff Danieal Manning fumbled and muffed the football finally recovering to give the Texans a first and ten from their five. One play later an official’s reviews showed Arian Foster had fumbled before going down and the Steelers have it first and goal at the Texan three. A pitch to Antonio Bryant who started right, reversed course and headed left to pass to a wide open Lance Moore made it 17-13 Steelers.
With O’Brien not content to run out the clock with 1:03 left in the half, Ryan Fitzpatrick’s first down pass is tipped and intercepted by Brett Keisel at the Texans 24. Keisel runs 16 yards to give the Steelers a first and goal at the Texans’ eight.
After a six yard pass to Antonio Brown puts Pittsburgh at the Texan two yard line, the next play finds D.J. Swearinger yelling for someone to cover the WIDE OPEN Brown, whom Roethlisberger tosses it to, giving the Steelers lead 24-13 with :14-seconds left in the half. Half over. Game over.
Yes an angry Bill O’Brien will chastise the media post game for making too much of the mishaps – which included a fourth-quarter rally killing DeAndre Hopkins fumble at the Steelers 48 yard line after making a 32 yard catch with Pittsburgh leading 27-16 with 4:55 to go in the game. Even though O’Brien admits the Texans cannot afford to make so many mistakes, apparently everyone should be okay with the final margin because it was only seven points and therefore the Texans were just an onside kick recovery away from victory, overlooking the fact that the recovery rate for onside kicks is about 18% (except for the Colts?) even though the onside’s attempt by Bullock was excellent.
The sad, perhaps overlooked truth is the avalanche of mistakes started with the snowball that was Watt’s offsides. Instead of Pittsburgh punting from the back of its end zone, the Steelers were off and running to victory.
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