The Steelers preached patience all week after their shellacking in Cleveland to fall to 3-3 and boy did they show it on Monday night.
Pittsburgh fell behind early but stormed back thanks to two Houston turnovers that led to 21 points within 1:13.
Le’veon Bell had 145 total yards and a touchdown en route to a 2 for 3 effort in the red zone for the Steelers.
Arian Foster went off in the first quarter, racking up 59 yards en route to a 10 play, 94 yard touchdown drive, capped off by an 11 yard pass from Ryan Fitzpatrick to Alfred Blue.
Foster continued his fast start well into the second quarter as the Texans looked like a team that was going to put the Steelers away early. Whitney Mercilus sack-stripped Ben Roethlisberger on Pittsburgh’s second drive, resulting in a fumble recovery by JJ Watt at the Steelers 46 yard line.
The first 25 minutes were enough to make anyone wearing black and gold sick, including Lawrence Timmons who projectile vomited on the field.
And yet, after that weird and disgusting moment, the Steelers suddenly alleviated all of their previous issues from the start of the season and started an unbelievable rally.
Bell took a short pass over the middle on third down and broke a 43 yard run to get the Steelers into Houston territory. A Shaun Suisham field goal made it 13-3, Houston.
The defense forced a three and out, sparked by a sack by Timmons. After a 28 yard catch and run by Bell, Ben Roethlisberger found rookie Martavis Bryant in the back of the end zone on a 35 yard touchdown. It was Bryant’s first career touchdown in his first NFL game.
“It’s is pretty exciting but at the same time you can’t get complacent. You’ve got to get back to practice on Wednesday and look to the next one,” said the first year receiver out of Clemson.
Daniel Manning dropped the ensuing kickoff, pinning the Texans at their own five. Two plays later, Arian Foster lost a fumble to give the Steelers the ball inside the five yard line.
Antonio Brown received a pitch from Roethlisberger, then reversed course, rolled out and threw a perfect strike to Lance Moore for the touchdown. It was a big night for Brown who not only threw for a touchdown but also passed Franco Harris for seventh in receptions in franchise history.
On the next play from scrimmage, Fitzpatrick’s pass was tipped and intercepted by Brett Keisel, leading to a touchdown pass from Roethlisberger to Bell.
“It was a big play for us and the offense went out there and scored. [It was] a big momentum swing for us,” said Keisel.
After a quiet third quarter, the Texans drove to the Pittsburgh 13 yard line before cutting into the Steelers lead with a 31 yard field goal.
Faced with possibly their biggest drive of the season, the Steelers were able to answer with a field goal of their own after a ten play, 70 yard drive that took 5:57 off the clock and got the lead back to two scores.
Two plays later, Deandre Hopkins fumbled after a 32 yard catch to give the Steelers the ball at the Houston 39. Suisham cashed in to extend the Steeler lead to fourteen with 3:04 remaining.
A touchdown to Arian Foster cut the lead back to seven but the Steelers were able to recover an onside kick after a mad scramble for the ball.
In the end, the Steelers forced three turnovers and essentially neutralized JJ Watt, the front runner for AFC Defensive Player of the Year. Watt was held to three tackles and just one sack despite facing Mike Adams for most of the night after an injury to Marcus Gilbert.
“We can’t get too far ahead of ourselves. I’m not even going to talk about trying to stack wins or anything like that. I’m just looking to go 1-0 next week,” stated a rather level-head Mike Mitchell.
The Steelers have another tough matchup next week when the Indianapolis Colts come to town, followed by another home game against the Baltimore Ravens.
