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| Bell had 88 yds receiving. Photo Credit: Mark L. Baer/ USA Today Sports |
Le'Veon Bell had 145 yards total, including a touchdown catch that helped the Steelers comeback to beat the Texans 30-23 on Monday night.
By: Michael Hanley
The win provides the Steelers (4-3) some momentum to build on moving forward in the season. Meanwhile for the Texans (3-4) they have many more questions about where they are in terms of a team as they have many weaknesses exposed by the Steelers tonight.
Alfred Blue capped a 10 play, 94 yard opening drive with an 11 yard tocuhdown catch from Ryan Fitzpatrick, the first touchdown of his NFL career, to get the Texans off to a fast start and the early 7-0 lead. That drive took allot of the wind out of the stadium and of the Steelers defense as they could not get that one play to get Houston off the field. The defensive performance looked eerily reminiscent of the one that doomed them in Cleveland against the Browns in their previous game.
Houston defense was able to create a turnover as JJ Watt and Mercelius were able to break through the Pittsburgh offensive line and get to Roethlisberger who fumbled the ball and the Texans recovered it.
Texans turned that turnover into a Randy Bullock made field goal & a 10-0 lead. Though a touchdown would have been great, getting points off any turnover their defense was able to create was crucial especially being the road team in this match up.
Pittsburgh would be able to put up a drive that would net them three points courtesy of Shaun Suisham who nailed it from 44 yards. It would kick start this offense that was sleepwalking through most of the first half,
Steelers would get even closer before the half on a beautiful 35 yard touch pass by Big Ben to Martavis Bryant who did a nice job to get both feet inbounds as he caught the ball in stride. It gave Pittsburgh another shot of momentum and would all of a sudden put a ton of pressure on the Houston offense to come up with an answer and a fast one to stem this surge by the home team.
That pressure would be something the Texans would fail to handle as Arian Foster fumbled at their own four yard line. Steelers would start a run that would see them score 24 points in a 2:54 minute period that completely flipped this game upside down. It happened so rapidly that the Texans barley had enough time to catch their breath. When they did it was 24-13 Steelers and they had the look of a boxer who needed a standing eight count.
Pittsburgh would do much of the same thing as they continued to control the ball on offense and play solid defense. Ben Roethlisberger finished the night a very solid 23/33 for 265 yards and two touchdown passes. Antonio Brown had a big night with nine catches for 90 yards, burning the Texans secondary repeatedly.
For the Texans, Ryan Fitzpatrick was far from his best as he had trouble handling the pressure of the Steelers pass rush. He finished 21/32 for 262 yards, two touchdowns and one costly interception. Arian Foster had it going on early for Houston in the first half. The Steelers defense though tightened their coverage of him in the second half and limited his impact on the game. Foster finished with 20 carries for 102 yards.
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