Texans pregame thread

They are pretty desperate. If they want to win they need to attack our secondary and not play conservative. I see a good chance we lose this one, not that we should though. I think they are better than 0-2. It will be cool to see 3 brothers in the same field again 2 years in a row.

how do you guys feel about this matchup?

 

personally, I don't think the Texans have recovered yet from that boneheaded Deondre Hopkins trade

 

Yes they are desperate but they are also a hot mess on offense. If the Steelers bottle up Johnson it puts the game squarely on Watson to create plays. The first two weeks hd has had flashes but the mistakes have overshadowed them. Forces the ball to Cooks too often, Hasn't developed the chemistry with Fuller and Cobb that he had with Hopkins. My hope is that the Steelers establish a lead early and force thd Texans into catch up ball.

 

Hey BBH, I have picked against the steelers in both games so far. I picked against them this week as well. I like being wrong!

 

Until we stop finding ways to beat ourselves, I'll continue to have a worried view of games we play. This is our third game and I would hope that at the conclusion, we have cleaned our act up, ball control and security, DB communications and coverage, and disciplined play eliminating the stupid penalties. This is a game that should correct issues of the first two games and give me confidence that we can match any team on our schedule. We are what we are, until we aren't . I am hoping to see some fine tuning going on and corrections made. If we do so, we should come out ahead and get the W at home.

 

DeShaun clearly misses DeAndre Hopkins. For that matter, so does the team. I do not see the same level of competitive spirit on the Offensive Side of the Football I did a year ago when "Nuk" was with them. Hopkins was not just the best Offensive Player the Texans ever had, he was a Franchise Caliber one at that.



That said, selling this team short is a bad idea. J.J. Watt is still a great player. He still has some good assistance from the likes of Mercelius and Justin Reid. Finding some consistency in the rushing attack would be my first priority. Throwing it 40+ times is not conducive towards balance and therefore, towards winning against Houston.




However, my biggest X Factor will be the Steelers Pressure. Given how poor the Texans Offensive Line has played, giving up the most pressures of any team, one would think that consistently sending blitzes is the way to go. That could not be any further from the truth as Watson is a playmaker who can and will extend plays or gash defenses with his legs.



Containment is the name of the game here. For this to work though, the communication in the back end must improve. If not, our Defense is in for a long day.

 

Bit anxious are we? I picked a loss in the predict the score thread. Sure hope I'm wrong.

 

I do not think too many teams could recover from a Super Star caliber player being jettisoned either! Granted, the Raiders appear to be doing so but I will hold my verdict on that trade before anything is set in stone. Jacksonville is another one but we will not know about that for another year or so; New York the same.



Glad we do not have ownership like that!!

 

On paper this should be a Steelers W, especially at home in HZ field. As others have said, the Texans are an unbalanced team with a very good young QB. They are a flawed but still dangerous opponent.

My concern is the errors we have seen in the first two weeks, turnovers, fumbles, blown coverages at crucial times etc. If the Steelers win the turnover battle I think they will win the game, and a defensive score would almost certainly clinch it.

I wouldn’t put any money on the outcome of this one.

 

Eliminate the unforced errors and they should win the game.

 

I always hate playing a good team that is coming off a loss. Texans are a good team coming off back to back losses. The Houston Texans already have their season on the line. Not many teams make the playoffs after an 0-3 start.

We have the better team. If we play mistake free football we will win. We also need to be very careful with our blitzes. Watson is capable of rushing for 100 yards on his own. This will be a close game.

 

We are doomed. Watson 3 TDs, JJ Watt 3 sacks...one for safety. Big brother wins this battle. Tomlin's Steelers get a whooping. Not gonna be pretty.

 

This is why Devin Bush is here to spy the QBs.

As long as Bush is there to make the stop when Watt & Dupree miss on their Sack attempts; when the QB escapes the pocket we should be fine. Bush will need all his speed to keep up with these young mobile QBs this year.

Easily the best QB we have faced this year. Hopefully we will not see the back of Edmunds jersey to much this game!

 

The Steelers are the better team on paper, as they were in weeks 1 and 2 when they made hard work of putting away two lesser teams.

The defence does not concern me as much as the offence. I think Watson will have a tough day, but our D was tired late in both games to date due to being on the field too long. The offence needs to take care of the ball and stop opening the door for the opposition. If they hadn’t turned the ball over stupidly and unnecessarily multiple times vs Denver the Steelers would have won comfortably. That is the key to victory, the defence will do its part.

 

It all depends on how WE play. The Texans will give their best effort not to start 0-3. If we play good we will win because they are a flawed team we should beat. If we play like our last game, we will lose, but I doubt we will play that poorly. Just good, not great play should be enough IMO.

 

They don't have anybody that can cover Claypool,having trouble with the run, on the road up against the best defense at creating turnovers.
Sorry folks, the Steelers start 3-0, putting the pressure on the purple juggernaut.

 

Exactly how many games have we beaten ourselves this year?

 

Of course the Defense will get its pressure!


I am just a bit concerned as to how often they will bring the house! Containment is key here.

 

Will any of the refs tomlin brought in this week officiate the game this weekend (I would assume the league would not permit that but who knows)

 

Steelers should win by multiple scores in a stress free game for us. But if they do win it will be a nail biter per usual. They should win but I can see them losing too. Pretty much how I will feel about this team until Tomlin shows me something different.

 

Love to see some play action on 1st down rather than 1 or 2 yards running Conner up the middle. Need to pass early to open up some lanes for Conner.

 

Not entirely anxious, have too many things to worry about lol