HOUSTON — Make no mistake, it doesn’t rank up there with the Steelers’ most embarrassing loss ever to the Houston Texans.
But it might not be too far behind.
While nothing will surpass the time they lost at home to the expansion Texans in 2002, the Steelers did their best to replicate that dreadful performance with a 30-6 stinker on Sunday that was worse than it even appeared.
“It was not a good day at the office for us,” coach Mike Tomlin said.
No, it wasn’t. Not when the Steelers also lost three starters to injury, including quarterback Kenny Pickett, who injured his left knee when he was sacked by defensive end Jonathan Greenard on a failed 4th-and-1 play in the fourth quarter.
Pickett is scheduled to have a magnetic resonance imaging in Pittsburgh to determine the extent of his injury. If he is unable to play next week against the Baltimore Ravens, the Steelers will turn to Mitch Trubisky, who was signed to a new three-year contract in the offseason for this very reason.
“We’ve got to show some more heart,” Trubisky said. “More heart will help this offense.”
There wasn’t a whole lot of that against the Texans.
After winning back-to-back games to move into a tie atop the AFC North, the Steelers (2-2) took a giant step backward against the Texans. And it wasn’t pretty.
The offense did not score a touchdown for the first time this season and only the second time in the past 69 games. It was the third time in four games this season they failed to generate more than 255 yards offense.
The defense allowed 451 yards, including 306 by rookie quarterback C.J. Stroud, and gave up six passes of at least 22 yards, including a 52-yard touchdown.
And, once again, Tomlin said he’s not going to stand for it.
“Hell yeah, we’ve got to make some changes,” he said. “That was an ugly product we put out there. We’re not going to do the same things and hope for a different outcome.”
What’s more, even though the Texans were using a patch-work offensive line filled with second- and third-teamers, the Steelers never sacked Stroud and allowed 139 yards rushing.
“At the end of the day, we were on our heels a lot,” cornerback Patrick Peterson said. “Those guys had a really, really good game plan to get us on our heels.”
And it started from the outset. The Steelers elected to kick to the Texans after winning the coin toss, hoping to set the tone with their defense. Instead, the Texans went down the field on the opening possession and ended a 12-play drive with the first of Stroud’s two touchdown passes for a 7-0 lead.
And they did it with a couple screens and toss plays designed to keep the Steelers’ two edge rushers, T.J. Watt and Alex Highsmith, on their heels.
“We deferred to get off to a fast start,” Tomlin said.
That wasn’t the only poor decision in the game.
The other came on 4th-and-1 at the Texans 33 when the Steelers elected not to give the ball to Najee Harris, who began the drive with a 23-yard run, and instead saw Pickett injure his knee when he was sacked in the shotgun by Greenard.
Pickett wasn’t the only casualty. Tight end Pat Freiermuth (hamstring), tackle Dan Moore (knee) and defensive end DeMarvin Leal (concussion) also left the game.
Actually, the Steelers were lucky it was only 16-0 at halftime. They had 53 yards of offense, and their longest play was 9 yards. The defense had allowed 15 first downs, 271 yards and four pass plays of 22 yards or longer in the first half.
It didn’t get much better in the second half, except for a couple sensational plays by Harris, who had a 32-yard catch-and-run that set up a field goal and a 23-yard run. Harris finished with 71 yards on 14 attempts,
It proved once again the Steelers are not built to come from behind. When they don’t get off to a quick start, they are in trouble.
“Every loss is disappointing, but it’s how you respond to them,” said inside linebacker Elandon Roberts, who had 10 tackles. “We got a lot of responding to do.”
Gerry Dulac: gdulac@post-gazette.com and Twitter @gerrydulac
First Published: October 1, 2023, 10:42 p.m.
Updated: October 2, 2023, 10:17 a.m.