September 26, 2023 • 20 mins
Matt Williamson and Tom Opferman break down the Steelers upcoming matchup with the Houston Texans in Houston
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
We got some work to do.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
This is the Advanced Scout with Tom Opperman and Mac williamsitt.
The Steelers are coming off their second straight primetime win
as they beat the Raiders in Vegas on Sunday night
Football proved to two and one on the season. Up
next a date with the Houston Texans in Houston, Texans
coming off of their first win of the season, and
that it's the first win of their head coach Damiko
(00:23):
Ryan's career. Yeah, and the first win of their rookie
quarterback CJ Stroud's career. So knocking some pretty nice things
off their bucket list last week in jest a big
upset too.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
And you got to yeah, exactly that too, I mean,
and you got to think where that franchise is right
now and where they've been, I mean, through the whole
Watson stuff and gone through coach after coach on one year,
ten years, and really bad rosters and early pick after
early pick, and now not only the you of those rookies,
but you had the third pick in the draft, will Anderson,
(00:54):
you kind of your face, your defense and hopefully the
long term answers. So there's finally some optimism there.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
I'm not trying to say that. I think the Texans
are going to be the worst of first team this
year in the NFL win the South, but they're definitely
much better than they have been in the past game.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
Yeah, I mean again, there's promise, there's a lot of
young guys there that there's building blocks. I think they
have a real coach and not the rain on their parade.
But jackson have also played really bad in that game too.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
Jacksonville has been funky to start this year, not looked
like the team we expected them to look like. Before
we get into serious history, though, we mentioned Tamiko Ryan's
got his first win as a head coach. It was
a big week for first year head coaches last week
across the league. First year head coaches brought a one
to nine record into Week three, but last week they
went three and two, all three victories over playoff teams
from last season. Two uh mik O'Ryan, Shane Stikeen, and
(01:40):
Jonathan Gannon are four and five combined. Well, get this
some names that are pretty familiar. Sean Payton and Frank
Reich have yet to find a win about ten years
in Carolina. In Denver now, Yeah, and Sean Payton, I mean, woolf.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
I mean the Bears.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
You thought you were an offensive guru?
Speaker 1 (01:55):
Wow? Yeah, I mean to me, the Bears and Broncos
are the worst teams in the league.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
Yeah, bottom, And that just has to stink because they
both had expectations this year. Oh it's not like everybody
was like the Cardinals, you know what I mean, like, Oh,
they're gonna be terrible.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
They're actually okay.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
Well, let's get to some serious history before we dive
into the Texans. Not much of a serious history between
these two teams. The Texans don't have much of a
history outside of the AFC South. They joined the NFL
in two thousand and two. They've only met seven times
against the Steelers. Steelers are five and two and have
won the past three matchups. They haven't played since twenty twenty,
so it's been a while. Houston won the first matchup
during that two thousand and two season, Pittsburgh won the
(02:33):
next two and last time the Texans defeated Pittsburgh was
in twenty eleven. Steelers and Houston have yet to meet
in the postseason. So, you know, the old Houston team
that was one of the bigger rivals that you had
if you were a Pittsburgh fan. This new Houston team,
you barely see them For an AFC team.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
I would say of the thirty one potential opponents, this
is the least exciting series history.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
Yeah, I mean, I just think that that's a lot
of year because they've only been around for a.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
Lot, not even a playoff game or anything really of note.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
You know, let's start today with the Houston defense, Matt.
The Texans defense is allowing five point six yards per play.
Only the Broncos, Chargers, and Bears are worse. If you
look at passing yards per game, rushing yards per game,
yards per game total. They're like in the middle of
the pack on everything as far as the defense is concerned.
And here's something that I like to hear because it
was similar to last week's opponent Vegas. Only three defenses
(03:21):
are all allowing a higher completion rate than the Houston
Texans are. Point we just played one last week in Vegas,
so you saw the offense with pickets start to get
some momentum passing them all down the field. This is
another opponent I think sets up well for that.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
Yeah, open receivers, and we're recording this to pull back
the curtain. What is Tuesdays. So we don't have a
lot of injury news yet. But Stingley, who was the corner,
was first off the board last year, even ahead of
Sauce Petrie and other defensive back who's a really good
do it all player. They were both out. I don't
know if they're gonna play or not. So that's you know,
(03:56):
going back to the completion percentage thing. And they're not
a great pass rushing team. I mean, I'm frankly a
little shocked that they are kind of middle of the
pack and rushing yards allowed, passing yards allowed, I would
think they'd be more of a bottom ten unit.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
Well, I think that yards per place that really illustrates
how bad they are. When they're sitting with the Broncos
and the Chargers and the Bears, is the only teams
that are worse than they are. That's probably where that
defense more leans towards, and those you know, yards per
game totals will probably come towards the bottom of the pack. Well,
the season he was on, but you mentioned the pass
rushes week. They didn't have a sack last week, and
Trevor Lawrence dropped back to pass forty times. They have
(04:29):
just four sacks all year long, and no one on
Houston's defense has more than one. Only the Bears, Giants,
and Falcons have had fewer sacks in twenty twenty three
than the Houston Texans have. Will Anderson's probably going to
fix that eventually, probably going to catch some traction soon
enough and become one of the better pass rushers in
the league. But he's a one man band right now,
(04:50):
and he's a rookie, so like, does he even know
how to play his instrument that?
Speaker 1 (04:52):
Well? Yeah, a good point, and he did block a
kick last week.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
Actually, he's a great player.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
Yeah, And I don't think he's Nick Bosa Miles Garrett
coming out of school, but there's a high quality. And
the thing that they love about him is he's also
a Bama guy, which sos Damiko ryans, and he's considered
an elite leader at Bama too. So they want Stroud
to be the face of the offense, him to be
the face of the defense, and maybe they landed those guys.
(05:18):
It's funny.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
I'm looking at their depth trot on our lads right now,
and a lot of pieces on this defense are from
outside the organization. I mean, Anderson obviously is a pick.
You look at some other guys like Jonathan Greenard, he's
a pick from the Texans. Christian Harris is a pick. Petrie,
who you mentioned, is a pick, but he might not
play in Stanley. Other than that, though, Matt, I'm looking
at all their starters with Vegas, Jets, Philly, San Franz, Jacksonville.
(05:40):
They're pulling from outside of the organization a lot.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
And they've had a couple not this past offseasons so much,
but the previous ones. They would go out and spend
league minimum on like twenty different free agents, you know,
just to kind of bring competition and depth in and
not a lot of big name guys, and a couple
of those guys are stuck. It's an odd team build,
you know. They really want to build through the draft,
(06:05):
and it's starting to start to show up a little bit.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
Yeah, they've got some picks, prominent picks coming forward too.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
They did trade one of them away to get Anderson.
You know, the Cardinals have the Texans pick next year,
but the Texans have the Browns pick, which is a
Watson pick.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
The Browns look pretty good, so that might be the
middle of the pack. But yeah, last week, though, the
defense did pretty well against Jacksonville. They limited the Jacks
just five for thirteen on third downs and the Jags
were also unsuccessful and their only fourth down try and
the Texans didn't give up a play of more than
twenty eight yards in week three. Kind of reading the
tea leaves of what we were saying at the beginning
(06:40):
of this episode though, with the Jags just stinking, that
might tell you more about the Jags offense than this
Texans defense, you know, figure things out and turning it
all on against the Jacksonville offense.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
Yeah, like Houston's fan base, like we opened the show,
should be very excited. There's finally light at the end
of the tunnel. There's young guys to root for. There's
a quarterback that looks like he's in place. We'll get to.
But I'm not taking anyth away from the upcoming opponent
of the Steelers. I thought last week's game was more
about the Jags than Houston. I mean, I agree, the
Jags have like dropped a ton of passes this year.
(07:11):
They've had some bad luck. They you know, I mentioned
they got a kick blocked, they had a squib kick
that a fullback return for a touchdown in that game,
Like Jacksonville's really finding ways to lose.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
And the difference is, I think when you do that
against the Houston team this year as opposed to like
maybe you get away with that one or twenty two
against them anybody. But they have some guys that can
make it hurt.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
Yeah, one of them. So they're passing it forty good.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
Yeah exactly. So I mean you can't sleepwalking against team
like that. So Steelers need to apply that to this
game too. Yeah, you got the Ravens next week. You
look like you could be three and one headed into
that game, but Houston stip and get you for sure.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
Yeah yeah, oh yeah. They're dangerous, but they're upcoming or
up and coming.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
Now, before we get to the offense, I mean, who's
the guy? Is it Will Anderson already on defense?
Speaker 1 (07:57):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (07:58):
I guess is it Stingley when he's healthy? Just because
he's been there a couple year.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
Longer snaps yet though, I mean he missed a lot
of time as a rookie. Petrees kind of a do
it all slot. Yeah, real high one because they pick
always high. They like a couple of their linebackers. They've
pieced as you've said, well, they've pieced together the defense.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
Yeah, me, our old buddy Steve Nelson's going to be playing.
Speaker 1 (08:20):
Yeah play.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
That's the type of guys they have, right YEA Jimmy
Ward from San Francisco.
Speaker 1 (08:24):
Yeah play, And he's there because Ryan's comes over from
San Francisco and install that defense.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
And that's the other thing going for that defense too,
is that he's a great defensive mind. So even if
the parts aren't up to speed yet, they can still
do some nice things. I think, or they start to,
they can start to lay the foundation for what they
want to do.
Speaker 1 (08:40):
And I think they can fundamentally sound on that side
of the ball, you know, while they develop.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
But they don't do anything well, I mean they've given
up Yeah, they've given up seven rushing touchdowns Stidford, the
most of the league with Denver, and they've only had
four takeaways, which means not the worst in the league,
but it's down there at the bottom.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
Right.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
So they don't sack the quarterback, they don't turn it over.
You can run on them and getting the end zone
via the running game, and they give up like the
third highest completion percentage to opposing teams.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
And they don't have the Max Crosby, right, you know,
I mean, yeah, it might be good, but yeah, and
that level.
Speaker 2 (09:11):
So I see all of that and I'm just licking
my chops as a Steeler fan. Again, you kind of
got some traction as that offense. The offense got some
traction last week against a lesser defense, then you faced
in weeks one and week two, which might have been
the two best defense in football this year, and I
think you're taking an even more step in the direction
of they're even worse than Vegas was last week on.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
The I think so, especially on pay or at least equal.
Real quick, on that note, I'm not making excuses for
how bad the Steelers offense was in the first two
weeks of the year, right but in any metric you
look at San Francisco's third, fourth something along that definitely
top five and very deserving. But where I'm going with
this is the Browns. Everyone knows I'm a bit of
(09:52):
a stat nerd EPA, DVOA. Any advanced metric, you see
the Browns defense is so far ahead of the the
other thirty one right now. I mean they've only had
one snap in the red zone against them all year.
I mean, like they're just destroying people. So there's not
a lot of shame in not playing well against those two.
Speaker 2 (10:12):
Yeah, I mean, you know, the George Pickens seventy two
yard touchdown is the only touchdown they've given up in
three weeks.
Speaker 1 (10:17):
Yeah, thirty four drives.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
Yeah, I mean, it's three points per game in the
other two games for the round. So that defense is
on a historic tear to start the season. So yeah,
after doing it, I completely understand. You know, hey, can
you pick it at least through a touchdown against that defense?
Two other quarterbacks have not been able to do that.
Speaking of quarterback play, let's turn our attention to Houston's
offense before we get to Stroud. Just some quick overview
(10:40):
of that offense. The average four point nine yards per play,
and Steelers defense gives up five point four yards per snap.
By the way their personnel breakdown, the Texans have been
an eleven personnel sixty five point three percent of their
offensive snaps, twenty one personnel fourteen point one, twelve personnel
thirteen point six, and twenty two just five point two.
So they love to run out of eleven personnel one
(11:00):
tight end, one back on the field. They're spreading out,
they're getting wide receivers on the field.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
They have three good receivers now, I mean I think
that so they will use a full back at times.
You'll see that they.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
Andrew Beck will be the fullback.
Speaker 1 (11:17):
I think he's the guy that returned the touchdown.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
For the slowest kick return ever.
Speaker 1 (11:20):
Yeah, and what's really crazy about this team is Stroud's
playing quite well. He's very promising. They now have three
defined receivers where Woods will be the slot. Dell was
very very small, but he's kind of an Austin big
play guy, and Nico Collins is kind of their pickings
traditional X receiver type. So they have three legit receivers now,
(11:43):
which they haven't since DeAndre Hopkins. And they've invested in
their offensive line like crazy, you know, high picks traded
for Shaq Mason, traded for Tunsul in the last game.
Last two games, they've only had one of their start
up out. Four of their starters have been out, and.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
That's really point to come back. The only thing that's
hurting Stroud is he's getting sacked all the time.
Speaker 1 (12:06):
And he last couldn't again was more about Jacksonville, I
think than Houston. He sacked eleven times the first four
two weeks.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
I know, so, I mean, you don't really want your
rookie taking that much of a beating.
Speaker 1 (12:16):
And I think he could take a beating in this
game then of course. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
I mean we talked last week how the Raiders hadn't
given up a sack in two games and then they
just got torched to their offensive line couldn't handle the
Steelers pass rush.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
So another backup right tackle.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
Yeah, like this is going to be a two second
for TJ.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
Watt.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
I would not be surprised if that happens and.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
End up with thirty four this year.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
But what it does, but the fact that he's getting
hit so much and the fact that he's putting up
the numbers that he is very encouraged by that as
an organization, if I can just fix this line and
give this guy with pressure in his face, So if
you take that pressure away, this guy's the limit for
this dude.
Speaker 1 (12:56):
And frankly, that was one of his questions. And it's
an Ohio state thing that they always have.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
Yeah, you're blocked up every time.
Speaker 1 (13:02):
And they're thrown to Harrison and yeah, all these guys
that they've but he's had to legal with a lot
of hardship unlike the guys at Ohio State, and he's
overcoming it pretty well through three weeks.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
Yeah, cz shot his nine hundred and three passing yards
over his first three starts. He's only the third player
in NFL history to accomplish that. Cam Newton and Justin
Herbert were the others. Pretty good quarterbacks, especially in their
rookie seasons. He's currently fifth amongst all quarterbacks in passing
yards per game, and he's second in dropbacks. He's dropped
back to pass one hundred and forty times already this season,
shot as one hundred and twenty one straight passes without
(13:34):
an interception. He's the first rookie quarterback in NFL history
with at least one hundred and ten attempts in zero interceptions,
and his seven point four to nine yards per attempt
is eighth best in the league. So, I mean they're
not even asking him to be a rookie. I mean
he's throwing the ball down field and he's dropping back
to pass on a lot yep.
Speaker 1 (13:50):
And the flip side of that is they're running games awful.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
So Damian Pierce had a decent year last year.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
He's a good player. Yeah, they just don't block it
all for him, and so they throw a ton and
Stroud has been more than up to the challenge.
Speaker 2 (14:03):
Well, we mentioned the receivers. Tomlin said this today about
the Texans trio of receivers Nico Collins, combat catch dude,
Tank Dell Speedy, and Robert Woods, a steady veteran. I
think it's a pretty apt prescription for all of them.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
Absolutely, Yeah, it's a good trio.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
Collins was targeted twenty times in the first two weeks.
He caught thirteen passes for two hundred twenty six yards,
but last week he just had three targets, converting two
of them for just thirty four yards. Robert Woods six
passes caught in each of his first two games, but
just three for thirty four yards against Jacksonville. So who's
picking up the slack against the Jags. It's Tank Dell.
He ran around on just forty eight percent of Houston's
(14:37):
dropbacks in week one, but that's spike to eighty five
percent in week two. He was targeted ten times in
that game, but last week five catches one hundred and
forty five yards, a sixty eight yard touchdown, and Dell
led the Texans and targets for the second straight week.
So he might be emerging.
Speaker 1 (14:51):
As the guy he really is. Yeah, and they all
compliment each other well, kind of like coach said, I'm
sure Woods is the veteran in the in the wide
receiver room, the leader, been around the block, but he's
lost a step, you know. And Nico's the big bodied,
traditional guy and Dell's electric, I mean he's and he's
coming on strong.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
Dalton Schultz is a name is familiar to football fans
from his time in Dallas. In Houston now, only three
tight ends have run more routes than Dalton Schultz thro
the first three weeks of the season. But he has
just one catch in Week three and has been targeting
only thirteen times all year. He's had under a ten
percent target right now for two straight games. The offense
is clearly predicated to using a tight end in the
passing game. If he's running all these routes, is there
(15:32):
something weird with Stroud not finding him yet or the
other receivers are just open?
Speaker 1 (15:35):
I think the other three have just stepped up. He
doesn't need to be really strong. And I'm not picking
on Dalton Schultz, but the fantasy community I always thought
overrated him because he was in He has so much
one on ones in Dallas. He's a very average athlete,
and say, you know.
Speaker 2 (15:51):
You mentioned the running game just being abysmal for the Texans.
Two point eight yards per attempt is what they're rushing
for as a team. On the eight of the texans
fifty seven first downs this year have come via the run,
So if you want to say anything about them, they're
at least playing modern NFL football. Their pass, pass, pass,
and then pass some more by default, though I'm sure
right they'd like to be able to run them ball.
Damian Pierce eighty two yards from scrimmage on thirty touches
(16:14):
in his first two games. In Week three, he ran
the ball fourteen times for just thirty one yards, but
he did catch three passes for twenty eight yards. Their
other running back, Singletary, he ran the ball twice over
the first three quarters of play, and six of his
carries came in the final seven minutes of the game,
when Houston had a seventeen plus lead and was just
trying to salt things away. Still Houston averaged just three
point three yards per rush against the Jaguars. So, you know,
(16:35):
as everything seemed to, you know, take a turn towards
positive for the Texans against the Jags, that running game
still was spinning at wheels.
Speaker 1 (16:42):
And again they don't have any blocking Pierce isn't the problem.
It's sort of like nause was in the first couple
of weeks, you know, just getting hit behind the line
of scrimmage time and time again and asking too much,
and then they abandoned it and they throw, and then
they throw pretty well and then they stick with that.
So there's some good thing, you know, I mean on offense.
Speaker 2 (17:01):
And they average the second lowest rushing yards per carry
so far in the NFL. We also mentioned before we
move on to our key matchups the offensive line versus
the Steelers pass rush. Steelers don't blitz really at all.
I mean, they're getting home. They lead the league in
sacks so far through three weeks, and I think they
have the lowest, if not second lowest blitz rate in
the entire league. So you know, three four guys are
(17:23):
getting home every single time for the Steelers. That does
so much for your coverage on the back end Texans,
like you mentioned, four offensive line starters were out in
week two as well as week three, and three of
those four missing starters are on injured reserves. So I mean,
you probably expect that they're at the most going to
have two out of five starters against the Steelers this week,
and probably one out of five.
Speaker 1 (17:44):
And Tuns might be back. Who's Frankly an elite left tackle,
but he's coming off an injury, and I don't think
he's a player or.
Speaker 2 (17:50):
Not elite left tackle too. I mean Highsmith might just
if he does play, might be another game where Highsmith
just has to eat it one on one face.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
The Trent Williams level, but not far off, not far
off number one in Tunsl's third, you know, I mean
really good players.
Speaker 2 (18:03):
But a big game for the pass rush. I think
we can agree that. You know, Stroud has been harassed
other than the Jacksonville game, but he's gonna face a
whole other level of that this week.
Speaker 1 (18:12):
Yeah. So they played Baltimore in week one, the Colts
in week two, and then Jacksonville, who didn't get after
him at all. None of those are nearly the pass
rushing exactly, none of them. And again there was eleven
sacks in the first two weeks.
Speaker 2 (18:25):
Our key matchups. The highlight in this game Texas Texans
wide receiver Nico Collins versus the Steelers cornerbacks. I mean
it's gonna be, yeah, all the wide receivers versus the
Steelers defensive backs. I mean it's no secret Matt Steelers
defensive backs have been getting torched a little bit in
the first three weeks. I picked Devonte Adams and DraftKings
last week, Thank you very much. Pretty good take there.
(18:46):
I mean, I know that they had the interceptions, Wallace
had too, Pep Pete had won, but they gave up
a lot of yards in between those interceptions. And this
week it's not a DeVante Adams out there, but I
think the collective in Houston might be a better core
than Vegas.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
Yeah. Interesting. So is it the stud receivers, you know,
headlined by Adams, but Amari and Ayuk. I mean, those
guys are better than these three, at least at this
stage of their career their career. Is it the stud
receivers that are lighting up Steelers or is it just
going to be a collective trio of three good ones
that light up.
Speaker 2 (19:20):
Steelers it's a great week to figure that out.
Speaker 1 (19:22):
I mean, yeah, we'll see.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
And then finally we have Steelers offensive tackle chruk woma
A Corra four versus Texans d n Will Anderson. I mean,
he's got the biggest name on the defensive side of
the ball. He's got the most potential on the side.
Speaker 1 (19:33):
Of the ball.
Speaker 2 (19:33):
I don't think anybody can wreck a game on that
defense just yet, but he's got the potential to in
the future. And you know, sometimes those rookies have a
game or two in their rookie season where they show
you what they're going to look like five years down
the road. So hopefully it's not one of these ones.
Speaker 1 (19:45):
Yeah, and by no means is he Bosa Garrett Crosby,
But he has massive pedigree and you know, top five pick,
third picking, the draft, fourth picking and draft what like that.
Third and frankly didn't really know what match up. It's
a feature on that side of the ball. It's tough.
There's not a lot of no.
Speaker 2 (20:04):
I think that's the right one. I think it's the
right one. I think he's the only guy that can
really be a game changer for them at this point.
They'll do it for US today, Steelers and Texans in
Houston kickoff at one pm. Matt and I will be
back again next week to break down the Steelers and
the Ravens on the Advanced Scout
We got some work to do.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
This is the Advanced Scout with Tom Opperman and Mac williamsitt.
The Steelers are coming off their second straight primetime win
as they beat the Raiders in Vegas on Sunday night
Football proved to two and one on the season. Up
next a date with the Houston Texans in Houston, Texans
coming off of their first win of the season, and
that it's the first win of their head coach Damiko
(00:23):
Ryan's career. Yeah, and the first win of their rookie
quarterback CJ Stroud's career. So knocking some pretty nice things
off their bucket list last week in jest a big
upset too.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
And you got to yeah, exactly that too, I mean,
and you got to think where that franchise is right
now and where they've been, I mean, through the whole
Watson stuff and gone through coach after coach on one year,
ten years, and really bad rosters and early pick after
early pick, and now not only the you of those rookies,
but you had the third pick in the draft, will Anderson,
(00:54):
you kind of your face, your defense and hopefully the
long term answers. So there's finally some optimism there.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
I'm not trying to say that. I think the Texans
are going to be the worst of first team this
year in the NFL win the South, but they're definitely
much better than they have been in the past game.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
Yeah, I mean again, there's promise, there's a lot of
young guys there that there's building blocks. I think they
have a real coach and not the rain on their parade.
But jackson have also played really bad in that game too.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
Jacksonville has been funky to start this year, not looked
like the team we expected them to look like. Before
we get into serious history, though, we mentioned Tamiko Ryan's
got his first win as a head coach. It was
a big week for first year head coaches last week
across the league. First year head coaches brought a one
to nine record into Week three, but last week they
went three and two, all three victories over playoff teams
from last season. Two uh mik O'Ryan, Shane Stikeen, and
(01:40):
Jonathan Gannon are four and five combined. Well, get this
some names that are pretty familiar. Sean Payton and Frank
Reich have yet to find a win about ten years
in Carolina. In Denver now, Yeah, and Sean Payton, I mean, woolf.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
I mean the Bears.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
You thought you were an offensive guru?
Speaker 1 (01:55):
Wow? Yeah, I mean to me, the Bears and Broncos
are the worst teams in the league.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
Yeah, bottom, And that just has to stink because they
both had expectations this year. Oh it's not like everybody
was like the Cardinals, you know what I mean, like, Oh,
they're gonna be terrible.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
They're actually okay.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
Well, let's get to some serious history before we dive
into the Texans. Not much of a serious history between
these two teams. The Texans don't have much of a
history outside of the AFC South. They joined the NFL
in two thousand and two. They've only met seven times
against the Steelers. Steelers are five and two and have
won the past three matchups. They haven't played since twenty twenty,
so it's been a while. Houston won the first matchup
during that two thousand and two season, Pittsburgh won the
(02:33):
next two and last time the Texans defeated Pittsburgh was
in twenty eleven. Steelers and Houston have yet to meet
in the postseason. So, you know, the old Houston team
that was one of the bigger rivals that you had
if you were a Pittsburgh fan. This new Houston team,
you barely see them For an AFC team.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
I would say of the thirty one potential opponents, this
is the least exciting series history.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
Yeah, I mean, I just think that that's a lot
of year because they've only been around for a.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
Lot, not even a playoff game or anything really of note.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
You know, let's start today with the Houston defense, Matt.
The Texans defense is allowing five point six yards per play.
Only the Broncos, Chargers, and Bears are worse. If you
look at passing yards per game, rushing yards per game,
yards per game total. They're like in the middle of
the pack on everything as far as the defense is concerned.
And here's something that I like to hear because it
was similar to last week's opponent Vegas. Only three defenses
(03:21):
are all allowing a higher completion rate than the Houston
Texans are. Point we just played one last week in Vegas,
so you saw the offense with pickets start to get
some momentum passing them all down the field. This is
another opponent I think sets up well for that.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
Yeah, open receivers, and we're recording this to pull back
the curtain. What is Tuesdays. So we don't have a
lot of injury news yet. But Stingley, who was the corner,
was first off the board last year, even ahead of
Sauce Petrie and other defensive back who's a really good
do it all player. They were both out. I don't
know if they're gonna play or not. So that's you know,
(03:56):
going back to the completion percentage thing. And they're not
a great pass rushing team. I mean, I'm frankly a
little shocked that they are kind of middle of the
pack and rushing yards allowed, passing yards allowed, I would
think they'd be more of a bottom ten unit.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
Well, I think that yards per place that really illustrates
how bad they are. When they're sitting with the Broncos
and the Chargers and the Bears, is the only teams
that are worse than they are. That's probably where that
defense more leans towards, and those you know, yards per
game totals will probably come towards the bottom of the pack. Well,
the season he was on, but you mentioned the pass
rushes week. They didn't have a sack last week, and
Trevor Lawrence dropped back to pass forty times. They have
(04:29):
just four sacks all year long, and no one on
Houston's defense has more than one. Only the Bears, Giants,
and Falcons have had fewer sacks in twenty twenty three
than the Houston Texans have. Will Anderson's probably going to
fix that eventually, probably going to catch some traction soon
enough and become one of the better pass rushers in
the league. But he's a one man band right now,
(04:50):
and he's a rookie, so like, does he even know
how to play his instrument that?
Speaker 1 (04:52):
Well? Yeah, a good point, and he did block a
kick last week.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
Actually, he's a great player.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
Yeah, And I don't think he's Nick Bosa Miles Garrett
coming out of school, but there's a high quality. And
the thing that they love about him is he's also
a Bama guy, which sos Damiko ryans, and he's considered
an elite leader at Bama too. So they want Stroud
to be the face of the offense, him to be
the face of the defense, and maybe they landed those guys.
(05:18):
It's funny.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
I'm looking at their depth trot on our lads right now,
and a lot of pieces on this defense are from
outside the organization. I mean, Anderson obviously is a pick.
You look at some other guys like Jonathan Greenard, he's
a pick from the Texans. Christian Harris is a pick. Petrie,
who you mentioned, is a pick, but he might not
play in Stanley. Other than that, though, Matt, I'm looking
at all their starters with Vegas, Jets, Philly, San Franz, Jacksonville.
(05:40):
They're pulling from outside of the organization a lot.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
And they've had a couple not this past offseasons so much,
but the previous ones. They would go out and spend
league minimum on like twenty different free agents, you know,
just to kind of bring competition and depth in and
not a lot of big name guys, and a couple
of those guys are stuck. It's an odd team build,
you know. They really want to build through the draft,
(06:05):
and it's starting to start to show up a little bit.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
Yeah, they've got some picks, prominent picks coming forward too.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
They did trade one of them away to get Anderson.
You know, the Cardinals have the Texans pick next year,
but the Texans have the Browns pick, which is a
Watson pick.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
The Browns look pretty good, so that might be the
middle of the pack. But yeah, last week, though, the
defense did pretty well against Jacksonville. They limited the Jacks
just five for thirteen on third downs and the Jags
were also unsuccessful and their only fourth down try and
the Texans didn't give up a play of more than
twenty eight yards in week three. Kind of reading the
tea leaves of what we were saying at the beginning
(06:40):
of this episode though, with the Jags just stinking, that
might tell you more about the Jags offense than this
Texans defense, you know, figure things out and turning it
all on against the Jacksonville offense.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
Yeah, like Houston's fan base, like we opened the show,
should be very excited. There's finally light at the end
of the tunnel. There's young guys to root for. There's
a quarterback that looks like he's in place. We'll get to.
But I'm not taking anyth away from the upcoming opponent
of the Steelers. I thought last week's game was more
about the Jags than Houston. I mean, I agree, the
Jags have like dropped a ton of passes this year.
(07:11):
They've had some bad luck. They you know, I mentioned
they got a kick blocked, they had a squib kick
that a fullback return for a touchdown in that game,
Like Jacksonville's really finding ways to lose.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
And the difference is, I think when you do that
against the Houston team this year as opposed to like
maybe you get away with that one or twenty two
against them anybody. But they have some guys that can
make it hurt.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
Yeah, one of them. So they're passing it forty good.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
Yeah exactly. So I mean you can't sleepwalking against team
like that. So Steelers need to apply that to this
game too. Yeah, you got the Ravens next week. You
look like you could be three and one headed into
that game, but Houston stip and get you for sure.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
Yeah yeah, oh yeah. They're dangerous, but they're upcoming or
up and coming.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
Now, before we get to the offense, I mean, who's
the guy? Is it Will Anderson already on defense?
Speaker 1 (07:57):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (07:58):
I guess is it Stingley when he's healthy? Just because
he's been there a couple year.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
Longer snaps yet though, I mean he missed a lot
of time as a rookie. Petrees kind of a do
it all slot. Yeah, real high one because they pick
always high. They like a couple of their linebackers. They've
pieced as you've said, well, they've pieced together the defense.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
Yeah, me, our old buddy Steve Nelson's going to be playing.
Speaker 1 (08:20):
Yeah play.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
That's the type of guys they have, right YEA Jimmy
Ward from San Francisco.
Speaker 1 (08:24):
Yeah play, And he's there because Ryan's comes over from
San Francisco and install that defense.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
And that's the other thing going for that defense too,
is that he's a great defensive mind. So even if
the parts aren't up to speed yet, they can still
do some nice things. I think, or they start to,
they can start to lay the foundation for what they
want to do.
Speaker 1 (08:40):
And I think they can fundamentally sound on that side
of the ball, you know, while they develop.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
But they don't do anything well, I mean they've given
up Yeah, they've given up seven rushing touchdowns Stidford, the
most of the league with Denver, and they've only had
four takeaways, which means not the worst in the league,
but it's down there at the bottom.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
Right.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
So they don't sack the quarterback, they don't turn it over.
You can run on them and getting the end zone
via the running game, and they give up like the
third highest completion percentage to opposing teams.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
And they don't have the Max Crosby, right, you know,
I mean, yeah, it might be good, but yeah, and
that level.
Speaker 2 (09:11):
So I see all of that and I'm just licking
my chops as a Steeler fan. Again, you kind of
got some traction as that offense. The offense got some
traction last week against a lesser defense, then you faced
in weeks one and week two, which might have been
the two best defense in football this year, and I
think you're taking an even more step in the direction
of they're even worse than Vegas was last week on.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
The I think so, especially on pay or at least equal.
Real quick, on that note, I'm not making excuses for
how bad the Steelers offense was in the first two
weeks of the year, right but in any metric you
look at San Francisco's third, fourth something along that definitely
top five and very deserving. But where I'm going with
this is the Browns. Everyone knows I'm a bit of
(09:52):
a stat nerd EPA, DVOA. Any advanced metric, you see
the Browns defense is so far ahead of the the
other thirty one right now. I mean they've only had
one snap in the red zone against them all year.
I mean, like they're just destroying people. So there's not
a lot of shame in not playing well against those two.
Speaker 2 (10:12):
Yeah, I mean, you know, the George Pickens seventy two
yard touchdown is the only touchdown they've given up in
three weeks.
Speaker 1 (10:17):
Yeah, thirty four drives.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
Yeah, I mean, it's three points per game in the
other two games for the round. So that defense is
on a historic tear to start the season. So yeah,
after doing it, I completely understand. You know, hey, can
you pick it at least through a touchdown against that defense?
Two other quarterbacks have not been able to do that.
Speaking of quarterback play, let's turn our attention to Houston's
offense before we get to Stroud. Just some quick overview
(10:40):
of that offense. The average four point nine yards per play,
and Steelers defense gives up five point four yards per snap.
By the way their personnel breakdown, the Texans have been
an eleven personnel sixty five point three percent of their
offensive snaps, twenty one personnel fourteen point one, twelve personnel
thirteen point six, and twenty two just five point two.
So they love to run out of eleven personnel one
(11:00):
tight end, one back on the field. They're spreading out,
they're getting wide receivers on the field.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
They have three good receivers now, I mean I think
that so they will use a full back at times.
You'll see that they.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
Andrew Beck will be the fullback.
Speaker 1 (11:17):
I think he's the guy that returned the touchdown.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
For the slowest kick return ever.
Speaker 1 (11:20):
Yeah, and what's really crazy about this team is Stroud's
playing quite well. He's very promising. They now have three
defined receivers where Woods will be the slot. Dell was
very very small, but he's kind of an Austin big
play guy, and Nico Collins is kind of their pickings
traditional X receiver type. So they have three legit receivers now,
(11:43):
which they haven't since DeAndre Hopkins. And they've invested in
their offensive line like crazy, you know, high picks traded
for Shaq Mason, traded for Tunsul in the last game.
Last two games, they've only had one of their start
up out. Four of their starters have been out, and.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
That's really point to come back. The only thing that's
hurting Stroud is he's getting sacked all the time.
Speaker 1 (12:06):
And he last couldn't again was more about Jacksonville, I
think than Houston. He sacked eleven times the first four
two weeks.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
I know, so, I mean, you don't really want your
rookie taking that much of a beating.
Speaker 1 (12:16):
And I think he could take a beating in this
game then of course. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
I mean we talked last week how the Raiders hadn't
given up a sack in two games and then they
just got torched to their offensive line couldn't handle the
Steelers pass rush.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
So another backup right tackle.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
Yeah, like this is going to be a two second
for TJ.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
Watt.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
I would not be surprised if that happens and.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
End up with thirty four this year.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
But what it does, but the fact that he's getting
hit so much and the fact that he's putting up
the numbers that he is very encouraged by that as
an organization, if I can just fix this line and
give this guy with pressure in his face, So if
you take that pressure away, this guy's the limit for
this dude.
Speaker 1 (12:56):
And frankly, that was one of his questions. And it's
an Ohio state thing that they always have.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
Yeah, you're blocked up every time.
Speaker 1 (13:02):
And they're thrown to Harrison and yeah, all these guys
that they've but he's had to legal with a lot
of hardship unlike the guys at Ohio State, and he's
overcoming it pretty well through three weeks.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
Yeah, cz shot his nine hundred and three passing yards
over his first three starts. He's only the third player
in NFL history to accomplish that. Cam Newton and Justin
Herbert were the others. Pretty good quarterbacks, especially in their
rookie seasons. He's currently fifth amongst all quarterbacks in passing
yards per game, and he's second in dropbacks. He's dropped
back to pass one hundred and forty times already this season,
shot as one hundred and twenty one straight passes without
(13:34):
an interception. He's the first rookie quarterback in NFL history
with at least one hundred and ten attempts in zero interceptions,
and his seven point four to nine yards per attempt
is eighth best in the league. So, I mean they're
not even asking him to be a rookie. I mean
he's throwing the ball down field and he's dropping back
to pass on a lot yep.
Speaker 1 (13:50):
And the flip side of that is they're running games awful.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
So Damian Pierce had a decent year last year.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
He's a good player. Yeah, they just don't block it
all for him, and so they throw a ton and
Stroud has been more than up to the challenge.
Speaker 2 (14:03):
Well, we mentioned the receivers. Tomlin said this today about
the Texans trio of receivers Nico Collins, combat catch dude,
Tank Dell Speedy, and Robert Woods, a steady veteran. I
think it's a pretty apt prescription for all of them.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
Absolutely, Yeah, it's a good trio.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
Collins was targeted twenty times in the first two weeks.
He caught thirteen passes for two hundred twenty six yards,
but last week he just had three targets, converting two
of them for just thirty four yards. Robert Woods six
passes caught in each of his first two games, but
just three for thirty four yards against Jacksonville. So who's
picking up the slack against the Jags. It's Tank Dell.
He ran around on just forty eight percent of Houston's
(14:37):
dropbacks in week one, but that's spike to eighty five
percent in week two. He was targeted ten times in
that game, but last week five catches one hundred and
forty five yards, a sixty eight yard touchdown, and Dell
led the Texans and targets for the second straight week.
So he might be emerging.
Speaker 1 (14:51):
As the guy he really is. Yeah, and they all
compliment each other well, kind of like coach said, I'm
sure Woods is the veteran in the in the wide
receiver room, the leader, been around the block, but he's
lost a step, you know. And Nico's the big bodied,
traditional guy and Dell's electric, I mean he's and he's
coming on strong.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
Dalton Schultz is a name is familiar to football fans
from his time in Dallas. In Houston now, only three
tight ends have run more routes than Dalton Schultz thro
the first three weeks of the season. But he has
just one catch in Week three and has been targeting
only thirteen times all year. He's had under a ten
percent target right now for two straight games. The offense
is clearly predicated to using a tight end in the
passing game. If he's running all these routes, is there
(15:32):
something weird with Stroud not finding him yet or the
other receivers are just open?
Speaker 1 (15:35):
I think the other three have just stepped up. He
doesn't need to be really strong. And I'm not picking
on Dalton Schultz, but the fantasy community I always thought
overrated him because he was in He has so much
one on ones in Dallas. He's a very average athlete,
and say, you know.
Speaker 2 (15:51):
You mentioned the running game just being abysmal for the Texans.
Two point eight yards per attempt is what they're rushing
for as a team. On the eight of the texans
fifty seven first downs this year have come via the run,
So if you want to say anything about them, they're
at least playing modern NFL football. Their pass, pass, pass,
and then pass some more by default, though I'm sure
right they'd like to be able to run them ball.
Damian Pierce eighty two yards from scrimmage on thirty touches
(16:14):
in his first two games. In Week three, he ran
the ball fourteen times for just thirty one yards, but
he did catch three passes for twenty eight yards. Their
other running back, Singletary, he ran the ball twice over
the first three quarters of play, and six of his
carries came in the final seven minutes of the game,
when Houston had a seventeen plus lead and was just
trying to salt things away. Still Houston averaged just three
point three yards per rush against the Jaguars. So, you know,
(16:35):
as everything seemed to, you know, take a turn towards
positive for the Texans against the Jags, that running game
still was spinning at wheels.
Speaker 1 (16:42):
And again they don't have any blocking Pierce isn't the problem.
It's sort of like nause was in the first couple
of weeks, you know, just getting hit behind the line
of scrimmage time and time again and asking too much,
and then they abandoned it and they throw, and then
they throw pretty well and then they stick with that.
So there's some good thing, you know, I mean on offense.
Speaker 2 (17:01):
And they average the second lowest rushing yards per carry
so far in the NFL. We also mentioned before we
move on to our key matchups the offensive line versus
the Steelers pass rush. Steelers don't blitz really at all.
I mean, they're getting home. They lead the league in
sacks so far through three weeks, and I think they
have the lowest, if not second lowest blitz rate in
the entire league. So you know, three four guys are
(17:23):
getting home every single time for the Steelers. That does
so much for your coverage on the back end Texans,
like you mentioned, four offensive line starters were out in
week two as well as week three, and three of
those four missing starters are on injured reserves. So I mean,
you probably expect that they're at the most going to
have two out of five starters against the Steelers this week,
and probably one out of five.
Speaker 1 (17:44):
And Tuns might be back. Who's Frankly an elite left tackle,
but he's coming off an injury, and I don't think
he's a player or.
Speaker 2 (17:50):
Not elite left tackle too. I mean Highsmith might just
if he does play, might be another game where Highsmith
just has to eat it one on one face.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
The Trent Williams level, but not far off, not far
off number one in Tunsl's third, you know, I mean
really good players.
Speaker 2 (18:03):
But a big game for the pass rush. I think
we can agree that. You know, Stroud has been harassed
other than the Jacksonville game, but he's gonna face a
whole other level of that this week.
Speaker 1 (18:12):
Yeah. So they played Baltimore in week one, the Colts
in week two, and then Jacksonville, who didn't get after
him at all. None of those are nearly the pass
rushing exactly, none of them. And again there was eleven
sacks in the first two weeks.
Speaker 2 (18:25):
Our key matchups. The highlight in this game Texas Texans
wide receiver Nico Collins versus the Steelers cornerbacks. I mean
it's gonna be, yeah, all the wide receivers versus the
Steelers defensive backs. I mean it's no secret Matt Steelers
defensive backs have been getting torched a little bit in
the first three weeks. I picked Devonte Adams and DraftKings
last week, Thank you very much. Pretty good take there.
(18:46):
I mean, I know that they had the interceptions, Wallace
had too, Pep Pete had won, but they gave up
a lot of yards in between those interceptions. And this
week it's not a DeVante Adams out there, but I
think the collective in Houston might be a better core
than Vegas.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
Yeah. Interesting. So is it the stud receivers, you know,
headlined by Adams, but Amari and Ayuk. I mean, those
guys are better than these three, at least at this
stage of their career their career. Is it the stud
receivers that are lighting up Steelers or is it just
going to be a collective trio of three good ones
that light up.
Speaker 2 (19:20):
Steelers it's a great week to figure that out.
Speaker 1 (19:22):
I mean, yeah, we'll see.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
And then finally we have Steelers offensive tackle chruk woma
A Corra four versus Texans d n Will Anderson. I mean,
he's got the biggest name on the defensive side of
the ball. He's got the most potential on the side.
Speaker 1 (19:33):
Of the ball.
Speaker 2 (19:33):
I don't think anybody can wreck a game on that
defense just yet, but he's got the potential to in
the future. And you know, sometimes those rookies have a
game or two in their rookie season where they show
you what they're going to look like five years down
the road. So hopefully it's not one of these ones.
Speaker 1 (19:45):
Yeah, and by no means is he Bosa Garrett Crosby,
But he has massive pedigree and you know, top five pick,
third picking, the draft, fourth picking and draft what like that.
Third and frankly didn't really know what match up. It's
a feature on that side of the ball. It's tough.
There's not a lot of no.
Speaker 2 (20:04):
I think that's the right one. I think it's the
right one. I think he's the only guy that can
really be a game changer for them at this point.
They'll do it for US today, Steelers and Texans in
Houston kickoff at one pm. Matt and I will be
back again next week to break down the Steelers and
the Ravens on the Advanced Scout
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