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DJ Bien-Aime
PITTSBURGH — The Houston Texans’ defense came into the postseason viewed as one of the league’s best and showed why in their 30-6 wild-card win over the Pittsburgh Steelers in potentially the last career game for Aaron Rodgers.
The Texans held the Steelers’ offense to 175 yards Monday night while sacking the future Hall of Fame quarterback four times and forcing Rodgers into two turnovers for touchdowns.
According to ESPN Research, Houston became the second team in playoff history to score multiple defensive touchdowns in a game without giving up a TD, joining Chicago, which achieved the feat in the 1940 NFL Championship against Washington.
Will Anderson’s strip sack of Rodgers forced a fumble that was recovered by Sheldon Rankins and returned for a TD to put the Texans up 17-6 in the fourth quarter. Then Rodgers’ last pass of the game was intercepted by safety Calen Bullock and returned for a touchdown. Rodgers was pulled for backup Mason Rudolph with the Steelers down 30-6.
It was another dominant prime-time performance for the Texans’ defense, who have now forced three different MVP quarterbacks — Buffalo’s Josh Allen, Kansas City’s Patrick Mahomes and Rodgers — into multiple-turnover games.
«Shoot, I think everybody knows we are the best defense,» Bullock said. «The whole world knows that. Every time we go out there we show it and we went out there and showed it today. I don’t even think they scored a touchdown.»
Monday marked the only time in Rodgers’ playoff career that he didn’t lead his team into the end zone. Coach DeMeco Ryans had high praise for Houston’s defensive performance, calling it the «best in team history.»
«It was an outstanding defensive performance,» Ryans said. «One of the best that I’ve seen versus a really talented offense, a talented quarterback who played at a high level for a long time.»
The unit forced Rodgers into a 14.3 total QBR, his worst mark in 22 career playoff starts. It was only the second time a Rodgers-led team was held under 20 points in a playoff game.
Houston’s defense was stout to the point that Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud’s three turnovers (two fumbles and an interception) didn’t cost them the game. He actually had five fumbles, becoming the first player since Eli Manning in 2007 to win a game with five fumbles. Stroud became the first to do it in the postseason.
Christian Kirk. Overall, he felt he played a «good game» minus the carelessness with the ball.
«We had some problems with the snap, me catching them,» Stroud said. «Got to find a way to take care of the ball.. It’s all about moving forward and trying your best to flush it and keep going. Every time we had to bounce back we made more plays so I’m proud of our guys for having a little bit of resilience in those moments.»
The Texans pushed their win streak to 10 and now will travel to New England to face the Patriots, who opened as three-point favorites per DraftKings, in the divisional round of the AFC playoffs.
