Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger put together one of his most efficient games of the 2014 season as the Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Houston Texans 30-23 at Heinz Field. The Steelers (4-3 overall, 1-2 AFC North) needed this win after getting tossed like salad by the Cleveland Browns last week.
This past week Steelers 13-year veteran defensive end Brett Keisel publicly called the 2014 Steelers average. Some may have gotten mad at him for saying that, but facts are facts. The Steelers just aren’t all that good this year. And just to let anyone know, Keisel has earned the right to make that comment as he has given his all to the Steelers on and off the field since 2002. 
Yes, the Steelers have a boatload of talent but talent doesn’t win games. Here are some examples to prove Keisel’s point: they almost let a barely average Cleveland Browns squad sweep them this year (the Steelers beat Cleveland in Week 1 30-27, but were jammed up by the Browns last week 31-10); they enabled one of the worst teams in the NFL this year, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, to beat them on a last minute touchdown pass in Week 4; and then the next week they almost let the winless (at the time) Jacksonville Jaguars beat them.
As for the game, the Steelers took their sweet time to score as they didn’t get score a single point or advance too far from midfield (one drive ended at the Steeler 46 yard line and another died on the that same 46 yard line when Roethlisberger was sacked by Texans defensive end J.J. Watt).
Houston (3-4 overall, 0-1 AFC South) kicked off the scoring with an 11 yard Ryan Fitzpatrick (21 of 32 for 262 yards, 2 touchdowns and 1 interception) screen pass to running back Alfred Blue who on the play, practically screamed at the quarterback to throw him the ball as he was wide open. 7-0 Texans with 5:55 left in the first quarter.
Texans placekicker Randy Bullock added two field goals in the second quarter to give his team a 13-0 lead, in what at the time seemed like a comfortable lead against one of the most Jekyll and Hyde offenses [Pittsburgh] in the NFL this year.
Placekicker Shaun Suisham gave the Steelers their first points of the night when he made a 44 yard field goal to cut Houston’s lead to 13-3 with just under 3:15 left in the second quarter.
But of out of seemingly nowhere, Roethlisberger (23 of 33 for 265 yards, 2 touchdown passes and no interceptions) helped lead the Steelers on a 24-0 run in the second quarter. That rally was an ominous sign that the Texans had a huge and unwanted battle on their hands.
But first things first. The Steelers started their rally when Roethlisberger with double pressure in his face from outside linebacker Brooks Reed and Watt, stepped up in the pocket at the HOU 41 and threw a pass that traveled 51 yards in the air and into the hands of rookie receiver Martavis Bryant who caught the ball 10 yards deep in the end zone. That 35 yard touchdown reception (the play started at the HOU 35) cut the Texans lead to 13-10 with 1:27 left in the first half.
Budding star receiver Antonio Brown (9 catches for 90 yards and no score) proved again how valuable he is to the Steelers when he took a quasi-designed receiver reverse pitch from Roethlisberger, then Brown turned his body to his left and ran around to get some space, and then he threw a 3 yard touchdown pass to fellow receiver Lance Moore to give the Steelers their first lead of the night at 17-10 with 1:03 left in the first half.
But folks the Steelers were not done yet. On the Texans’ second play of their last drive of the first half, both Keisel (inadvertently) and linebacker Lawrence Timmons tipped a pass that miraculously and fortuitously ended up in the hands of Keisel for an interception, with the defensive end taking back the theft 16 yards to the HOU 8 yard line. That huge play set up a Le’Veon Bell 2 yard touchdown reception to the right corner of the end zone. Bell’s score gave the Steelers a 24-13 lead with 14 seconds left in the first half.
After what the Steelers put the Texans through in the second quarter, it was a relief for the Texans to keep the Steelers scoreless in the third quarter. But the problem with that was that the Texans didn’t score either.
After two Suisham field goals and a Bullock field goal the Steelers were ahead 30-16 with 3:04 left in the game. Running back Arian Foster did give the Texans a snifter of hope later in the fourth quarter, when he took a Fitzpatrick pass into the end zone from 1 yard out despite Steelers linebacker Terrance Garvin trying his best to keep the ball carrier out of the end zone. It was 30-23 with 1:31 left in the game.
On the ensuing kickoff, Bullock tried an onside kick that ended up in the hands of Steelers third-string tight end Michael Palmer. Roethlisberger executed three kneel downs and that was all she wrote.
