The Steelers are coming off of a tough loss against the New England Patriots last week after losing only by three points and having a controversial call of a reversed touchdown go the way of the opposition. Now, the Steelers are in second place in the AFC behind the Patriots. Their best chance to get back at that spot by the end of the season with only two weeks remaining is to win the games they have left and rely on the Pats losing one.
The Houston Texans are not having a good year. They lost their rookie phenom QB in Deshaun Watson around mid-season when he suffered a non-contact ACL tear in practice. They have also lost their second string QB in Tom Savage. The Steelers will be facing Texans third string QB T.J. Yates on Sunday, and they must take advantage of this.
Offensively, they will need to adapt to the loss of Antonio Brown for the remainder of the regular season. The way they must go about this is by utilizing rookie WR JuJu Smith-Schuster and WR Martavis Bryant to the best of their abilities and getting them the ball evenly, rather than forcing it to one or the other. Also, the run game will be important as well. Feeding Le'Veon Bell has worked well for games in the past, so relying on him will be huge for getting yards, along with opening up the passing game for the less experienced WRs.
Defensively, the line needs to shake up Yates. He is a third string QB for a reason, and if they can get to him and get in his head, his inability will begin to show. He will start throwing bad passes, and the returning Joe Haden will have a field day. They also have to make sure to watch the talented RB duo that is in Houston of Lamar Miller and D'Onta Foreman.
While this game should not seem like a challenge for the Steelers, these are the games that all fans worry most about with their poor track record against teams under .500. As long as Heinz is loud and proud, the Steelers should get the job done.
