Steelers Week One Preview: Getting To Know The Texans
At last the long offseason has come to an end. The draft is over, free agents are all locked in, OTA’s are in the book and the training camps are closed. The ridiculously long preseason has finally wrapped and tomorrow, for real, your Pittsburgh Steelers will face the Houston Texans at 1:00 pm from Heinz Field. Here is my preview of the Texans to get you all prepared for the big game. I will start by giving you the breakdown of the Houston offense. Enjoy. QB: Matt Schaub is the man in Houston after playing for the Atlanta Falcons. Boy, Atlanta could have used him last year! Matt is yet another Pennsylvania quarterback as he hails from West Chester. If Schaub stays healthy he could help the Texans become the surprise team in the AFC this year. Schaub was injured for a good stretch last season and threw for just 9 TD’s while giving up 9 interceptions in 11 games. He is not very mobile so if the Steelers pash rush is on point then Matty’s gonna have a rough go of it. Sage Rosenfels is his back-up, Sage is decent in limited action but I wouldn’t want him running my team for more then a game or two. RB: Ahman Green is the starter and who knows what kind of game he has left at this point. When healthy he is serviceable but that has rarely happened the last few years. I’m intrigued with Steve Slaton, yes the Steve Slaton from WVU. Slaton is a shifty, undersized back with good good cutback ability. We all know how the Steelers D can be exploited by the cutback. Slaton’s rookie status leads me to believe that his action will be limited by his knowledge of the offense. He also has been hampered by turf toe so we will see if that plays a factor. WR: The Texans have a decent WR core led by perennial pro-bowler Andre Johnson. Johnson is as good as they get in the NFL (when healthy) and he will create a lot of space for his partners in crime. Kevin Walter lines up opposite Johnson and is a big target at 6′ 3″, rounding out the depth chart are Jacoby Jones, David Anderson, and Andre Davis (formerly of the Cleveland Browns). TE: Good ol’ Mark Bruener is still in the league as the Texans number two TE. Owen Daniels is the starter and a legitimate target for Schaub. Daniels caught 63 balls for 768 yards last season. Daniels could cause some match-up problems tomorrow so watch for him to see a lot of balls thrown his way. OL: This unit only gave up 22 sacks last year. Wow, the Texans led the league in something. These guys are on the rise. A relative group of no names to a guy like me (this will be the third time I have ever watched the Texans). They do have a rookie starting at LT hopefully he can be exploited. Was that in depth enough for you? If you look at the time of this posting it should be clear to you that I have no life. That’s what parenthood has done to me. Wait, who am I kidding? I had no life before the wife and kids. Alright, lets move to the other side of the ball. DL: Heard of Mario Williams? You have, he was the guy taken ahead of Reggie Bush a few drafts back. At the time people thought the Texans blew the No. 1 pick. A couple years later and Houston’s front office looks pretty savvy, don’t they? Williams racked up 14 sacks last season and is a beast on the DL. This is a good front four and will test the cohesion of the new Steelers o-line. By the way, as a team the Texans registered only 31 sacks so it appears Williams is all they have in that department. LB: Zac Diles, DeMeco Ryans, Morlon Greenwood? Who are these guys? No clue. The Texans still have some holes to fill before becoming a play-off team I guess. DB: Will Demps and C. C. Brown are the the safetys while Fred Bennet and Jacques Reeves get the nod at CB in the base set up. Well, Demps is decent at least he was in his Ravens days. Other then that I expect Ben and his toys to have a big a day. Did I just refer to the WR’s and TE’s as Ben’s toys? That was unintentionally homo-erotic. Should we take the time to go over the Texans special teams? I say yes, you never know when the Steelers are going to give up a back breaking touchdown return. See Arizona Cardinals game from 2007, Breaston. Heehee, his name has a boobie word in it and that is why I mention it. Alright here we go with ST. K: Kris Brown. Hey I remember this douche bag. Yeah, he is the moron that couldn’t kick at Heinz Field and cost us a football game or two. Well I am glad to see he is doing alright for himself. Kicking in a pseudo-dome and all. Dick. Having said that I will be extra pissed if he wins the game on a last second field goal. On the flipside, if he blows a game winner tomorrow I will be bagging on him hard core in my post game write up. Boo-yaa. P: Matt Turk? More like Matt Turd. I hate punters and I hope this guy gets creamed tomorrow. This guy gets payed a hell of a lot of money to kick a ball 45 yards 3 or 4 times a game. Yes, I am jealous. KR: Andre Davis and Steve Slaton. I smell trouble here. The past couple of seasons the Steelers kick coverage has ruined almost every touchdown we score. Even before the extra point is being kicked I am already thinking “Oh god, I hope they don’t blow it and give up a return for 6.” What a crappy way to live. PR: Jacoby Jones. Don’t know much about. I hope I don’t have to hear much about him tomorrow too. Can you tell I am down on the ST unit again this year? That about does it folks. Enjoy the Kickoff weekend, I know I will. Let me leave you with my prediction. Steelers 23 Texans 13. But don’t go betting money based on my pick. I always choose the Steelers to win. I am a homer, just like the KDKA pre-game guys.
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