PITTSBURGH — In the moments after their wild-card victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers — a 30-6 romp that featured two defensive touchdowns and prompted coach DeMeco Ryans to describe the outing as “the best (defensive) performance we’ve had in our team history,” — the Houston Texans filed through the hallways in the bowels of Acrisure Stadium largely in silence.
There were no rowdy whoops and cheers. No raucous laughs or giddy chatter.
Ryans stood a few yards inside the doorway of the visitors’ locker room and greeted every player with a few words of encouragement and a handshake and hug. But aside from the head coach’s smile, determining the outcome of the contest would have otherwise proved difficult.
The reaction didn’t reflect a lack of appreciation for the moment, but the level of focus that fueled the team to extend its win streak to 10 games and take a big step toward its aspirations.
“I think guys are just locked in, man,” pass rusher Danielle Hunter explained. “This is a big week of hearing this or hearing that. Guys are just locked in and we were just ready to line the ball up and say ‘hut,’ man.”
As the late Kobe Bryant put it, “What’s there to be happy about? Job’s not finished.”
In knocking off their hosts, the Texans earned the first road playoff win in franchise history — prevailing after six consecutive defeats. But the victory represented just one step. The two previous years saw the Texans win on wild-card weekend, only to lose in the divisional round of the playoffs. So, until they can advance beyond the second round and reach the AFC Championship Game, Houston’s players aren’t ready to declare that they have vanquished the ghosts of postseasons past.
However, the win in Pittsburgh confirmed to the Texans — and signaled to the rest of the league — that they boast a defense dominant enough to carry them all the way to Santa Clara, Calif., and Super Bowl LX.
“Every single day we come to the building, that’s our mindset,” said safety Calen Bullock, who picked off an Aaron Rodgers pass and returned it 50 yards for a touchdown. “We’re the best defense, so we’ve got to show it, and we got to work throughout the week to prove that we are the best defense. So when we go out there and we’ve got that confidence, nothing could hold us back but ourselves.”
The Texans’ defense proved so dominant that not even the repeated self-inflicted mistakes that came in the form of five fumbles (two lost) and an interception by quarterback C.J. Stroud could derail them.
Stroud had the ball knocked out of his hands during a late first-quarter scoring drive and the Steelers recovered at their own 44-yard line. But they gained just 5 yards in three plays and had to punt. A late second-quarter fumble gave the Steelers the ball at the Houston 21-yard line. But Pittsburgh gained just 4 yards in eight plays and had to settle for a 35-yard field goal. An early third-quarter interception at the Pittsburgh 4-yard line resulted in another punt eight plays and 28 yards later.
Again and again the defense took the field following prematurely ended possessions and went into attack mode. The Texans stifled the Steelers rushing attack and harassed Aaron Rodgers so extensively — sacking him four times, hitting him 12 times — that the future Hall of Fame quarterback scarcely had time to wait for plays to develop and repeatedly dumped the ball off for short gains. The Steelers converted only twice on 14 third downs and finished with 175 total yards while matching a season low in points scored.
“We’ve certainly got to give Houston a lot of credit, in particular their defensive unit. I thought they ruled the day,” Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said. “They certainly had a reputation for that coming in, and they confirmed it with their performance.”
The success came as no surprise to Texans players.
As defensive end Will Anderson Jr., who had a half-sack, three quarterback hits and a forced fumble, explained, nothing about Monday night’s performance was unexpected.
“We said, ‘OK, what we did in the regular season, it ain’t gonna matter when we get into the playoffs. But we want to keep that same energy that we had in the regular season rolling, man,” Anderson said. “The whole week was about our foundation of just swarming, our foundation of being detailed, executing the fundamentals and just running and attacking. We said, ‘Run the defense. You don’t have to do anything out of the ordinary. You don’t have to do anything that you haven’t been doing all season. Just run the defense and make big plays that you need to make.’”
Will Anderson Jr. (No. 51), Sheldon Rankins (90) and Jalen Pitre (5) had plenty of reason to celebrate Monday, including after Rankins’ fumble return for a touchdown. (Barry Reeger / Imagn Images)
When it came to compensating for Stroud’s uncharacteristic turnovers, the defenders drew satisfaction in their ability to offer the assist.
“Yeah, we take pride in being able to go out there and really shut a team down, do whatever is necessary, whether it’s stopping the run, rushing the passer, knocking passes down, whatever it is to disrupt an offense,” said defensive lineman Sheldon Rankins, who scooped up a fumble and returned it 33 yards for a touchdown early in the fourth quarter.
Now the Texans head to New England, where on Sunday, they’ll face a Patriots team led by MVP candidate Drake Maye and again be asked to deliver game-changing plays while derailing another well-rounded offense. The other side of the AFC bracket features 2024 MVP Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills against the steadily ascending Bo Nix and the Denver Broncos offense. Each remaining team presents a challenge the Texans relish.
In this era of pro football, with teams defined by elite quarterback play and prolific offenses, the Texans’ defensive players want the opportunity to buck the trend. Sure, they have a talented young quarterback (despite his ball security issues Monday, Stroud did repeatedly extend drives and make defining plays) and a solid rushing attack. But Houston’s defenders aspire to carve out a place alongside some of the truly elite teams that have largely carried their teams to Super Bowl glory.
Given their elite showing during the regular season — holding foes to some of the lowest outputs in yards per game, points per game and EPA while also ranking among the leaders in sacks and takeaways — their goals seem realistic. Boasting game-changers at every level and a relentless mindset, the Texans have every ingredient necessary to deliver a championship. Stroud will have to answer questions about his ability to rebound from Monday’s struggles and play with better discipline in high-pressure situations. But the backing of this defense gives the quarterback confidence.
“Our defense has played like this all year,” said Stroud, who regained his rhythm late in the game and directed an 11-play, 87-yard touchdown drive in the fourth quarter. “They’ve held us up. … It’s crazy to think the last three wild-card games I’ve played in, they’ve always had a pick six or some type of two-turnover game. When you have a defense like that, it’s really encouraging.”
And that’s a role Houston’s championship-hungry defensive players embrace.
“Everybody’s going to make mistakes, so whenever we see them make mistakes, we tell them, ‘Oh, we got y’all,’” Hunter said. “That’s the biggest thing. We do our part. They’re gonna do their part. We can count on them then doing their part. If anything happens, you know, we keep it on us. We put it on us, on the defense.”