« Redskins Roundtable with Dillweed | Home | Zorn-o-Matic? You wish. »
Game Preview: Steelers vs Texans
By Dagger | September 5, 2008
Steelers Defense
The Texans are going to give the Steelers defense problems. If you want to compare the Texans offense to a few other teams in the NFL (in terms of personnel and formation) I think looking back at the Browns, Bengals, and Cardinals games from last year will give you some indication of what the Texans are going to try to accomplish on Sunday. Houston will come out throwing the ball all over the field. They will attempt to get TE Owen Daniels on Timmons/Foote/Woodley, they will take some deep shots with Andre Johnson, and they will try to get Kevin Walter free underneath vs our #2 or #3 CB. They might toss in the odd draw or Colts-style zone blocking hand-off up the middle, but make no mistake, they want to win this game in the air.
1. #80 WR Andre Johnson is obviously their big-play threat but the Steelers typically do a good job taking away a team’s #1 WR if they want to. He might catch a bomb down the sidelines or a jumpball in the endzone, but I get the feeling that he won’t kill us this weekend. Rest assured that Shaub will look his way early and often though. Ike Taylor will get safety help so let’s hope we don’t see any mis-communication in the secondary because Johnson can get deep in a hurry.
2. #83 WR Kevin Walter led the Texans in receptions last year. The Steelers often fall victim to teams #2 WR so watch out for this guy on Sunday. He doesn’t have blazing speed, but he always finds a way to get open. He’s the type of guy you love to have on your fantasy football team because no matter the opponent or the scoreboard, he’ll always end up with about 5+ catches per game. Very solid receiver.
3. #81 TE Owen Daniels is going to have a big game, I just feel it. If we lose this game, it will be because of him. That’s going out on a limb, considering AJ is an elite WR and Daniels is just a TE, but Shaub looks for this guy as much as Dallas looks for Witten and the Browns look for Winslow. He had 63 receptions last season (team leader Walter had 65). He might have one of those games where you find yourself saying, “who is covering that guy??? He’s open on every 3rd down!”
(FYI: Screens are from Preseason Game 3. Texans vs Cowboys.)
Basic offensive formation above, however, Andre Johnson is lined up in the slot, scrub WR is lined up on the outside, “leading WR” Kevin Walter is in motion, and Owen Daniels is on the line. The Texans move their WRs and TEs around a lot so the Steelers are going to have to communicate and Woodley and Timmons have to be solid in coverage.
Owen Daniels vs LB = possible mismatch. Kevin Walter vs #2 or #3 WR and Andre Johnson gets a CB in his face and safety help up top. AJ will command a lot of respect this weekend so the rest of the D needs to be solid underneath. Even when not catching the ball, his presence stretches the field and opens up areas of the field for the other Texans (Steve Slaton out of the backfield, Daniels on a drag, etc….)
MATCHUP TO WATCH: (I’ll only pick one)
Foote, Woodley, Timmons, Polamalu vs Owen Daniels
-The Steelers D doesn’t have to worry about much of a ground attack so asking Polamalu to shadow Owen Daniels might not be a bad idea. I have visions of Daniels torching Foote. The Bills TE Royal beat Foote for 2 TDs a few weeks ago with double-TE moves if you recall. Woodley and Timmons are solid players, but the one weakness between the two of them might be their man-to-man coverage ability.
STEELERS OFFENSE
The big, bad, scary Houston Texans defensive line is getting a bit blown out of proportion. Mario Williams is a freak of nature and racked up an impressive 14 sacks last year. Thank God he did, because without him, the Texans would have ended the year with a grand total of 17 sacks. That’s right, Williams accounted for 45.2% of their sack total. Also…last year the Texans were last in the NFL in INTs and 21st in sacks. Mario is very good, LB DeMeco Ryans is very good, and CB Fred Bennett is solid. Beyond that, this is a defense that the Steelers are built to tear apart.
Outside of Mario Williams, the only other “name” on the Texans DL is Amobi Okoye, who hasn’t done a whole lot in the NFL, but he has name recognition. Pittsburgh should be able to run the ball at will and pick apart a subpar secondary. When your team can put guys like Nate Washington, Heath Miller, Mendenhall, Willie Parker, Big Ben, Matt Spaeth, Santonio Holmes, and Hines Ward on the field at the same time in various formations, you better have an explosive offense and you better put on a show against a defense like the Texans. Even if the Offensive Line struggles at times, that shouldn’t be enough to completely sabotage the offense. Needless to say, I’m expecting a big day from both Big Ben and Willie Parker.
I have circled DeMeco Ryans (MLB) and Mario Williams (DE). Outside of these two guys, the Steelers don’t face of anything that should worry them. Ryans will probably lead the team in tackles, he’ll stop the run as well as drop back into coverage when asked to do so. Mario Williams will play some LE and some RE. Expect him to be lined up across from Willie Colon a fair amount. Colon will most likely be given help in pass protection in the form of chip blocks from RBs and TEs.
DL Okoye is in the square, Ryans and Williams are circled. You can see Mario Williams about to be doubled on the left side of your screen. The Steelers will do this as well. Look for Marvel to handle his man 1-on-1 if he’s facing off against anyone not named Mario Williams…..and look for the center of the line (Hartwig, Simmons, Kemoeatu) to hold down the interior DL with a combo of 1-on-1 and double teams as necessary.
If the Steelers can stymie the Texans pass rush with only 6 men in to block, the Steelers will have a field-day downfield. 6 guys stay in to block and 4 big weapons like Parker, Miller, Holmes, and Ward will find mismatches all over the Houston secondary.
MATCHUP TO WATCH:
Willie Colon and Marvel Smith vs Mario Williams
-As I mentioned above, expect Williams to move from LE to RE throughout the game in an attempt to find a mismatch. Smith should do well vs Mario but the Colon matchup is a bit frightening. I’d get Spaeth/Miller and a RB to chip Williams early and often.
CONCLUSION:
I expect the Steelers to put up some big offensive numbers. Our offensive line faces a challenge, but not the type of challenge that many out there are predicting. Arians should be able to mix Run and Pass and will find success in both. This should be a great opportunity to get our offense in a rhythm and hopefully be clicking on all cylinders by the time the game is over.
There is no doubt that the Steelers biggest challenge on Sunday will be from the Texans offense. They have the weapons that can scare any opponent they face and don’t be surprised if they poke a few holes in our defense and expose a weakness or two in our secondary.
I haven’t mentioned it yet but the Texans have kept rookie RB Steve Slaton under wraps this preseason, so don’t be surprised to see him catch a few screens or dump-offs this weekend. If the Texans can get him involved in the offense they become that much more difficult to contain. An offense consisting of Slaton, Daniels, Johnson, Walter, and Andre Davis would create matchup issues for anyone. Let’s hope they don’t learn how to properly integrate him into their attack until Week 2.
Steelers Win 27-17
Topics: NFL, Sports, Steelers | 10 Comments »
September 5th, 2008 at 9:54 am
But, but, I don’t want to think about our defense struggling…
September 5th, 2008 at 10:19 am
I think the running game for us on offense is key. Say what you want, but if Williams and Okoye line against Colon and Simmons for most of the game, I’m going to be worried about the passing game. If they get pressure, don’t expect Arians to stop throwing the ball 30 yards downfield or anything.
You’re probably right about Daniels and Walter. We should be able to get some pressure, so the Texans’ versions of Miller and Ward are where they’ll turn to get the ball out more quickly if they have an OC that actually game plans. My hope is that Timmons will eventually keep this sort of thing from happening, but it’s not realistic to expect him to do that from the bench or this early. Hopefully he’ll come on the field on 3rd downs and cover Daniels. It would help show where he’s at in coverage, and it would get him ready to take on Winslow next week.
September 5th, 2008 at 10:33 am
Apparently Dagger forgot to turn in his playbook after the Texans cut him.
Good work!
Isn’t it crazy that THIS is the easiest game on our schedule…
Matchup to watch:
Me vs. My Hangover.
September 5th, 2008 at 10:46 am
I have it 31-17…Steelers. Holmes is going to torch the Texans secondary, especially on play action.
September 5th, 2008 at 5:26 pm
I kept my playbook….and i also grabbed somebody’s luggage before I left the team HQ.
September 6th, 2008 at 9:39 am
Very Nice work Dagger…Pre Game articles are no fun to write…You did a fine job Sir
September 6th, 2008 at 11:23 am
Thanks FC,
Your previews at Steelerfury.com are the best and most comprehensive on the entire internet….I have NO IDEA how you do it week-in-week-out.
It actually takes more “homework” than a post-game wrap up does.
September 7th, 2008 at 4:15 pm
Hey dagger, just watched the game and a couple of my friends said nick eason was looking good. Did you see that, because that seems crazy given his play last year.
Are the texans that bad or are we that good?
September 7th, 2008 at 4:21 pm
Never thought I’d say this:
Nick Eason looked real good. I can’t explain it. He was in the backfield, running guys down in the flat, etc..
I think our D made the Texans 1-dimensional. They had absolutely no running game at all. We just pinned our ears back and brought pressure on Shaub all day long. We called the dogs off in the final 1.5 QTRs a bit and the Texans started to show a bit more on offense, but they didn’t have a prayer with the way our D was playing.
I think all Steeler fans expected our D to be better than last season but we looked incredibly fast, we didn’t miss any tackles, and we put pressure on the QB on almost every passing down.
September 7th, 2008 at 10:35 pm
Our defense could get so much pressure this year if Eason steps up and adds another quality DE to the rotation.