Coming off a short week and a long, eventual road trip to Las Vegas to take on the Raiders in a second-straight primetime matchup early in the season, the Pittsburgh Steelers seemingly get a slight reprieve in Week Four with a road trip to take on the Houston Texans, who are very clearly in the middle of a rebuild.
Though the Texans are coming off a convincing 37-17 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars on the road in Week Two, Pittsburgh now gets a shot at rookie No. 2 overall pick C.J. Stroud under center for the Texans after making life rather difficult for two veteran quarterbacks in the last two weeks in Cleveland’s Deshaun Watson and Las Vegas’ Jimmy Garoppolo, generating seven turnovers in the last two weeks.
While it’s an enticing matchup on paper taking on a rookie quarterback behind an offensive line missing four of its five projected starters coming into the year, the Steelers can’t “make the game bigger” than it is against a rookie quarterback, according to veteran cornerback Patrick Peterson.
Appearing on the latest episode of his podcast “All Things Covered” with cousin and former Steelers cornerback Bryant McFadden, Peterson stated Tuesday that the Steelers defense just needs to focus on doing what it does best in the matchup against Stroud, rather than trying to do too much because he’s a rookie.
“Honestly, for us, we need to do what we do. We’re not trying to make the game bigger because they have a young quarterback,” Peterson said to McFadden regarding the matchup against the Texans, according to video via the show’s YouTube page. “Whoever is throwing the ball, we want to confuse them, put pressure on them to force them into ill-advised throws. That’s just Pittsburgh’s way. I’m here and I’m buying into it now finally being part of it, and I’m seeing it. It’s a real thing.”
The last time the Steelers faced off against a rookie quarterback came in Week Nine of the 2021 season, which was a Monday Night Football matchup against the Chicago Bears and then-rookie quarterback Justin Fields.
The Steelers kept Fields bottled up, holding him to 17-of-29 passing for 291 yards, one touchdown and one interception. Fields added 45 yards rushing on eight carries, but much of his production came with the Steelers up two scores late in the third quarter. Chicago took a late 27-26 lead on a Fields touchdown pass, but the Steelers ultimately won 29-27.
Now, they’ll take on another Ohio State rookie quarterback in Stroud, who has less mobility than Fields and will have less NFL experience entering the matchup. Fields’ start against Pittsburgh in Week Nine that season was his seventh of the year, while Stroud will be making his fourth start.
Stroud has been quite good to start his career and has avoided the dreaded turnover. In fact, Stroud set an NFL record in Week Three, breaking Warren Moon’s record for most completions without an interception to open his career with 121. On top of that, Stroud has also thrown for 906 yards and four touchdowns in this first three games. That puts him in rarified air in the NFL, joining former Carolina Panthers QB Cam Newton and Los Angeles Chargers QB Justin Herbert as the only quarterbacks in league history surpass 900 passing yards in the three games of a career.
On Sunday, Stroud will face the best defense he’s seen to this point, having lost to the Baltimore Ravens and Indianapolis Colts in the first two weeks before beating the Jaguars in Week Three. Pittsburgh has taken the football away eight times this season and has been a nightmare for experienced quarterbacks.
But as Peterson said, the Steelers can’t do anything differently just because Stroud is a rookie. Stick to their style of play, create pressure, force Stroud to make mistakes with the football and prosper.
