It was a major revenge game for Houston Texans left guard Kendrick Green Sunday at NRG Stadium against the Pittsburgh Steelers. That matchup stole a ton of the attention leading up to Sunday’s matchup.
But it was the ultimate revenge game for Steven Nelson.
After spending two seasons with the Steelers in 2019 and 2020, Nelson got sweet, sweet revenge on Sunday, picking off Steelers quarterback Kenny Pickett in the first quarter and ultimately helped the Texans send a message to the rest of the NFL with a 30-6 win on the same day that JJ Watt was inducted into the franchise’s Ring of Honor.
Nelson sent a message to Steelers Nation, too, on Twitter following the win with a pair of tweets.
“That get back a mf !!!! Woooooooh,” Nelson tweeted shortly after the win.
“Send the ass tf home ! They said I wasn’t what ? Oh aight I got receipts gas the plane up ! don’t sign names sign dogs !!! Period,” Nelson added.
Of course, Nelson had a chip on his shoulder entering the matchup.
Speaking with Houston reporter Aaron Wilson, Nelson stated that the win meant a lot to him.
“It was great. I’m one of those guys, watch a lot of the greats. Michael Jordan, Rest in Peace, Kobe. They look for any little thing to have a chip on their shoulder. Keep all the receipts, as I always say. Gave me a little chip,” Nelson said to Wilson.
The Steelers tried trading Nelson following the 2020 season after the Steelers were bounced out of the playoffs. Pittsburgh needed to try and create some cap space and decided that either trading Nelson or ultimately cutting him was the best choice. At the time, initial reports were that Nelson demanded a trade from the Steelers. That ultimately wasn’t the case.
Bob Labriola of Steelers.com wrote in a March 2021 Asked and Answered column that it was understanding that the Steelers were looking to create salary cap space and that they needed to make a choice between cutting Nelson or cornerback Joe Haden that offseason. The decision was ultimately made to keep Haden as he was deemed the better player of the two on the roster by the team.
Nelson was set to earn $8.25 million in 2021, which was the final year of his three-year, $25.5 million contract he signed in free agency in March of 2019 with the Steelers.
In two seasons with the Steelers, Nelson played in 30 games and registered three interceptions, 17 defensed passes and 109 total tackles.
After being cut by the Steelers, Nelson latched on with the Philadelphia Eagles late in the 2021 season, playing in three games. He then spent the 2022 season with the Houston Texans and, according to OverTheCap.com, signed a revised one-year deal with the Texans worth a base value of $6.0 million with a $1 million signing bonus for the 2023 season.
His interception of Pickett on Sunday was his second of the season and obviously meant quite a bit to him after the way his end with the Steelers came about. Though he was angry and vocal at times on Twitter following his departure, he changed his tune on the way out the door and was professional about the end of his time in Pittsburgh,
But the way he played on Sunday in the blowout win with an interception and four tackles was sweet relief for the veteran cornerback. He got the win, saw his young team take another step forward and made a key play in the blowout win against his old team, which all but told him he wasn’t good enough.
That chip lingered for a long time for Nelson, but in the end it propelled him Sunday.
