The Pittsburgh Steelers’ offense may be the unit that catches the most criticism after suffering a blowout loss to the Houston Texans, but the defense deserves plenty of blame as well.
The unit struggled once again to contain the ground game as RB Dameon Pierce looked impressive for Houston, rushing for 81 yards on 24 carries while chipping in another 27 yards through the air. The passing game for Houston was even more of a problem for Pittsburgh. Rookie QB C.J. Stroud tore up the Steelers’ secondary, throwing for 306 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions. Both scores went to WR Nico Collins, who had himself a day to the tune of 168 yards on seven catches.
CB Patrick Peterson spoke to the media following the game and was asked how Houston was able to dominate Pittsburgh with a first-year play caller and rookie quarterback leading a box-office day for Houston’s offense.
“I would just say those guys had a really, really good game plan to get us on our heels,” Peterson said to the media on video from Post-Gazette Sports’ YouTube channel. “I can’t say exactly what it was just coming off the field. I will say that they had a great game plan in place to be successful here today.”
Offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik was previously on the San Francisco 49ers staff, being the team’s passing game coordinator prior to going to Houston this offseason with new head coach DeMeco Ryans. Peterson was asked about Slowik and his offense, noting the glaring similarities between the offense he just faced and the offense he saw Week One against San Francisco.
“I mean, it’s San Francisco 2.0 just with their own little twist on their offense,” Peterson said. “Perimeter runs, eye candy, definitely Kyle Shanahan offensive tree for sure.”
You saw the eye candy and motions that have become staples of the Shanahan offense from Houston, dressing up plays to put Pittsburgh in pre-snap conflict and open things up in the passing game or create mismatches, helping Collins have a big day. Still, Peterson and the rest of the secondary didn’t perform well in the individual assignments when facing Collins and the other Texans receivers, like when WR Brandon Aiyuk gave Peterson fits in Week One as the 49ers blew out Pittsburgh at home to start the season.
Houston may have had similar concepts and play designs to what the 49ers used against Pittsburgh a few weeks ago, but that shouldn’t be an excuse for how bad this defense played, especially in pass defense. Peterson looked a step behind for most of the game. So did Levi Wallace, and Pittsburgh’s starting corners remain under the microscope after shaky starts to the 2023 season. We’ll look at the tape more in the coming days to thoroughly break down Pittsburgh’s woes on defense. But this marks the second time this season that the Shanahan system has gotten the better of Pittsburgh’s defense.
