Will Houston be tougher than once first thought?
The Steelers picked up a 2318 victory against Las Vegas on Sunday night at Allegiant Stadium. Here are four questions for them and the rest of the NFL to ponder as they look ahead to Week 4 when they’ll travel to face the Texans in Houston:
1. Is the offense at least back to where it was at the end of 2022? It was rarely a clinic for Kenny Pickett and Co., as they went 7-2 down the stretch last season to generate excitement about 2023. “Just enough” was the theme, as the Steelers averaged just under 21 points per game during that span. That’s pretty much what we saw Sunday night in Las Vegas. There was some good — a long touchdown to Calvin Austin III; some momentum for the running game; signs of consistency in Pickett’s connections with George Pickens and Pat Freiermuth; and the gritty first down on the final drive that basically ended the game. There were also some rushed throws, some dubious play calls and a nearly disastrous interception that Raiders defensive back Marcus Peters would have returned for a touchdown had he been able to squeeze it. The next few weeks will show whether this is a bare minimum level of competence we can expect moving forward. If it is, then the Steelers might have a chance to exceed expectations against a somewhat soft schedule despite an awful first couple of weeks. If it isn’t, then there’s no other way to define it than regression from the performance floor the Steelers and their fans hoped they had established.
2. Is Houston a tougher Week 4 opponent for the Steelers than previously thought? It certainly looked that way Sunday as rookie C.J. Stroud and the Texans handled Trevor Lawrence
and the division-favorite Jaguars pretty easily. Stroud passed for 280 yards, two touchdowns and averaged a sparkling 9.3 yards per attempt. Receiver Tank Dell continued his early bid for Offensive Rookie of the Year with five catches for 145 yards and a score. Fellow rookie and No. 3 overall pick Will Anderson Jr. was active with four tackles, two quarterback hits and a blocked field goal. So the Steelers will travel to face a young team with some confidence. A lot of fans had this one penciled in as an easy victory before the schedule thickens with dates against the Ravens in Week 5, the Rams in Week 7 after the bye and these same Jaguars in Week 8. After all,
Houston was just 3-13-1 last season. The early returns, however, suggest this group has made progress and deserves to be taken seriously.
3. Is Miami a real threat in the AFC this time? The Dolphins’ 70 points on Sunday were the most any team has scored in the NFL since 1966. Sure, the hapless Denver Broncos had a lot to do with that, turning the ball over three times and allowing 726 yards. But this wasn’t just one aberrant week against a bad team for this offense. It scored 36 points and piled up 536 yards in Week 1 against the Los Angeles Chargers. Then it went into Foxborough and moved the ball fairly well against New England in
Week 2, even though the Dolphins’ final winning margin of 24-17 was much less impressive. Receiver Tyreek Hill and quarterback Tua Tagovailoa are bona fide stars. But they also seem to have some capable weapons around them in Raheem Mostert and De’Von Achane, who totaled nearly 400 all-purpose yards out of the backfield Sunday. At the very least, they’ve been more impressive than Cincinnati and Buffalo, two of the conference’s anointed favorites in the preseason. Now the Dolphins will need to prove they can hold up over a 17-game schedule in a way they did not last season, when they started 8-3 but sputtered to six losses in
their last seven games.
4. Does the Browns’ offense have an identity without Nick Chubb? Cleveland breezed past Tennessee by a 27-3 margin Sunday, but the ground game never got going. It averaged a paltry 2.5 yards across 31 carries as Jerome Ford struggled to gain traction — Chubb’s primary backup finished with just 18 yards and a touchdown on 10 carries. Fortunately for coach Kevin Stefanski, quarterback Deshaun Watson lived up to his lucrative contract for once, passing for 289 yards and two scores en route to a very solid 123.5 passer rating. Amari Cooper played like a true No. 1 receiver, totaling 116 yards
while catching seven of his eight targets. And Myles Garrett roared back onto the scene with 3½ sacks after the Steelers contained him fairly well in Week 2. It was enough to cap off an emotional week with a needed victory. But is it a sustainable model for a team that was bought all the way into a run-first mentality before Chubb’s season-ending injury last week? That remains to be seen, and Week 4 against Baltimore will be a revealing test of whether Stefanski and Co. will be able to adapt over the long run.