Sheldon Rankins returned a fumble for a touchdown and Calen Bullock took an interception back for a score to help the Houston Texans notch a 30-6 victory over the host Pittsburgh Steelers on Monday night in an AFC wild-card playoff game.
Christian Kirk produced a career-best 144 receiving yards and a score on eight catches and Woody Marks rushed for 112 yards and one touchdown on 19 carries for the fifth-seeded Texans. C.J. Stroud passed for 250 yards and a touchdown and Will Anderson Jr. had the strip-sack on the play in which Rankins scored the pivotal fourth-quarter touchdown.
“What a game, what a performance by our guys,” Texans coach DeMeco Ryans said. “It wasn’t pretty from the start, we had some poor moments in the game. I’m just proud of our guys for continuing to remain resilient. … No one’s faith wavered.”
Houston, the fifth seed, will visit the second-seeded New England Patriots in an AFC divisional-round game on Sunday.
Aaron Rodgers completed 17 of 33 passes for 146 yards, no touchdowns and one interception for the fourth-seeded Steelers, who lost their seventh consecutive postseason game. Pittsburgh’s last playoff win came against the Kansas City Chiefs in the divisional round on Jan. 15, 2017.
The Monday contest might have been the final game for the 42-year-old Rodgers, a four-time NFL MVP. His last throw was Bullock’s interception.
The Texans allowed just 175 total yards and 13 first downs while controlling the Pittsburgh offense. Houston led the NFL in total defense and finished second in scoring defense and takeaway margin during the regular season.
Stroud connected on 21 of 32 passes and committed three turnovers (one interception, two lost fumbles), but the Steelers turned the takeaways into just three points.
The result ended Mike Tomlin’s 19th season as the Steelers’ head coach. Asked postgame about his future, Tomlin said, “I’m not even in that mindset as I sit here tonight. I’m more in the mindset of what transpired in this stadium, and certainly what we did or didn’t do. I’m not in the big-picture mindset.”
Ka’imi Fairbairn booted a 51-yard field goal to give Houston a 10-6 lead with 13:07 left in the game.
On Pittsburgh’s ensuing possession, Anderson and Rankins converged on Rodgers with Anderson’s hit knocking the ball loose. Rankins reached into a pack of players near the ball and grabbed it and raced 33 yards to give the Texans a 17-6 advantage with 11:23 remaining.
“We knew it was going to be a heavyweight matchup,” Anderson said. “Aaron, we have a ton of respect for him. Great guy, great player. … For us, it was any way we could affect them, batting balls down, getting pressures, getting sacks, taking the ball and stopping the run was really big for us.”
Marks scored on a 13-yard run to push the margin to 18 with 3:38 left in the game. A short time later, Rodgers was picked off by Bullock, who returned it 50 yards to make it a blowout with 2:39 remaining.
Texans receiver Nico Collins (concussion) exited in the third quarter. He had three catches for 21 yards before departing.
Stroud tossed a 6-yard scoring pass to Kirk to help the Texans host a 7-6 halftime lead.
The Steelers struck on Chris Boswell’s 32-yard field goal with 6:02 left in the first quarter.
Houston drove 14 plays and 92 yards on the drive in which Kirk made the touchdown catch with 8:28 remaining in the half.
Keeanu Benton later sacked Stroud and forced a fumble that teammate T.J. Watt recovered at the Houston 21-yard line with 6:14 remaining in the second period. However, Pittsburgh settled for Boswell’s 35-yard field goal with 1:57 left until the break.
–Field Level Media
