Todd Haley's Offensive Creativity Pays Dividends in Win over Texans

Something good, something bad. Something good, something bad.

With the Pittsburgh Steelers coming off a decisively "something bad" in their 31-10 Week 6 loss to the Cleveland Browns, it seemed inevitable something good would follow on Monday night against the Houston Texans. And it did—the Steelers improved their record to 4-3 on the season with a 30-23 win over Houston.

Though the defense played significantly better than in recent weeks, the real star of the show was the offense. The offense, which had been predictable, not creative and produced just two touchdowns over the previous two games, seemed quick and effective.

	Weeks 1-6	Week 7
RZ Atts/Game	3.2	3.0
RZ TD %	36.84	66.67

And most importantly, it scored in the red zone, something the Steelers had been doing on a league-worst 36.84 percent of their average 3.2 red-zone appearances per game, according to TeamRankings.com.

The performance extended the Steelers' home Monday Night Football wins to 16, their last loss in 1991 to the New York Giants, per Pro-Football-Reference.com:

It wasn't sunshine and roses for Pittsburgh to start the game. Their first drive ended with a punt at their own 46-yard line, while the Texans scored a touchdown with their opening possession, owing to a string of missed tackles by the Steelers defense. 

The hole got deeper when a sack-fumble by Texans defender Whitney Mercilus was recovered by J.J. Watt, resulting in a Houston field goal. Another Texans field goal in the second quarter extended their lead to 13-0. It seemed like a familiar story was about to play out for the Steelers. 

That is, of course, when things got interesting. 

First came Shaun Suisham's 44-yard field goal to cut Houston's lead to 10 points with just over three minutes to play in the first half. Then the Texans punted on the following possession, which included a sack of Ryan Fitzpatrick by Lawrence Timmons. 

Then came the scoring. Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger connected with running back Le'Veon Bell for a 28-yard passing game. A 35-yard deep throw to rookie Martavis Bryant produced a touchdown—his first catch and first score of his career, as ESPN Stats & Info tweeted:

On the Texans' next drive, Houston running back Arian Foster fumbled, with the Steelers recovering at Houston's 3-yard line. A creative toss from Roethlisberger to Antonio Brown saw Brown reverse course and throw a touchdown to fellow receiver Lance Moore.

Then, the Texans turned the ball over again, with a bouncing pass landing in defensive end Brett Keisel's hands. A receiving touchdown by Bell a few seconds later suddenly saw the Steelers leading 24-13. Yes, the Steelers put up 24 unanswered points in 2:54 seconds, a fact SI NFL shared: 

"

24 unanswered points in 2:54 has the Steelers up 24-13 with :14 left in the first half. #HOUvsPIT

— SI NFL (@si_nfl) October 21, 2014"

The offense had life and momentum, and while the second half only produced six points off two field goals, the creativity shown by offensive coordinator Todd Haley's play-calling, not just in that scoring flurry to end the first half but also throughout the game, shows there has been promising improvements.

The trick-play pass from Brown to Moore is an example of that. Bell's receiving touchdown—and his use as a receiver—also shows signs of offensive evolution. Bell came into the game with the third-most targets on the Steelers, with 35, and the second-most receptions, with 28, but both of those numbers seemed low relative to his impressive ability as a receiver.

Those 28 catches netted him 251 yards and 235 yards after the catch, and he had caught 80 percent of the passes thrown to him. However, he had only seen four red-zone passing targets, compared to 11 for Brown, seven for Justin Brown (inactive on Monday) and six each for Heath Miller and Markus Wheaton, according to Rotoworld.

That changed against the Texans, with Bell recording a season-high eight catches (on eight targets) for 88 yards and a score. He had only two fewer yards than Brown, who earned his 90 yards on nine catches. For his efforts, Bell became the first player in Steelers history to have 100 or more yards from scrimmage in his first seven games, as Jet-TV's Matt Edwards reported:

Also a difference was seen in Bryant's performance. Though he had only two catches on his five targets, he was more involved in the offense than ever this week, saving Roethlisberger from having to latch onto Wheaton as he had, with little success, in weeks past.

Heading into Monday night, Wheaton had caught just 60 percent of the 40 passes thrown to him for 277 yards and no scores. He caught zero of his two passing targets against Houston. Bryant isn't just fast; he's also tall, adding a component the Steelers hadn't really had. Getting him on the field was a positive for the Steelers, and his snaps should rise—and Wheaton's should fall—as a result.

It was also a balanced effort for the Steelers, with Roethlisberger throwing 33 passes, with 22 completions for 265 yards and two touchdowns and the team collectively running 30 times. They were also quick at getting plays off.

Though there were moments when Roethlisberger held onto the football too long, leading to three sacks in the first half, he wasn't sacked in the second. The speed also neutralized the venerable Watt, whose one sack, one tackle for loss and two quarterback hits occurred in the first half.

BAL	5-2
CIN	3-2-1
PIT	4-3
CLE	3-3

Haley has taken a great deal of criticism for his offense this season and for good reason. He deserved the blame for the predictability in the red zone that resulted in a lack of touchdowns this season. That wasn't the case on Monday night. And as long as he doesn't revert to his old patterns, there could be an unexpected offensive renaissance in Pittsburgh in the second half of the season.

Roethlisberger can extend plays with his feet. Brown is one of the most difficult-to-defend receivers in the NFL. Bell is a top-five running back. But if they are used in expected ways, play after play, yards can be had, but points will be hard to come by.

Shaking things up on Monday against the Texans worked; hopefully, that playbook stays shaken in Week 8 and beyond because it produced a much-needed win for Pittsburgh.