Breaking Down the Houston Texans' 2nd-Quarter Collapse vs. Steelers

For most of the first half of Monday night's 30-23 loss, it appeared the visiting Houston Texans would handle the Pittsburgh Steelers. 

The Texans led by a touchdown at the end of the first quarter and by 13 near the end of the second, while the Steelers did virtually nothing with the football.

Pittsburgh was held to just 54 yards on its first three possessions, which yielded zero points and one turnover. Houston, on the other hand, scored on its first three possessions and ground down the game clock with some strong running by Arian Foster.

The Steelers' next possession was more promising (eight plays, 60 yards), but resulted in only a field goal.

At that point, the Texans' lead was cut to 10, but the team still had an opportunity to head into halftime with that margin and plenty of momentum.

That opportunity, however, was quickly disintegrated by one of the wildest three-minute stretches of football we have seen in quite some time.

Though Houston was the team getting the football back with just over three minutes remaining in the half, Pittsburgh was the club that managed to put up 21 more points before the break—giving the Steelers 24 unanswered in less than three minutes of game time.

A team scoring 24 points in three minutes doesn't happen by accident, so credit the Steelers for making the most of their opportunities at the end of the first half. However, the offensive explosion wouldn't have been possible without a number of Texans miscues, including some questionable game management to start the series of events.

With just over three minutes remaining, Texans head coach Bill O'Brien clearly thought he could squeeze another scoring drive out of his offense. However, a second-down sack of quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick put the team in a 3rd-and-long situation and brought on the two-minute warning.

Instead of running the ball and forcing Pittsburgh to use one of its two remaining timeouts on the following play, O'Brien dialed up a pass.

It fell incomplete, and the Texans were forced to punt.

Two plays later, rookie wide receiver Martavis Bryant blew past the Texans secondary and hauled in a 35-yard touchdown pass from Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger.

This was more of an example of good play-calling and execution on Pittsburgh's part than a major mistake by the Texans. Defensive back Andre Hal was badly beaten on the play, and safety Kendrick Lewis, who was alone in deep zone coverage, was way too late to provide help over the top.

The next big gaffe came when Danieal Manning attempted to field the ensuing kickoff at the 1-yard line and promptly fumbled. He recovered, but the Texans were forced to start their next drive from the 5-yard line.

Two plays and a Steelers timeout later, a Foster fumble gave the football right back to Pittsburgh at the Houston 3-yard line.

It only took one play for the Steelers to score another touchdown. It was another creative call from offensive coordinator Todd Haley, who resided on the same staff with Texans defensive coordinator Romeo Crennel with the Kansas City Chiefs.

On the play, Roethlisberger pitched the football to wideout Antonio Brown. Brown reversed field behind the line of scrimmage and delivered a perfectly thrown ball to Lance Moore in the end zone. The trick play gave Pittsburgh a three-point lead, but the Steelers weren't done there.

The Texans got the ball back with just over a minute remaining and could have run out the clock with a series of running plays or quarterback kneel-downs.

While the momentum was now clearly with Pittsburgh, this option would have at least given the Texans a chance to go into the locker room and regroup before getting the football to start the second half. 

Instead, O'Brien dialed up another pass play, which was picked off by Steelers defensive end Brett Keisel and returned to the 8-yard line.

Two Roethlisberger passes resulted in another Steelers touchdown, and the score was now 24-13.

Considering Pittsburgh scored just six points in the second half and had to recover a Houston onside kick attempt in order to seal a 30-23 victory, it is easy to see just how badly the second quarter hurt the Texans.

All of the mistakes added to a horrendous three-minute span for Houston. However, the decision to come out passing with a minute remaining in the half appears to be the biggest miscalculation of the night. The end result was an 11-point deficit and a lot of frustration, when grounding the ball could have kept the deficit at three.

O'Brien spoke of the mistakes after the game, via NFL.com's Dan Hanzus:

"

It was 30-23, you know. It wasn't 50-0. The thing is, you can't do that. You can't turn the ball over. You can't field a kick, bobble the kick. Can't give up shot plays. You can't have 12 men on the field on third down to give them a first down. We just can't do those things.

"

That second turnover and Pittsburgh touchdown ultimately became the difference in the game, so it is likely this will be the area for which O'Brien receives the most criticism.

Of course, it is worth remembering that O'Brien would be receiving praise had his aggressive play-calling paid off instead of hurting his team.

So once again, we have to take the time to credit Pittsburgh for taking advantage of its opportunities and finding a way to win a game it easily could have lost.

“I guess the story of the game is that explosion there,” Steelers had coach Mike Tomlin said after the win, via Ed Bouchette of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. 

It was the story of the game, indeed.