Once the final whistle is blown on Sunday in the Pittsburgh Steelers and Houston Texans' Week 4 matchup at Reliant Energy Stadium in Houston, one team will be 3-1 and feeling pretty good about having just defeated a worthy opponent. The other will be 2-2 at the quarter pole of the 2011 season and left with answers about how good they really are. The last time the two teams met was Week 1 of the 2008 season. Houston's roster looks much different today than it did then, whereas Pittsburgh has quite a few holdovers from their championship season in '08. Consequently, it's hard to draw too much from the Steelers 38-7 thumping of the Texans over three years ago. Hopefully though the result will be similarly positive for Pittsburgh come Sunday late afternoon.
While we wait to see if the Steelers can clean up some of the mistakes that plagued them during their sloppy Week 3 win over Indianapolis, here are a few facts and figures for both squads heading into Week 4.
STEELERS:
- Club has won eight of past 10 on road ...
- In 2 career games vs. Houston, QB Ben Roethlisberger is 2-0 and has completed 27 of 35 passes (77.1 pct.) for 391 yards with four touchdowns vs. no touchdowns and a 151.0 passer rating. Roethlisberger (147) needs three touchdown passes to join HOFer Terry Bradshaw (212) as second quarterback in Steelers history with 150 touchdowns ...
- RB Rashard Mendenhall has six rush touchdowns in past seven game s...
- WR Hines Ward had two touchdowns in each of past two games vs. Texans. Ward (11,819) needs 16 receiving yards to surpass HOFer Don Maynard (11,834) for 20th in NFL history.
- Dating back to December 19, 2010, WR Mike Wallace aims for seventh consecutive game with 100+ rec. yards (102, 104, 105, 107, 126, 144). Had 81-yard TD reception last week ...
- TE Heath Miller (295) needs five catches to become first Pittsburgh TE with 300 career receptions ...
- .LB James Harrison had three sacks in last game vs. Houston. Aims for third straight game with sack ...
- .LB LaMarr Woodley had sack, INT & FR in only meeting vs. Texans ...
- S Troy Polamalu had career-best 3 sacks at Houston on 9/18/05 ...
TEXANS:
- In past 7 Oct. games, QB Matt Schaub has 13 TDs vs. 4 INTs & 100.2 passer rating. Aims for 3rd consecutive game with 100+ passer rating (118.5, 103.9)...
- RB Arian Foster (1,906) needs 94 rush yards to reach 2,000 career.
- RB Ben Tate is averaging 100.3 rush yards per game in '11 (301 total).
- FB James Casey had career-high 126 receiving yards (25.2 avg.) with 5 rec. & TD vs. Saints...
- WR Andre Johnson (694) needs 6 receptions to reach 700 career. Johnson had 10 catches for 112 yards (11.2 avg.) in last game vs. Pit. Aims for 4th consecutive game with 7 catches. Posted 1st 100-yard receiving game of season (128) & 38th of career last week...
- TE Owen Daniels seeks TD catch in 3rd straight game...
- DE Mario Williams had 2 sacks in last game vs. Steelers.
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DE Antonio Smith aims for 4th consecutive game with sack.
- Rookie DE J.J. Watt (1st round, No. 11) registered 1st career sack last week...
- CB Jonathan Joseph seeks 3rd consecutive game with INT. Had 30-yard INT-TD return on 9/27/09 w/ Cin.