Not a bad first half for the Steelers as they jumped out to a 21-3 lead on the Texans. Here's what jumped out to me:• Hines Ward had no catch longer than 25 yards last year as he turned completely into a possesion receiver (only seven of his 71 catches were for more than 20 yards), but the Steelers seemed to realize that to get him open short, he has to occasionally go deep, so backs won't just sell out to stop the short stuff. Even though it was called back because of offensive pass interference (on what looked like a questionable call), the Steelers willingness to throw deep to Ward (for a 75-yard pass) in the first quarter showed the Steelers will do a better job this year of not looking just to Santonio Holmes and Nate Washington for the deep ball. And the fact that the Texans tried to cover Ward with a linebacker on the play showed an example of why the Steelers should send Ward deep more often. Going deep did help open things up short, as Ward later had a catch-and-run for 29 yards--longer than any catch he had last year.
• Jeff Reed has some first-game adrenaline, as his first kickoff went seven yards deep. Now he just needs to show this year that his leg doesn't wear out as the season goes along.
• Give credit to Steelers offensive coordinator Bruce Arians for finding a flaw in the Texans pass defense. If the Steelers were in a one-back, three wide receiver look, the outside linebacker would line up over Heath Miller in man coverage. But if Parker went into motion, making it an empty backfield, the linebacker's responsibility was to slide out and cover Parker. Twice in the first quarter, the Steelers sent Parker in motion, and twice Heath Miller was left uncovered for an easy catch and run.
• If you're counting how many sacks Roethlisberger has avoided this season that an ordinary QB might have taken, we're at one.
• If you're counting the sacks the Steelers have allowed, we're at two. Blame confusion between Marvel Smith and Chris Kemoeatu for getting Roethlisberger killed. The Texans sent a defensive back in the slot on a blitz. Smith jumped outside to block him, while Kemoeatu stayed inside to block the defensive tackle, with some help from Justin Hartwig. The problem with that is it's never a good idea to leave Mario Williams completely unblocked, which is what Kemo/Smith did. Williams of course decleated Roethlisberger from the blindside on the play, forcing a fumble. On the next sack, the Steelers also forgot to block Williams, although this time it was Marvel Smith's screwup all the day. He looked inside, before finally lurching outside to block Williams. It was way too late, as Williams was already halfway to Roethlisberger at that point. Roethlisberger also took a shot to the knee late in the half because Kendall Simmons was simply forklifted and driven back into Big Ben.
