Los Angeles (United States) (AFP) – The Houston Texans produced a suffocating defensive display to muscle their way past the Pittsburgh Steelers with a 30-6 wild card victory in the NFL playoffs on Monday. A rampant Texans defense sacked Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers four times and scored two touchdowns from turnovers in the fourth quarter to set up a divisional round tie with the New England Patriots on Sunday.
The 42-year-old Rodgers, who has not yet indicated whether he plans to play again next season, was given a torrid outing on what might turn out to be his final appearance in the NFL. Rodgers was restricted to 17 completions from 33 attempts, finishing with just 146 passing yards at Pittsburgh’s Acrisure Stadium. A grim night for Rodgers saw the veteran quarterback give up a forced fumble that allowed the Texans’ Sheldon Rankins to gallop 33 yards for a touchdown in the fourth quarter that made it 17-6.
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A 13-yard rushing touchdown by the Texans’ Woody Marks with less than four minutes remaining appeared to have completed the scoring. But there was still time for Rodgers to be picked off by Calen Bullock, who weaved his way 50 yards upfield for a touchdown to compound the Steelers’ woes. Rodgers, who is out of contract, refused to be drawn on whether he had played his last game. “I’m not going to make any emotional decisions,” Rodgers said. “It’s disappointing to be sitting here with the season over…I’ll just get away and then have the right conversations.”
Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said his team had been unable to find a way past Houston’s defense. “Give Houston a lot of credit — their defensive unit ruled the day,” Tomlin said. “They had a reputation for that coming into this game and they confirmed it with their performance. And that’s just how it goes. We just didn’t do enough in possession to get anything going.”
Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans saluted what he described as “one of the best defensive performances I’ve seen.” “Against a really talented offense, a talented quarterback who’s played at a high level for a long time — I’m so proud of our defensive performance,” Ryans said. “To score two defensive touchdowns — that’s a big deal. It doesn’t happen much so I’m proud of our guys.”
The Steelers took an early lead with a 32-yard Chris Boswell field goal, the only score of an attritional first quarter. But Houston quarterback CJ Stroud led a 14-play, 92-yard drive in the second quarter that ended with Christian Kirk gathering a six-yard pass and scampering into the end zone to make it 7-3. Another Boswell field goal left Pittsburgh just 7-6 down at half-time. But with the Steelers offense continuing to run into Houston’s defensive wall, the home side failed to add to their tally as the Texans pulled away.
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