Houston Texans safety Calen Bullock hyped up his teammates after a dominant defensive performance in Monday’s 30-6 wild-card victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers.
“Shoot, I think everybody knows we are the best defense,” Bullock said postgame, according to ESPN’s DJ Bien-Aime. “The whole world knows that. Every time we go out there we show it, and we went out there and showed it today. I don’t even think they scored a touchdown.”
The unit smothered quarterback Aaron Rodgers and Pittsburgh’s offense, allowing just 175 yards and two third-down conversions. The Steelers didn’t find the end zone all night, while Houston’s defense scored two touchdowns, including a pick-6 on Rodgers’ final pass of the game.
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Rodgers, 42, completed less than 50% of his throws for 146 yards and two turnovers Monday night. His 21.2% dropback success rate ranks 283rd among 283 quarterbacks who’ve attempted 20-plus passes in a playoff game since 2013, according to Yahoo Sports’ Nate Tice.
Houston’s offense moved the ball consistently, but quarterback C.J. Stroud was charged with five fumbles, with two of them ending in turnovers. He also threw an interception in the red zone on the opening possession of the second half, halting an impressive drive.
“We had some bad plays that happened for C.J. and he didn’t waver,” head coach DeMeco Ryans said. “You can easily go into the tank, but he didn’t waver. That’s who he is.
“He’s a resilient young man who’s able to bounce back. Anybody can go into the tank and drop the ball a few times. You keep battling. … That’s what he did, and he made some big throws for us, some huge passes that allowed us to get in striking distance and score.”
Houston’s defensive performance represented a continuation of its regular-season excellence, as the unit ranked first in EPA/dropback and second in success rate, according to Ben Baldwin’s database.
The Texans head to Foxborough to take on Drake Maye and the New England Patriots in the divisional round Sunday.
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