Final Score: Pittsburgh 38, Houston 17
Pittsburgh, PA (Sports Network) - Willie Parker ran for 138 yards and a career-high three touchdowns, and Ben Roethlisberger threw for 137 yards and two scores as the Pittsburgh Steelers demolished the Houston Texans, 38-17, in the regular-season opener for both teams at Heinz Field.
Roethlisberger finished 13-of-14, before being replaced by veteran backup Byron Leftwich early in the fourth quarter. Roethlisberger was shaken up late in the second quarter after taking a hit from a Texans' defender. Leftwich didn't complete a pass in four attempts.
Hines Ward caught six passes for 76 yards with two touchdowns for Pittsburgh (1-0). It was the Steelers' sixth straight victory in openers and is the longest current streak in the NFL. Pittsburgh has won 23 of its 39 games on Kickoff Weekend since 1970.
Rookie Rashard Mendenhall rushed for 28 yards on 10 carries and Santonio Holmes chipped in with two catches for 19 yards in the win.
Matt Schaub completed 25-of-33 passing for 202 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions for the Texans (0-1). He also rushed for a four-yard score. Andre Johnson hauled in 10 passes for 112 yards in defeat.
"I'm extremely disappointed in myself, my performance, and my team's performance," Schaub said. "We were ready for this game. We're capable of a whole lot more, and we just didn't execute to the best of our ability."
After Houston was stopped on fourth-down near midfield on its opening possession, the Steelers took over and found the end zone eight plays and 52 yards later.
Roethlisberger converted a key third-and-four after the signal-caller scrambled for 17 yards, taking it to the Houston 29-yard line and then connected with Holmes three plays later for 13 more, putting the ball on the nine. Following a short Roethlisberger-to-Ward hookup, Parker went around right end for a seven-yard score to give the Steelers the early edge.
"It's definitely something I always wanted to do," Parker said after his first career three-touchdown game. "Last year, I wanted to do more. Being a goal- line back, that's part of being a running back, finishing off the drive.
A stout Pittsburgh defense forced the Texans to punt on its next possession and the home team went right back to the offensive attack. Roethlisberger hit Ward for a 29-yard gain on the final play of the first quarter, moving it to the Houston 34-yard line and five plays later converted a key third-down with a 10-yard strike to Holmes, putting it on the 11. After a botched snap, the speedy Parker went over left guard for a 13-yard touchdown to make it a 14-0 game.
The Texans tried responding, but the offense continued to sputter. On the third play of the drive Schaub attempted to squeeze a pass into David Anderson, but LaMarr Woodley made a nifty one-handed interception and brought it back to the Houston 32. After a first-down gain by Mendenhall and face mask penalty, Roethlisberger found Ward in the middle of the end zone for a 13-yard score to up the Steelers advantage to 21-0 with just over nine minutes remaining in the half.
Kris Brown's 34-yard field goal with 4:34 left in the opening half got Houston on the board.
Roethlisberger was shaken up on the final Steelers' drive of the half, but limped to the locker room on his own power with Pittsburgh holding a 21-3 lead at the break.
With Roethlisberger noticeably limping to start the third quarter, the Steelers kept the ball on the ground with Parker getting the majority of the work in their initial drive of the second half. Pittsburgh went ahead by a 28-3 margin after Parker scampered for a four-yard score, capping a 10-play, 71-yard drive that took 5:50 off the clock.
Pittsburgh added another score late in the third when Roethlisberger connected with Ward for a 16-yard TD to make it a 35-3 game. Schaub's 14-yard TD strike to Kevin Walter capped an seven-play, 57-yard drive with 9:06 remaining in the contest, but Jeff Reed answered with 44-yard field goal for the Steelers. Schaub's four-yard scoring run in the closing minutes accounted for the 38-17 margin.
Game Notes
Pittsburgh will play at Cleveland on September 14, while Houston plays its home opener against Baltimore...Parker now has 21 career 100-yard rushing games...Pittsburgh improved to 2-1 all-time against the Texans and are now 26-7 over the past four plus seasons at Heinz Field.
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