Before the Houston Texans defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers 30-6 on Monday Night Football, the Texans Roundtable released an article entitled,

"Three Lessons the Texans Can Apply Against Steelers After Wildcard Weekend". 

In it, we mentioned three key takeaways that the Texans could utilize after witnessing all five opening playoff matchups during Wildcard Weekend. They were:

Houston went one out of three on the list, with their Super Bowl-caliber defense rising to the occasion and spearheading the 24-point win in Acrisure Stadium. 

As for the situational play-calling and minimization of turnovers, those turned out to be the biggest blights on what was otherwise a historic night for the franchise.

There was one sequence in particular that helped to truly encapsulate the essence of this sentiment, and that was when Houston decided to pull out a trick play early in the game to catch Pittsburgh off guard. To the chagrin of Texans fans everywhere, no, the Steelers were not. 

Texans offensive coordinator Nick Caley, although he did call a decent all-around game, dialed up an ill-conceived Flea Flicker attempt late in the first quarter that looked doomed from the start.

Running back Woody Marks seemed a bit late pitching the football backwards to quarterback C.J. Stroud, which resulted in him being smothered by linebacker Jack Sawyer for the strip sack fumble. 

Keep in mind, the offense had already accumulated roughly 70 yards of net offense before that point (19 rush yards, 60 pass yards, -10 penalty yards). Plus, they were already around Pittsburgh's 40-yard line at the time, with a chance to tie or take the lead if the offense could've stayed on the field. 

This was a classic case of Caley "getting too cute" when the offensive gameplan was already working well enough. This was also a case of Stroud not utilizing situational awareness to prevent a bad situation from worsening by not prioritizing protecting the football. Neither individual helped mitigate potential damage, thus the disastrous end to a once promising offensive opportunity. 

Now the Texans move on to face an old Divisional round nemesis in the New England Patriots, who historically own a 2-0 record all-time against Houston in this specific round. For the Texans to advance this time, they're going to need to learn from the mistakes of Monday night and head into Sunday prepared for the Patriots' best in Gillette Stadium. 

Here are three keys for success against New England:

As stated in the lead-up to this point, the Texans don't need to overthink things on the offensive side of the ball. If you're gaining yards on the ground? Keep running the ball. Are you picking up key first downs by taking checkdowns and hot routes? Keep it up. Is the Patriot defense biting a little too hard on rushing attempts? Play Action pass. 

Once Caley and the offense find a rhythm against New England, they need not deviate until they see that the Patriots have made the necessary adjustments to warrant a change. Until then, spam what works. 

It was expressed before the Steelers game, and will be emphasized ten fold here. That is, protect the football and minimize turnover opportunities for New England's defense.

  Stroud had arguably his worst game as a pro against Pittsburgh, fumbling the ball 5+ times (two lost) and throwing an interception at the goal line when Houston had a chance to score 3-7 more points had the giveaway not happened. 

That gave the Steelers three more offensive possessions to work with, instead of Houston being able to put more distance between themselves and the home team. 

Stroud has done a relatively good job of taking care of possessions throughout the regular season. So, he just needs to get back to that mindset and remember that several alternatives are a better solution than handing the game away on a silver platter (throw it away, take a sack, run out of bounds, scramble, etc.).

The Patriots ended the regular season as the sixth-best team in football in rush yards allowed per game (101.7 yards/game). However, they allowed over 100+ yards rushing in seven straight games, that being from week 10 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to week 17 against the New York Jets. 

In that same span, they allowed over 120+ yards rushing five times (vs. Jets x2, Cincinnati Bengals, Buffalo Bills and Baltimore Ravens), and over 160+ yards three times (Bills, Ravens, Jets). 

That doesn't mean Marks and Jawhar Jordan are going to be Barry Sanders and Emmitt Smith. However, it does mean that there is a path for success against the Patriots' rush defense if they're able to create push at the line of scrimmage and open the rushing lanes for two running backs who have each eclipsed 100+ yards rushing in games this year (Jordan vs. Raiders, Marks vs. Steelers). 

If Houston can run the ball effectively, it takes major pressure off Stroud and the passing attack against the likes of Patriots All-Pro cornerback Christian Gonzalez and others in the secondary. Dominate time of possession, execute opportunistic pass plays, keep the chains moving and go get a win. 

What other keys do you think should be here? Let us know in the comments section below and by mentioning us @Texans_RTB on X and @Texans.Roundtable on TikTok!