Tania Ganguli, ESPN Staff Writer 9y

Rapid Reaction: Houston Texans

A few thoughts from the Houston Texans' 30-23 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Monday night.

What it means: The Texans have a lot of work to do, and starting fast isn't a magic elixir. We talked a lot about the slow starts leading up to this game. This time, the Texans scored early -- it was just the second time this season they've scored on their first drive. They talked about needing that first first down to develop a rhythm that would change the complexion of the game. It didn't exactly work like that. Although that first drive was easy, the rest of it wasn't, and the Steelers' maligned defense gave its offense time to get going.

Stock watch: The Texans' pass defense's stock is down again. They knew Pittsburgh's forte was big plays yet still gave up pass plays of 30 yards or longer to three different Steelers. Pittsburgh had previously only scored on two of their 11 such plays, but on Monday, they scored on a 35-yard pass to Martavis Bryant. Houston was short on defensive backs, especially with A.J. Bouye missing, but even some of their best defensive backs fell victim here.

Cornucopia of mistakes: In the fourth quarter, the Texans negated every chance they had to get back into the game with costly mistakes. There was an errant pass to an open Damaris Johnson at the beginning of the quarter. There was a penalty for having 12 men on the field. There was anotherĀ for defensive holding, on Andre Hal. Then, with just under five minutes to play, DeAndre Hopkins caught a deep pass near midfield, tried to get a few extra yards and fumbled the ball. That fumble led to a Steelers field goal, which put Pittsburgh up 14 with 3:04 remaining.

Game ball: I had a few candidates for this as I watched the first 27 minutes of the game. Arian Foster was cruising nicely. Whitney Mercilus had a couple sacks and a forced fumble. But Shane Lechler gets the game ball for booting three punts for 135 yards (45.0 average), including one downed at the Pittsburgh 1-yard line.

What's next: The Texans have the short week that follows a Monday night game before they travel to Nashville to play the Tennessee Titans in their second division game.

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