Arian Foster rushed for 155 yards and a touchdown in his return to the starting lineup as the Houston Texans posted a 17-10 victory over the visiting Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday.
Five-time Pro Bowler Andre Johnson suffered a right hamstring strain after reeling in a 13-yard reception in the second quarter. He quickly went to the field without being touched and did not return.
Matt Schaub finished with 138 yards and a touchdown pass for the Texans (3-1).
Foster, who sat out most of the first three games with a hamstring injury, got the start against Pittsburgh and rushed nine times on the opening drive. He finished with 30 carries.
The Houston offense set a franchise record by eating up 10 minutes, 55 seconds of game time on the 19-play drive, capped by a 1-yard touchdown pass to tight end Owen Daniels.
Ben Tate, who had taken the bulk of the carries in Foster’s absence, went down with a groin injury in the first quarter.
Houston could not find that same rhythm on offense from the opening drive and the Steelers (2-2) eventually knotted the contest at 10-10 early in the fourth quarter. But Foster broke free on the ensuing drive, running up the middle for a 42-yard score.
The Texans had some trouble getting out their own way. They committed a total of nine penalties for 64 yards, including a block in the back that negated a blocked field goal return for a touchdown and a roughing the passer penalty with less than a minute remaining that wiped away an interception return for a score.
Pittsburgh | Houston | |
Isaac Redman | Player | Arian Foster |
6 | Attempts | 30 |
40 | Yards | 155 |
6.7 | Avg Yards | 5.2 |
0 | Touchdowns | 1 |
18 | Long | 42 |
Pittsburgh | Houston | |
Mike Wallace | Player | Owen Daniels |
4 | Receptions | 5 |
77 | Yards | 69 |
19.2 | Avg Yards | 13.8 |
0 | Touchdowns | 1 |
40 | Long | 30 |
Yards | Scoring | Defense | ||||||
Team | Tot | Rus | Pas | TD | FG | INT | Sck | FF |
Pittsburgh | 296 | 118 | 178 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 1 |
Houston | 318 | 180 | 138 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 5.0 | 0 |