PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan)- You oftentimes hear it said that a team is better than their record shows they are. That's especially true when their opponents are some of the best in the league like say, the Kansas City Chiefs and the Baltimore Ravens.
The Houston Texans were a playoff team a year ago, but they're 0-2 heading into their matchup with the Steelers on Sunday after having faced Kansas City and Baltimore. Wide receiving legend now NFL on CBS analyst James Lofton told The Fan Morning Show Wednesday, don't be deceived.
"They're not [better than their 0-2 record] because that's where you are. We somebody says, 'Oh, they're the best 0-4 team we've ever played'...yeah they might be, but they're still 0-4 and they've got a lot of room to catch up.
They might be one of the teams that you would think can catch up because of what they have on defense. Well, they're still minus some people that they've been relying on for the last couple years. They still have JJ Watt. But Jadeveon Clowney is now taking up residence in Tennessee, a lot of their defensive backs have moved around the league and are now in different places. So, their team is different.
That one missing piece in DeAndre Hopkins, they've got to figure that out. Brandin Cooks, it's an unenviable task to have to come in and fill the shoes of the Deshaun Watson's combination to DeAndre Hopkins."
He doubts the Texans offense can handle the Steelers pass rush that has been blitzing and blitzing often so far this season.
"You'd love to be able to get the ball out of [Watson's] hands quickly. That 0-5 yard passing game with receivers who can run and create something after the catch, you'd like to be able to do that. They have good receivers, they really do, don't get me wrong there.
I don't know if their scheme is really to get the ball to those guys at the line of scrimmage and run a lot of wide receiver screens or a lot of wide receiver wide runs is really what they are. It will be interesting to see what they do."
As a former wide receiver and NFL coach himself, Lofton pointed out why he thinks the current batch of Steelers receivers has worked for GM Kevin Colbert, despite none of them being first round picks.
"All those guys have a unique toughness about them. I remember when I was coaching with the San Diego Chargers, one of the things that Marty Schottenheimer asked me to do, he said, 'Ok, you've got these 20 guys, I want you to rank them as blockers.' When you block, that's a commitment. If a guy will block, he'll catch the ball in-between the numbers.
So when you're looking at guys, it may sound corny to say that you want a guy who's a good blocker, but it pays dividends for your team because it's a toughness. It's a tough game."
