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Parker, Roethlisberger lead Steelers in rout of Texans

Sep 7, 2008 - 10:14 PM By Brad Everett PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

PITTSBURGH (Ticker) -- It didn't take long for Willie Parker to surpass his touchdown total from last season. Try just over a half.

Parker paced an explosive offensive attack by recording the first three-touchdown effort of his career, leading the Pittsburgh Steelers to a dominating 38-17 opening-week victory against the Houston Texans on Sunday.

Parker, who scored just twice in 15 games despite rushing for 1,316 yards last season, was impressive from the get--go against the Texans, finishing with 138 yards on 25 carries and scoring on runs of 7, 13 and 4 yards.

"I definitely felt good," said Parker, playing his first regular-season game since breaking his right leg against St. Louis last December. "I'm trying to do that a lot more than I did last year. That's part of being a goal-line back, finishing off the drive."

Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger provided proof he's no slouch in that department either, completing 13-of-14 passes for 137 yards and a pair of touchdown tosses to Hines Ward in just three quarters.

"We managed the game well," Roethlisberger said. "Having not watched it on film and seeing all the little things yet, I think that we really didn't stop ourselves."

While Roethlisberger and Co. ignited the offensive fireworks, Pittsburgh's defense may have been just as good. The unit harassed Texans quarterback Matt Schaub throughout, intercepting him twice and sacking him five times.

Particularly impressive was the play of linebackers James Harrison and LaMarr Woodley. Harrison recorded three of those sacks and a team-high eight tackles while Woodley - the Steelers' second-round draft pick last year - had an interception, a sack and a fumble recovery.

"Those guys created a little bit of havoc coming off the edge," Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said. "That is why we are so optimistic about what we are capable of doing, because of those guys."

Schaub completed 25-of-33 passes for just 202 yards for the Texans (0-1), who gained just 234 yards overall and were out-rushed, 183-75.

"We got manhandled," Texans coach Gary Kubiak said. "They got after us pretty good. I don't have any excuses for you. The first place I look at it, I go look at myself and where I had the football team going into the game. Obviously it wasn't anywhere close to good enough."

The pressuring defense spurred the Steelers (1-0) to their first score, setting the tone for what transpired thereafter.

The Texans had taken the opening drive into Steelers territory, but Schaub's quarterback sneak on a 4th-and-1 from the Pittsburgh 48 fell short. The Steelers wasted little time in making the Texans pay, marching 52 yards in eight plays on a drive capped by Parker's 7-yard scamper.

Parker's second touchdown of the day coupled with Roethlisberger's 13-yard TD pass to Ward came less than two minutes apart in the second quarter, giving the Steelers a commanding 21-0 advantage.

Parker scored for the third time with 9:15 left in the third quarter. The 10-play, 71-yard drive consisted of nine running plays.

"We really like sticking it in there and scoring," Parker said.

Roethlisberger hit Ward again for a 16-yard scoring hookup a little over seven minutes later to put the Steelers ahead, 35-3.

One of the few bright spots for the Texans was the play of defensive end Mario Williams, who busted through the Steelers' offensive line on several occasions en route to a pair of sacks.

The first of those forced Roethlisberger's fumble which linebacker Demeco Ryans returned 41 yards to the Steelers 24, setting up Kris Brown's 34-yard field goal with 4:29 left in the third quarter to put the Texans on the board.

Despite his strong play, Williams said he was extremely disappointed with how he and his defensive teammates played overall.

"We missed a lot of tackles, and we have to figure out why," said Williams, who finished with 14 sacks last season. "We had the whole preseason to go out there and hit guys. They did everything we knew they were going to do, but we missed way too many tackles."

Schaub found Kevin Walter on a 13-yard scoring strike and scored on a 4-yard run in the fourth quarter to provide the Texans with their lone touchdowns.

"I am extremely disappointed in myself and my team's performance because we were ready for this game," Schaub said. "We are capable of a whole lot more and we just didn't execute to the best of our ability.

"Over the next 24 hours, we have to take a hard look at ourselves and us as a team and figure it out tomorrow and come back this week and be ready to go."