The Worksheet, a comprehensive fantasy football preview by Rich Hribar, breaks down everything you need to know about the Week 4 matchup between the Texans and Steelers.

Find a breakdown of every Week 4 NFL game in our Worksheet Hub.

PittsburghRank@HoustonRank
-3.0 Spread3.0
22.0 Implied Total19.0
18.722Points/Gm22.018
23.319Points All./Gm24.322
58.027Plays/Gm69.07
71.329Opp. Plays/Gm61.06
4.822Off. Yards/Play4.919
5.421Def. Yards/Play5.626
35.63%28Rush%36.23%26
64.37%5Pass%63.77%7
41.12%14Opp. Rush %44.81%21
58.88%19Opp. Pass %55.19%12

  • The Steelers have reached the red zone or scored before on 13.2% (5-of-38) of their drives, the lowest rate in the league.
  • Houston is last in the NFL in red zone touchdown rate (27.3%) and goal-to-go touchdown rate (25.0%).
  • Houston is averaging a league-low 4.0 yards per play on first down.
  • The Texans are averaging 5.5 yards per play on all other downs, ninth in the league.
  • Houston is averaging a league-low 2.8 yards per rushing play but 6.2 yards per passing play (13th).
  • 31.0% of the Pittsburgh rushing attempts have failed to gain yardage, the highest rate in the league.

Trust = spike production for that player

Quarterback

C.J. Stroud: Stroud has delivered back-to-back QB1 scoring weeks in just his second and third career starts.

He now has the most consecutive pass attempts for a quarterback to open his career without an interception (121) and has completed over 60% of his passes in all three games.

Stroud is doing this behind an offensive line that has missed four starters the past two weeks and in an offense that is still putting the team behind the sticks regularly.

Houston is 31st in the league in rate of set of downs to reach third down (62.7%), but Stroud has been excellent on third downs.

He is second in completion rate (76.2%) and rating (128.8) on third downs with a first-down conversion rate of 50% (third) on those throws.

The league rates in those categories are a 62.2% completion rate, 84.7% rating, and 39.7% conversion rate.

There should be a reversion to the league rates along the way here, but Stroud’s career is off to a strong start.

We could see some of that come back down a bit here.

The Steelers are allowing a 57.6% completion rate, 88.8 rating, and a 39.4% conversion rate on third downs through three weeks.

They are third in the NFL in sack rate (10.3% of dropbacks), eighth in completion rate allowed (61.1%), and 16th in yards allowed per pass attempt (6.9 Y/A).

This is a strong heat-check game.

Stroud is a solid QB2, but we still should be operating with some pause in elevating him as a 1QB option against the best defense he has faced since Week 1 with a team total below 20 points.

If Stroud continues to hit here, then he could already be in the conversation as a top-15 starter.

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