The Steelers postseason journey begins on Monday night against the Houston Texans in the Wild Card round at Acrisure Stadium.
This will be the first time the two teams have met in the postseason, and only the eighth time overall the franchises will face each other, with the Steelers holding a 5-3 edge.
The Texans, who finished second in the AFC South, are coming into the postseason on a nine-game winning streak.
It will be a matchup of two strong defenses, while the Texans offense is led by third-year quarterback C.J. Stroud, while the Steelers are led by 21-year veteran Aaron Rodgers.
The Texans weighed in on the Steelers this week, including talking about Rodgers, T.J. Watt, DK Metcalf and Coach Mike Tomlin.
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Texans Coach DeMeco Ryans On the matchup against the Steelers:
"We're excited for the matchup vs. Steelers. Really great team. Nothing but a ton of respect for Coach (Mike) Tomlin and the success that he's had in the league, how he's done it for such a long time. He's a guy who I've definitely always looked up to, always respected. He always has his team ready to go, well-coached, physical outfit.
"They're going to play tough. It was cool to see how they won that game (vs. Baltimore). Pure will, determination, found a way to win. Had things go their way.
"Aaron's (Rodgers) done a good job there at the quarterback position. Defense has always played tough. So, we're excited about the opportunity."
Ryans on the difficulties of playing against Rodgers:
"Aaron, he's done it at a high level for a long time. He's probably one of the smartest quarterbacks to play the game. Does a really good job, understands defenses really well.
"But, for us, that doesn't change. We've got to go out. It's about the guys that are playing. It's about our guys playing together collectively, going against a really good opponent."
Ryans on his relationship with Tomlin:
"I've always kept in touch with Mike. We get together throughout the owner's meetings and everything. He's always very complimentary of what we're doing here, always positive.
"That's the thing I say, always positive, always great encouragement from a guy who's done it at a level that everybody would seek to do it. You've had over 20 years of winning seasons. Not many people can do that. He's done it.
"He's stuck around at one place, probably the longest tenured head coach right now in the NFL for a reason, because he knows how to win."
Ryans on the Steelers pass rush:
"Can't wait. Great pass rush, both guys. T.J. Watt, one of the all-time sack leaders in the NFL for a reason. Great bloodline. He had a guy who can teach him how to do it and in his brother, J.J. (Watt). He's a really good player, good pass rusher.
"Also, (Alex) Highsmith, he doesn't get enough credit, I think, for the production and how disruptive he is as a pass rusher as well. So, you want to play good defense, you have to have two good pass rushers and they have that."
Quarterback C.J. Stroud on what he's seen from the Steelers pass rush:
"They rush together. They're going to push the pocket and burn the edge. I think they do a great job even with their effort. They're getting chips and things like that the whole game and they're still going very hard. I have a lot of respect for Highsmith and Watt and their interior guys. I think their whole defensive line is the heartbeat of their team.
"Then you've got Patrick Queen, who's a dawg and been a great player in this league for a long time. Then Jalen (Ramsey), leading the guys in the back end.
"I think, overall, they've done a really good job. They make it hard and they play really hard. It's going to be a challenge. Up front, I respect them to a high standard and how Mike (Tomlin) coaches those guys as well."
Ryans on how importation the Texans pass rush will be against the Steelers:
"For us and how we play defense all year, it's really predicated on how we get after the passer, that's starting with Will (Anderson Jr.) and Danielle (Hunter) and what they do off of the edge and always our interior guys on how they're collapsing the pocket. That'll be really important this week as well.
"How can we disrupt the passer as much as possible to make it difficult for (Rodgers) to put us in advantageous positions to go and take the football away."
Ryans on the difference between playing on the road vs. at home in the playoffs:
"When you're in the playoffs, to me, you always would love to be in front of your home crowd. That's why they call it home field advantage. When your home crowd can be rowdy and loud on those significant plays, third down, red zone, you can have that crowd noise really cranking and really disrupting the flow of the opponent's communication. That's important when you're at home.
"We don't have the luxury of having that this year. But you go on the road in the playoffs, what's different? It's you against everybody else in their stadium. We went on the road this year. I feel like our guys have handled ourselves. Our team has handled themselves pretty well on the road this year, understanding that, again, it goes back to us being in the moment, executing, playing together.
"We won't have that crowd support, but that's okay. You still have to find a way to figure it out, find a way to win football games. We've done that on the road. Big challenge. Big challenge on Monday night vs. the Steelers. We're excited about it vs. a really tough crowd who we know they're going to be loud. It's going to be a really great environment, cool environment for our guys. We haven't seen that before. It's going to be a really great environment for them to witness."
Stroud on if he recalls watching Rodgers play and going against him in the playoffs:
"I'm a big fan of Aaron. I love what he does. He's been a heck of a player. I think he's a top three quarterback to ever touch a football. He's done some really cool things in the sport.
"His mechanics are through the roof. How he flicks the ball is just dope. I'm a big fan of his.
"This will be, I think, my second time facing him. I'm a big fan of his. I'm not going to be rooting for him on Monday night, but I think he's a heck of a player and I have a lot of respect for him. He's done it for a long time and is even doing it at a high level at his age now in year 21 or whatever it is for him. A lot of respect for him."
Ryans on the Steelers rushing attack:
"When you first pop on the film watching the Steelers, the thing that jumps out the most is their running back position. They have two guys, (Jaylen) Warren, who you watch him run the football, it's really impressive to see a young guy run the ball the way he runs the ball. He's a small guy, but he's tough. He's physical. He runs it really well.
"(Kenneth) Gainwell, another receiver that steps in, he's done a really great job as well running the football, but the thing where they make a lot of plays is both backs, whichever guy is in,
what they do with the ball in their hand once the ball is out.
"Aaron's done a great job with not making bad plays. He gets the ball to his check down very quickly.
"Those guys make some productive plays off of catching the ball behind the line of scrimmage. They make a lot of guys miss tackles. They both have really good contact balance. They have the speed, the toughness, the physicality to really gain yards after the catch. They're topping the league at receiving yards after the catch. It'll be a tough challenge to get these guys on the ground. It's going to take everybody from our defensive line coming out of the stack, our second level guys, really securing the tackles as best we can."
Ryans on DK Metcalf:
"Metcalf gives them their full offense. He lines up as an outside receiver. He does an outstanding job of playing physical. That's the one thing that sticks out to me with him, is that he's a physical receiver whether he's running the go ball, slants, whatever. He plays physical.
"So, we have to challenge him. We have to step up to the challenge there, we have to play physical versus him as well. It's going to be a tough challenge. He's done a great job his entire career of making big plays down the field. I know they're excited to get him back because he's such a huge part of their offense.
"Aaron will definitely look to go to him a ton. We have our hands full when it comes to challenging him and trying to make a play when the ball is up."
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