Texans fans finally have something to hold on to.

Hope returned to NRG Stadium on Sunday. Along with the player that gave the fans and the city so much hope for a decade during his hall of fame career.

JJ Watt returned to town for his ring of honor ceremony, becoming the second Texans player in franchise history to have his name put in the rafters, after Andre Johnson.

And then the team on the field came out and showed why there should be hope in the future. The Texans put together a complete performance and beating the Steelers 30-6 and winning back to back games and getting their first home win since 2021.

“The future is so bright here and these guys are hungry,” said rookie linebacker Will Anderson. “We just want more and we’re going to come out and fight. We have that greedy mentality and the energy that coach DeMeco (Ryans) brings every day is so contagious. We feel it and we want to go out there, play for each other, play for this city and make everyone proud.”

The Texans came out fired up and it showed on their opening drive. Houston easily drove down the field and despite two touchdowns being called back on penalties, still got into the endzone on a 2-yard pass from CJ Stroud to Nico Collins.

The Texans defense though was the true story all day and it started from the Steelers first drive of the game, where Jerry Hughes sacked Kenny Pickett and the next play Steven Nelson made a terrific play on the ball to intercept a pass and bring it back inside Steelers territory.

Houston’s offense kept moving the ball through the first half but it was kept out of the endzone, three times settling for field goals, but still went into the locker room with a 16-0 lead and only allowed 53 yards throughout the half.

“The defense did a really nice job today and that’s exactly how we want to play defense,” said Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans. “We swarmed to the ball, we won the turnover battle and guys were flying around having fun and playing for each other. I really liked the way we played up front and then the guys behind them made pays. All the guys played together and did their job. That’s winning football.”

The Steelers came out with a different attitude on both sides of the ball in the second half. Pittsburgh moved the ball on both of its first two possessions in the half but the Texans held the Steelers to field goals on both drives. The Steelers got the ball again with a chance to make it a one score game, but Jonathan Greenard made a huge play with a sack on fourth and one, giving Houston the ball back.

The Texans took momentum from there going into the fourth. Houston milked the clock and added a touchdown on a trick play pass from Devin Singletary to Dalton Schultz and Stroud capped things off with a 51-yard touchdown to Collins as the Texans came away with a huge win and a .500 record.

Stroud threw for 306 yards in the win and with that has thrown for 1,212 yards and six touchdowns while throwing zero interceptions through his first four games. It’s the second most passing yards by a quarterback through four starts in NFL history and the third longest streak without an interception to begin an NFL career.

Houston will be on the road against Atlanta next week in what could end up being another winnable game as Houston tries to improve to a winning record.

“We don’t care if people think we’re good or if they think we’re bad,” Stroud said. “We’re going to come out here and do what we do and compete. We’re the man in the arena. What we focus on is ourselves and going out there and winning. Texans fans deserve to feel special. It isn’t ok that we hadn’t won a home game since 2021. We’re turning this culture around and we are going to continue going to work every day so that people can walk around and root for us with pride. That’s something we take personal.”