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Texans Player Makes Bold Claim About Team's Defense After Pick-Six vs. Aaron Rodgers

Houston may have the best unit in the NFL.
Calen Bullock celebrates after scoring Houston's second defensive touchdown of the night against the Steelers.
Calen Bullock celebrates after scoring Houston's second defensive touchdown of the night against the Steelers. | Michael Longo/For USA Today Network-PA / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

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Houston Texans safety Calen Bullock put the finishing touches on his team's 30-6 wild-card win over the Pittsburgh Steelers on Monday night by authoring a pick-six at Aaron Rodgers's expense. His 51-yard runback included breaking a tackle from the future Hall of Famer—to make it even sweeter. As the below caption suggests, it could very well be the last pass that Rodgers throws professionally.

The Texans have bigger fish to fry, though, as they will now face the New England Patriots with a spot in the AFC championship game on the line. DeMeco Ryans's team will not be intimidated by the No. 2 seed or going on the road—thanks in large part to the knowledge that they have a spectacular defense.

Per Bullock, everyone knows this.

“Shoot, I think everybody knows we are,” Bullock said after the game. “The whole world knows that. Every time we go out there we show it and we went out there and showed it today. I don’t even think they scored a touchdown.”

Fact-check: true. Pittsburgh did not score a touchdown. Most opposing teams have struggled to find touchdowns during the Texans' 10-game winning streak. Houston was first in team defense and second in scoring defense during the regular season and just showed the unit can singlehandedly win games.

Bullock's claim may also be true–except for Seattle Seahawks fans who want to give the edge to their side. So while not everyone in the world knows this to be the case, most would probably agree with the boisterous boast.


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Kyle Koster
KYLE KOSTER

Kyle Koster is an assistant managing editor at Sports Illustrated covering the intersection of sports and media. He was formerly the editor in chief of The Big Lead, where he worked from 2011 to '24. Koster also did turns at the Chicago Sun-Times, where he created the Sports Pros(e) blog, and at Woven Digital.

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