NFL game summary for 12/09/1973:

Pittsburgh remained tied with Cincinnati for the AFC Central lead and broke a three-game losing streak by holding Houston to 83 yards total offense. Terry Bradshaw, making his first start since suffering a shoulder separation six weeks earlier, threw two touchdown passes but also was intercepted four times, including one returned 87 yards by Joe Blahak (longest in the AFC in 1973) that set up the Oilers' score. Four interceptions by the Steelers gave them the NFL lead with 32. Roy Gerela kicked four field goals and boosted his scoring total to 110 points, tops in the AFC.

Team stats coming into this game (NFL ranks in parentheses):

	Rush Yds/Gm	Pass Yds/Gm	Tot Yds/Gm	Turnovers
OFFENSE	95.0 (26)	141.9 (14)	236.9 (25)	42
DEFENSE	176.8 (24)	152.0 (18)	328.8 (22)	22
OFFENSE	148.6 (10)	138.2 (16)	286.8 (14)	36
DEFENSE	122.2 (5)	127.9 (9)	250.2 (4)	40

Line: Steelers by 19

Team	1	2	3	4	F
Houston Oilers (1-12-0)	7	0	0	0	7
Pittsburgh Steelers (9-4-0)	3	14	10	6	33

( 0- 3) PIT Roy Gerela 49 yard field goal ( 7- 3) HOU Mack Alston 11 yard pass from Dan Pastorini (Skip Butler kick) ( 7-10) PIT Barry Pearson 15 yard pass from Terry Bradshaw (Roy Gerela kick) ( 7-17) PIT Steve Davis 3 yard pass from Terry Bradshaw (Roy Gerela kick) ( 7-20) PIT Roy Gerela 31 yard field goal ( 7-27) PIT Jack Ham 0 yard fumble return (Roy Gerela kick) ( 7-30) PIT Roy Gerela 20 yard field goal ( 7-33) PIT Roy Gerela 42 yard field goal

                     HOU             PIT
First Downs:         5               19
Rushes-yards:        23-58           49-188
Yards/rush:          2.5             3.8
Comp-Att-Yd-INT:     6-17-38-4       13-26-147-4
Sacked-yards:        2-13            2-15
Net pass yards:      25              132
Net yards/pass:      1.3             4.7
Total net yards:     83              320
Total plays:         42 (54% run)    77 (63% run)  
Yards/play:          2.0             4.2
Fumbles-lost:        8-5             5-0
Turnovers:           9               4
Penalties-yards:     7-61            10-111

Attendance: 38,044

Passing:
HOU: Dan Pastorini, 5 of 14 for 30 yards and 1 TD (2 int); Lynn Dickey, 1 of 3 for 8 yards (2 int) PIT: Terry Bradshaw, 11 of 20 for 117 yards and 2 TDs (4 int); Joe Gilliam, 2 of 6 for 30 yards
Rushing:
HOU: Fred Willis, 9 for 34 yards; George Amundson, 7 for 23 yards; Dan Pastorini, 5 for 4 yards; Lynn Dickey, 1 for 6 yards; Ken Burrough, 1 for -9 yards PIT: Franco Harris, 20 for 73 yards; Frenchy Fuqua, 13 for 43 yards; Steve Davis, 9 for 50 yards; Terry Bradshaw, 3 for 8 yards; Preston Pearson, 2 for 14 yards; Joe Gilliam, 1 for 0 yards; Bobby Walden, 1 for 0 yards
Receiving:
HOU: George Amundson, 2 for 16 yards; Ken Burrough, 2 for 7 yards; Mack Alston, 1 for 11 yards and 1 TD; Fred Willis, 1 for 4 yards PIT: Barry Pearson, 3 for 39 yards and 1 TD; Preston Pearson, 2 for 31 yards; Frenchy Fuqua, 2 for 28 yards; Ron Shanklin, 1 for 17 yards; John McMakin, 1 for 13 yards; Larry Brown, 1 for 11 yards; Frank Lewis, 1 for 4 yards; Steve Davis, 1 for 3 yards and 1 TD; Franco Harris, 1 for 1 yard
Kick returns:
HOU: Bob Gresham, 3 for 72 yards; Larry Eaglin, 2 for 60 yards; Eddie Hinton, 2 for 33 yards PIT: John Fuqua, 1 for 22 yards; Rocky Bleier, 1 for 20 yards
Punt returns:
PIT: Dennis Meyer, 5 for 34 yards; Glen Edwards, 1 for 6 yards
Interceptions:
HOU: Joe Blahak, 1 for 87 yards; Guy Roberts, 1 for 27 yards; Jeff Severson, 1 for 5 yards; Willie Alexander, 1 for 0 yards PIT: Loren Toews, 2 for 13 yards; Mel Blount, 1 for 21 yards; Andy Russell, 1 for 0 yards
Punting:
HOU: Skip Butler, 6 for 226 yards PIT: Bobby Walden, 1 for 32 yards
Field Goals:
PIT: Roy Gerela, 4/6