HOUSTON - Troy Polamalu always stands out on a football field because of the hair streaming from his helmet. Even with a crewcut, though, he'd still be recognized as one of the NFL's top safeties.

For the next week, he can brag about being a sack artist, too.

The Pittsburgh Steelers had eight sacks in a 27-7 victory over the Houston Texans on Sunday and Polamalu led the way with three. That matched his total for the previous 33 games of his career and it prompted some deep thinking to come up with the last time he'd taken down a quarterback that often.

"I think it was in a Thanksgiving bowl game when I was about 4 years old," he said, laughing.

Pittsburgh coach Bill Cowher is starting to believe Polamalu can do anything.

"He's a unique guy," Cowher said. "He covers like a corner and hits like a safety. He's as instinctive of a football player as I've been around in a long time. He has a great feel for the game. He understands what offenses are trying to do and he's very cerebral."

With Ben Roethlisberger and Willie Parker doing what's suddenly becoming routine for them, the Steelers (2-0) romped to their 16th straight regular-season game, matching the Miami teams of 1971-73 and 1983-84 for the second-best run in league history. The record is 18, set by the Patriots and ended by the Steelers when they met last October in Pittsburgh.

New England got revenge by winning at Heinz Field in January to get to the Super Bowl. Now the Steelers are the ones talking about payback with the two-time Super Bowl champs returning to Pittsburgh on Sunday.

"I think that will be on a lot of people's minds this week," said Parker, who cemented his hold on the starting job with 111 yards and a touchdown on 25 carries.

Roethlisberger led the Steelers to a pair of touchdowns and two field goals their first four drives. After halftime interrupted their next series, they scored again on their first try of the second half.

Roethlisberger finished 14-of-21 for 254 yards and had no problems with the bruised left knee that caused him to be listed as questionable. He improved to 15-0 as a starter and led Pittsburgh to its eighth straight road win, one shy of the team record set in 1974-75.

"We've got to keep doing what we're doing - not turning the ball over, not getting penalties and playing smart," Cowher said.

The Texans (0-2) knew how tough it would be to stop the Steelers, so they resorted to a 12th man of sorts - Mother Nature. They slid open their roof, hoping on-field temperatures that started above 110 and kept rising would wear down their black-jersey-wearing foes.

But Houston couldn't slow Pittsburgh long enough for the heat and humidity to matter.

"We knew it was going to take excellent execution," Texans coach Dom Capers said. "Unfortunately, we didn't get that."

Fans were booing Houston's offense before quarterback David Carr lost a fumble - and that was on his third snap.

He finished 16-of-26 for 167 yards and a touchdown, but he gave back 59 yards on his most sacks since the team's expansion season in 2002. He went down five times in the first half, including an 11-yarder that took Houston out of field-goal range and on consecutive plays shortly before halftime. The game even ended with a sack.

Houston's only scoring drive came at the start of the third quarter. The Texans went 78 yards in 14 plays, with Domanick Davis scoring on a 3-yard catch.