PITTSBURGH - When offensive guard Kendall Simmons was lost for the season last week to injury, it was difficult not to see shades of 2003, when the Steelers were forced to play musical chairs with their front five.

Keydrick Vincent took Simmons' place for the game against Houston, beside first-round draft picks Jeff Hartings and Alan Faneca, as well as other high-round picks on the Steelers line.

He didn't miss a beat.

That Vincent seemed to step in almost seamlessly for a player who had been having one of the best camps of his short career came as no surprise to fellow lineman or Jerome Bettis, who racked up 48 yards on 10 carries Saturday.

The Steelers ran and threw the ball almost at will against the Texans in a 38-3 win, piling up 427 yards and going 10-15 on third down conversions, and are now 1-1 in the preseason.

But coach Bill Cowher said the big test for the offensive line and the Steelers lies ahead.

"Not to take anything away from Detroit or Houston, we find out where we are with the next games," he said.

Vincent showed last year that he could be a starter in nine games on an offensive line hampered by injury. But Cowher said there has to be more stability on the front line than there was in 2003, when veteran quarterback Tommy Maddox became a scrambler and the Steelers had the league's second-worst running game.

"He can play in this league. It is just getting the right combination and getting those guys into the groove," Cowher said. "You hate to lose a guy like Kendall Simmons. You aren't going to replace a player of that quality; you just have to look at the players around him and other players stepping in."

Faneca said the offensive line needs to work even harder during the next two weeks to get their timing down, but Vincent came into the season ready to play a starting role.

"I think it was already proven last year with what he did coming in for me at left guard last year," Faneca said. "It wasn't a doubt in the locker room, but he proved it to you all, I guess."

Vincent was caught off balance a couple of times against the Texans early in the game, but by the Steelers' third possession, he found his footing.

He picked off linebacker Kailee Wong to free Bettis for a 10-yard dash and two plays later froze Houston's Jerry Deloach as Bettis cut behind him for a short touchdown plunge.

Vincent was kept in the game for all five of the Steelers' first-half possessions, though the rest of the starting line sat down after the third possession.

Cowher is giving Vincent extended playing time with just two games remaining before the season opener against Oakland on Sept. 12.

Although it was a preseason game against a team that is hoping to improve on its first two seasons in the league, Vincent was able to tamp down some of the concern that the offensive line was no longer whole.

"It was important for us to finish the drives, but it was more important for us to run the football knowing that one of our key guys was gone," Bettis said. "You lose a guy like Kendall, it's tough, because you have a plan going into the season and you lose an important piece, so the question is, how do you respond? I think we responded well."