PITTSBURGH — The pieces to compete for a Super Bowl are all there. The Pittsburgh Steelers are sure of it, just as they have been for most of quarterback Ben Roethlisberger’s career.

It’s the main reason the 38-year-old came back from right elbow surgery this season rather than retire. And through two weeks, the Steelers (2-0) have the look of a contender behind a relentless defense and an offense guided by a star who hardly looks rusty despite an extended layoff.

Yet rather than exhale about a return to normal following a chaotic 2019, Roethlisberger and his teammates are sweating the details ahead of a visit on Sunday by winless Houston (0-2).

Coach Mike Tomlin brought in officials to practice this week to help a group flagged 10 times in a win over Denver. The defense is looking to close the brief holes the Broncos opened in the running game. Roethlisberger spent his “off” day fine-tuning his footwork with quarterbacks coach Matt Canada, well aware his margin for error isn’t as big as it used to be.

“I’ve gotten away with it in the past being able to not necessarily be perfect from the ground up and just letting my arm kind of make up for a lot of things, a lot of imperfections if you talk to quarterback people,” said Roethlisberger, who will appear in his franchise-record 221st career game.

“If I’m having these issues and we are still winning football games, that’s a plus.”

It’s a luxury the Texans haven’t been afforded during a brutal early season gauntlet that began with losses to Kansas City and Baltimore. Things don’t figure to get any easier on the road at a place where the franchise has won just once.

Still, Houston quarterback Deshaun Watson isn’t exactly ready to panic with his team potentially facing its second 0-3 start in three years.

“That’s all we can do is just put our head down and grind,” Watson said. “Just work and try to do what we do and see what the outcome comes like. Of course, we don’t want to be 0-3, but that’s not the main thing that’s on our minds right now.”

The Texans emerged from 0-3 to win the AFC South in 2018. Asking for that again might be asking for too much.