Steelers – Chiefs What We Learned

Oh my how the narrative changes with this Steelers club.

In a game that was reminiscent of the playoff matchup last January, Pittsburgh on defense created numerous matchup problems for the Chiefs until the 4th quarter.

Cam Heyward and Stephon Tuitt were dynamic 1-2 punch on the interior.

Tuitt made his mark against the pass and Heyward against the run. Tuitt had 4 pressures against Alex Smith and Heyward was unstoppable against the run, owning Chiefs left guard Bryan Witzmann.

Tuitt and Heyward set the tone in laying the blueprint for a dominant day on D, until the Chiefs finally figured things out before it was too little too late.

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Steelers coaches finally stopped being so stubborn and let James Harrison loose late in the game and he gets a game deciding sack to force a 4th and 18.

Harrison had 3 tackles, 1 sack and 2 QB hits in limited playing time. Pittsburgh has to find ways to get him on the field at least 10-12 times in certain situations.

The Steelers D punched the Chiefs in the mouth for much of the game and on the other side of the ball, Pittsburgh’s O-line and Le’Veon Bell did the same thing as Bell torched Kansas City on the ground for 179 yards.

But, the offense again massively underachieved and were a gift from the football gods from pretty much handing Kansas City the game late in what was a sure interception that turned into an Antonio Brown 51 yard catch and run touchdown.

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This was a big win but the offense did little to answer any critics. It needs to vastly improve from the playcaller, to the quarterback, to the surrounding cast at wide receiver.

We know this O-line and Bell can have a monster day against weak run-defenses like the Chiefs have, but what continues to hinder this group is Todd Haley as a playcaller and Ben Roethlisberger missing some big-time throws.

Haley just can’t get out of his own way.

He constantly tries to make himself the story and go against the percentages.

With Bell unstoppable and Alejandro Villanueva, David DeCastro mauling the Chiefs d-line all game, Pittsburgh having 1st and goal at the 2 late in the first half was so Todd Haley in throwing a fade that was incomplete to play right into the Chiefs hands where it was all but a guarantee Pittsburgh was going to run on second down.

The result was a Bell 4 yard loss as Kansas City crowded the line and Pittsburgh failed to complete a third down pass and had to settle for a field goal.

Then the 3rd and 2 call on the game winning Brown deflected touchdown pass, Haley went 4 Wide and no Le’Veon Bell in the backfield after Bell had just gained 6 yards to setup the 3rd and 2.

Pittsburgh came through with the lucky play on a pass in double coverage but it was just insane to not even have Bell in the backfield as a threat to run it there.

Ben Roethlisberger’s performance shouldn’t also quiet the critics just yet.

He was efficient going 17 of 25 for 252 yards with a touchdown and interception. Roethlisberger made some tight Big Ben type of throws down the seam, he can still make, but also missed a couple that have been telling of his season where the crisp accuracy isn’t there, and then the Brown TD deflected catch was underthrown and what could have easily been a pick-6 the other way.

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