Chiefs Beat Back the Steelers: 42-37
by Laddie Morse
First, the Kansas City Chiefs scored three unanswered touchdowns in the first quarter to go up 21-to-0. Then the Pittsburgh Steeler scored three unanswered touchdowns of their own to tie the game at halftime, 21-to-21.
In the second half, K.C. scored three more touchdowns while the Steelers scored two and added a Safety for two more points to arrive at the final score, 42-to-37, Chiefs. However, the game was close until the last drive which could have driven a wooden man crazy if that wooden man were a Chiefs fan. The Chiefs had plenty of chances to blow the game wide open but instead decided to keep it flavor-filled to the last drop.
Take nothing away from the Steelers Ben Roethlisberger who was 39-of-60 for 462 yards passing, 3 TDs and no INTs. However, the bigger story on this day was the execution of the Chiefs offense led by Patrick Mahomes II.
Mahomes threw for 326 yards on 23-of-28 passing which is an 82% completion percentage. Eighty-two percent! Furthermore, Mahomes completed 6 touchdown passes to 5 different receivers: Travis Kelce had 2, and Tyreek Hill, Demarcus Robinson, Kareem Hunt, and Chris Conley each had one.
While Patrick Mahomes set an NFL record for the most TD passes (10) in his first two games than any QB in the history of the game, attention should also be given to his four elite edge performers: Kareem Hunt, Travis Kelce, Sammy Watkins, and Tyreek Hill. Together those four accounted for 405 rushing/receiving yards in this game. All other Chiefs players accounted for 44 rushing/receiving yards combined.
In other words: this was the breakout game for this offense (name it what you will).
So… why aren’t Chiefs fans planning a parade in February? Because… while the Chiefs new spangled offense has scored 80 points in it’s first two games (and they look like they could score more)… the Kansas City Defense has allowed 66 points in those games.
The 2018 K.C. Chiefs defense have virtually turned into the 2002 K.C. Chiefs defense: which gave up 25 points per game while the offense was averaging 29 points per game. It looks like these Chiefs are going to have to out-duel every team they play because their defense won’t stop anyone, except maybe Buffalo, who just so happens to not be on the Chiefs schedule this season.
Obviously, the problem is the Chiefs defense which was on he field for 32:11 vs the Steelers and 34:26 vs the Chargers. In the first quarter it appeared that the Chiefs D was getting pressure on the Steelers and produced two 3-and-outs on their first two possessions then a 9 play drive resulting in no points on the 3rd possession. After that, the Steelers scored on their next 4 straight possessions and the Chiefs D could not get off the field.
Once again, the play of the defensive backs — except for Kendall Fuller who almost had an INT at one point — was miserable with very few bright spots. CB Orlando Scandrick progressed as the game went along but had a couple bad plays early on. ILB Reggie Ragland looked like a duck out of water. OLB Justin Houston only seems to bare the same name as the man who once had 22 sacks in a season. OLB Dee Ford did his disappearing act again. Safety Eric Murray does not belong on any NFL roster.
The defensive line held up well vs the Steelers running attack limiting RB James Connor to 17 yards and the Steelers whole rushing corp to 33 yards. However, the reason for that was that Ben Roethlisberger was playing catch-up all day long because of the early lead K.C. jumped out to. The Steelers ran 60 pass plays and only 13 rushing plays. However, you have to give the Chiefs front 7 some credit for shutting down their running game in any event. So, the Chiefs rushing defense has only given up 78 yards per game after two games this year and that’s a huge improvement over last year (118.1 rushing yards given up per game).
So, have the Chiefs exercised their demons when it comes to the Pittsburgh Steelers? Well, yes and no. Yes in the sense that the Chiefs will have a psychological advantage the next time they play. No, in the sense that the next time they play could be in the playoffs when all past performances mean nothing. IOW… it will take the Chiefs beating the Steelers in the playoffs AND a couple of times in the near future before any kind of demons are expelled.
What we do know is that Patrick Mahomes is for real and so is this offensive juggernaut. Both Travis Kelce and Sammy Watkins had 100 yard games. Tyreek Hill had a 90 yard day receiving but there is no doubt that his presence on the field is something that defenses must plan for and adjust for or Patrick Mahomes will take advantage before you can finish saying McGillicutty.
With the San Francisco 49ers visiting Arrowhead Stadium for the first home game of the year next weekend, the possibility of the Chiefs going 3-and-0 to start the year gets super exciting… although the 9ers are beating the hapless Lions today in the bay.
What are your takeaways from this game?…
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