Below are my notes and observations of the first half of the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 20-12 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs.
- The Steelers opened with the power counter run on their opening play, with David DeCastro pulling to his left, even without Matt Spaeth, Michael Palmer took his place. On this occasion, Will Johnson lined up as a fullback. Johnson got stuck on his block, however, leaving Le’Veon Bell with nowhere to turn but inside.
- On third and four, Martavis Bryant did an excellent job of beating one on one coverage with a move off the line and winning with speed down the field. Ben Roethlisberger dropped a pretty pass right in his lap for the 44-yard connection, even if that was their only hook up of the game.
- A bit later on the drive, DeCastro threw a strong trap block on an interior run that allowed Bell to peel off inside for seven yards and a first down inside the red zone.
- The Steelers got down to the five-yard line on third and two when Roethlisberger threw low to Antonio Brown in the end zone, forcing them to settle for an opening drive field goal.
- On the Chiefs’ first play on offense, Jamaal Charles found space around Stephon Tuitt, spinning out of a Will Allen hit for 10 yards on the ground. He only rushed for another 19 yards the rest of the day.
- James Harrison and Cameron Heyward converged at Alex Smith in the backfield for a sack and loss of six yards, but the Chiefs rallied on third and 16, connecting with Albert Wilson for 19 yards in front of Antwon Blake.
- Smith had all day to throw on the following play, and eventually threw across the field to Charles. Had William Gay not made the tackle in the open field, things could have been a lot worse.
- Against the Chiefs, Sean Spence’s snaps were fairly limited, but he had a very solid day against the run, making the stop on Knile Davis two plays later.
- On the following play, De’Anthony Thomas burned the defense on a screen pass for 19 yards after they failed to funnel him to the sideline.
- That gave them first and goal, but Lawrence Timmons made the run stop on first down for a loss. Smith threw out of the end zone on second down, and Heyward got to him on a stunt on third down.
- Justin Houston did a nice job of holding the edge and escaping Marcus Gilbert on first down, chasing Bell down for the stop, even though the back was able to wrestle his way ahead for one yard. On third down, Gilbert was beaten for pressure by Dee Ford, forcing the Steelers to punt.
- After a short punt and a 19-yard pass on first down, the Chiefs were already in field goal range. But, as was the theme on the day, they were held to just that.
- This was despite Kansas City successfully running a fake field goal to set up first and goal at the six. On first down, Harrison made the run stop. Blake defended a pass in the end zone on second down, and Jason Worilds chased Smith out of bounds for a sack on third down.
- For the first time in the game, Mike Adams checked in as a tackle eligible for the Steelers’ first drive of the second quarter. Contrary to what one might think, they came out passing from that formation, connecting for 17 and 15 yards on the first two plays.
- On third and long, Roethlisberger found Markus Wheaton for the first time in the game to keep the drive alive.
- The run-pass option throw to Heath Miller two plays later was good for 14 yards and set Pittsburgh up at the six.
- The Chiefs were penalized for holding on third down, and the Steelers made them pay as Bell pounded it in on first and goal from the half-yard line to go up 10-6.
- On the ensuing kickoff, Ross Ventrone nearly brought down the returner at the five, but the Steelers still swarmed to tackle him at the 16.
- Ryan Shazier missed a tackle on Charles going right at him on the first play, allowing a pickup of seven yards.
- Gay came up short coming forward on a catch and run from Wilson that turned into a 33-yard gain. Shazier missed a tackle at the end of that one, too. Dwayne Bowe caught an 11-yard pass in front of Shazier on the next snap.
- But Shazier pushed the left tackle to the ground and dragged down Thomas in the backfield on the next play for a loss of six that stalled the Chiefs’ drive.
- On third down, Mike Mitchell forced Thomas out of bounds just before the first down marker. The Chiefs elected to go for it instead of taking the field goal, and the Steelers stopped them. It was Timmons and Allen joining to stop Charles at the line of scrimmage to end the half.
