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Steelers at Chiefs: Defensive Huddle

By Josh Fitzer

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First off, I had the pleasure of watching our beloved Steelers at Arrowhead Stadium. If you’ve never been to Arrowhead, I suggest going if you ever get the chance.

Second, I’d like to thank all the Chiefs fans. They’re some of the classiest, fun, and down to earth fans in the NFL.

This is Defensive Huddle. I break down the defense’s performance, what they did right, what they did wrong, and give you my three stars of the game.

Ready? Let’s go.

What they did right:
Although they gave up 377 yards of offense, the defense made a few heads up plays when the Chiefs busted out some trickery. On 2 and 10 in the 2nd quarter with 12:01 to play, De’Anthony Thomas motioned to Alex Smith’s right side, then Smith handed off to Knile Davis for only a 2 yard gain.

Timmons and Moats quickly bottled him up. Then on 2nd and 7 in the 3rd quarter with 25 seconds to play, Shazier and Timmons blitzed the middle and took Alex Smith down.

Even though they didn’t get a safety, the defense kept things tight when the Chiefs offense was backed up in their own end zone.

The stat sheet shows the defense giving up 133 yards of rushing (not including Alex Smith’s 5 yard run), but I thought the rush defense was good.

It could’ve been a lot worse considering the defense was on the field a lot with the offense’s turnovers and whatnot. Bud Dupree had a nice TFL in the 2nd quarter that could’ve turned into a big run if he wasn’t there.

What they did wrong:
Missed tackles, missed tackles, and missed tackles. This seemed to be the only constant for a defense that had only 3 missed tackles against the Cardinals. On 1st and 10 with 2:55 left to play in the half, Alex Smith threw a short pass to Albert Wilson and he took it 40 yards.

There were three missed tackles on that play. The Steelers defense had 21 missed tackles in this game. Yeah, you can’t be doing that.

What is covering a TE? I wish the Steelers could figure that out, or at least start making it a priority. I know on some plays the hope is for the rush to get to the QB before he gets the ball out.

On one specific play in the game (I can’t remember when exactly) when the Chiefs were in the red-zone, Travis Kelce was lined up against Harrison, Harrison doesn’t touch him and Kelce is left to run free. If Alex Smith would’ve thrown him the ball, I have no doubt that it would’ve been a touchdown. This needs to change.

The defense didn’t get enough pressure on Smith like they’ve done to other quarterbacks this season. They pretty much let the Chiefs offense go up and down the field on them. I’m not sure if they underestimated this Chiefs team or not. I understand the Chiefs were 1-5 going into this game, but I don’t think their record reflects on who they really are.


Three stars of the game:
Mike Mitchell: He had a few hard hits that he closed in on quickly. I think Mitchell is starting to get the hang of ‘The Standard’.

Cam Heyward: I mean, do I really need to say anything else?

Bud Dupree: He’s still learning, but I think he played pretty well in this game. I was really impressed on the play he made that I noted earlier.

Let’s hope the defense tightens things up. They will need to be nearly perfect to beat the perfect Bengals this Sunday.

Here we go, Steelers! Here we go!

Next: Tomlin Tuesday

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