Pittsburgh Steelers: 5 players to watch versus the Chiefs

The Pittsburgh Steelers will take on the Kansas City Chiefs Sunday and there are many players to keep an eye on.

After an embarrassing loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 5, the Steelers need all of these guys to step it up in Kansas City. If they expect to take down the NFL’s top team, they’ll need every one of these players to bring everything they’ve got.

Ben Roethlisberger is statistically the best Steelers quarterback ever. However, he seems to be entering the twilight of his career. He does not have the deep passing ability that he once had. We know that he has been struggling this season and had his worst game last week. It will be interesting to see how Roethlisberger recovers from last week. Maybe he will have to make adjustments in his game? We may see a scheme shift in the Steelers passing attack this week? It will be interesting to see how he recovers from this dip in his career. Can he still sustain himself enough to help the Steelers win?

Vince Williams will have the difficult task of trying to stop Kareem Hunt. Williams is in the spotlight this week because of the effectiveness of Hunt’s game. The Steelers will need to key in on the run and their inside linebacker play will determine if the Steelers will be able to stop the run.

Ryan Shazier is the other player to watch when trying to defend Kareem Hunt. He is the star of their inside linebacking corps and thus will be the best hope for stopping Kareem Hunt. Shazier also is not 100%. He was limited on Wednesday with a quadriceps injury. The hope is that will not hurt Shazier in his play Sunday.

Marcus Gilbert is coming off a hamstring injury and it will be interesting to see if he will be effective in his play against the Chiefs. He has been out the past weeks and thus there should be some rust on him. He may have to go up against Justin Houston and that would be a key matchup. Houston is a star pass rusher in a league that covets them.

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Juju Smith-Schuster has taken over the primary slot job for the Steelers. He is still one of the youngest if not the youngest players in the NFL. His football maturity has helped him break into the lineup as a slot receiver. This is an area that the Steelers can thrive in against the Chiefs pass defense as the outsides will be covered by Marcus Peters and Terrance Mitchell. I would like to see the Steelers exploit Phillip Gaines with Juju Smith-Schuster.