If the Pittsburgh Steelers want to hand Kansas City their first loss of 2017, they’ll need to stop their biggest offensive threat.
Now we have always known the Steelers to be huge in philosophy about stopping the run. All you have to do is listen to an interview with Steelers defensive line and assistant coach John Mitchell. The key for the Steelers is to stop the run early so that they have to put the ball in the hands of Alex Smith.
Alex Smith is a hot player but he has really only been this successful with the emergence of Kareem Hunt. When the Chiefs can get Kareem Hunt running, it opens up the passing game.
Kareem Hunt has been quite a surprise this year. He was a third-round pick and by the sounds of his draft status that may have been a bit early to take him. He has more than outplayed his third-round draft pick billing. According to Pro Football Reference, he has already run for more than 600 yards and has an average of 121 yards per game. He is on track to run for more than 1,900 yards.
The Steelers have been beaten by the running game this year twice. In the Bears game, Tarik Cohen and Jordan Howard were heavily used and the Steelers were unable to stop those two. That eventually lead to their demise. The other loss, Jacksonville, Leonard Fournette had a field day and that eventually tired the Steelers defense enough that the passing game started to be effective as well.
The Steelers have fared well against Kansas City in past years, but it has been because they were able to stop the Chief’s running game. When the game is put into Alex Smith’s hands, the Steelers are able to hold him to a modest day.
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This game will be no different but will be especially true with the emergence of Kareem Hunt. The Steelers defense can succeed again against the run, they will just need to put eight men in the box.