Pittsburgh Steelers Meet the Opponent: Kansas City Chiefs

What They Said

Every week, I’ll interview somebody on the other side of things to get a good idea on everything from the general state of the team, to match-up specifics and more. As fans, it’s good to understand your team. Yet understanding the other team makes the game more fun, and interesting, especially when diving deep like we do on a week to week basis.

For this week, I was able to speak with Travis Steffen, expert over at KC Kingdom and host of Arrowhead Report, a Kansas City Chiefs podcast that breaks down news and analysis. They can be found on iTunes and here for their Twitter page.

DD: First of all, I’m very thankful for your time. Kansas City rides high into Pittsburgh after a phenomenal first week from quarterback Pat Mahomes. Although the sample size is small, how do you feel the offense is different with Mahomes under center as opposed to Alex Smith?

TS: The offense is entirely different with the change at quarterback. Head coach Andy Reid designs his offense around his quarterback. We see more spread out looks like in the college game in Kansas City’s offense with Patrick Mahomes at quarterback. We also see more loaded backfields. Spreading defense’s out with speed and multiple running backs is something that he ran a lot of at Texas Tech.

DD: Last season, the Steelers went into Arrowhead and pulled out a six point win. A lot has changed in KC since then, how do you feel the Chiefs have grown/progressed since their last encounter with the Steelers?

TS: Kansas City is almost a completely different team since last season. The massive overhaul of players just on the defensive side of the ball will make it a different game. The defense is still working on it’s communication and gelling with each other. Overall, that front seven has improved. GM Brett Veach wanted to get bigger and more physical up front due to the lack of run support the last couple of seasons, and I think he has done well addressing that area. On offense, the team is looking more explosive. While Alex Smith had a career season with Mahomes sitting behind him in 2017, he was still not the caliber that Mahomes has the potential of being. Mahomes will make mistakes and have growing pains, but the ceiling is much higher. The addition of Sammy Watkins will help keep defense’s honesty.

DD: When evaluating the match-ups, what are the biggest battles that you think will decide the game?

TS: The biggest battles that will decide this game is a no-brainer. Kansas City failed to properly address their secondary this offseason despite a loaded free agency/ draft at both positions. How Kansas City holds up against the likes of AB and JuJu will be the main focus. If they can’t contain them, we could be looking at a shootout in Week 2. It will also be Chiefs receiving options vs Steelers secondary.

DD: From a Chiefs perspective, what favors Kansas City in this match-up? Does catching the Steelers coming off a tie in Cleveland excite or concern you?

TS: I’m not sure many favor Kansas City in this matchup. Pittsburgh has dominated the Chiefs while Alex Smith in town. Those tight zone cover two schemes always threw him off his game. How Patrick Mahomes will play against that scheme is yet to be seen. Pittsburgh is known for their blitzing and will try to rattle Mahomes early. Los Angeles tried that as well after seeing it work in the preseason, but it backfired as Mahomes made quick reads and got the ball out quickly. The tie between the Steelers and Browns actually makes me more concerned. We’ve seen when Big Ben got dominated by the Jaguars defense and then took all of that out on Kansas City the following week not too long ago. Ben is a different quarterback at home, and I expect him to rebound off of that performance.

DD: I feel like these are always good, close games when these two play. If the Chiefs do ________, they will walk away with a victory. (Bonus question, is this the last time they see each other?)

TS: If the Chiefs can do what they have done the last two meetings on defense and keep the Steelers points below 20 they will absolutely have a strong shot at winning this game. Pittsburgh has dominated with Bell running the ball, but our bend but don’t break defense has always worked well against the Steelers. Even though I hate that style of defense. In the playoff game, we lost because of six field goals, and then last season it was allowing 19 points. If the defense can replicate what they’ve done in those two games, Mahomes can do the rest. I don’t think he will be crushed by the Steelers defense, but we likely won’t see what we saw in Week 1 either. As far as meeting up again this season, I wouldn’t be surprised. Until Pittsburgh proves me otherwise, I expect them in the playoffs. I do think they will have more competition within the division, but I don’t bet against them. Kansas City has a very tough first half of the schedule, but I expect them to make the playoffs as well. Probably as a Wild-Card spot.

Week two presents a great opportunity for both teams. Should Kansas City win, the Chiefs will improve to 2-0 on the year and will have finally defeated the bump in their road for so long. Should the Steelers emerge victorious, things get back on track in the steel city as the team notches their first win of 2018.