Scouting the enemy: Can the Kansas City Chiefs finally defeat the Pittsburgh Steelers?
By Kody Latham
The Steelers’ Offense
While Bell has not officially left the Steelers, the mastermind behind their offense over the past few years has. Todd Haley was the offensive coordinator for Pittsburgh from 2012-2017. During that time the Steelers offense ranked 21st, 20th, 2nd, 3rd, 7th, and 3rd in total offense. The past four years has seen a lot of offensive success for the Steelers.
Even with all of the success that Pittsburgh was enjoying, there was a tenuous relationship between Haley and Big Ben. The situation finally came to a head when the Steelers let Haley walk at the end of his contract which ended last season. The relationship between Haley and Big Ben had become so bad that they could not even work together anymore. Haley was replaced by Randy Fichtner; this new coordinator may be a reason why the Steelers offense looked so off this past Sunday.
The Steelers offense has been their greatest strength for quite a few years now. They have been consistently stacked with talent; their offensive line consists of three Pro Bowlers, Alejandro Villanueva, David DeCastro, and Maurkice Pouncey. On top of that DeCastro also earned All-Pro honors to go along with his Pro Bowl selection.
It doesn’t stop there either, Big Ben, Bell, and Antonio Brown were all awarded Pro Bowl honors last season as well. Both Bell and Brown earned All-Pro selections from their fantastic efforts during 2017. The amount of teams that have that kind of talent on their offense is a short list. Even though the “Killer Bs” seem to be in the middle of a divorce, the fact that they were able to keep the band together this long is impressive.
As good as these players are, no one is immune to injuries. Part way through Week 1, DeCastro had to get his hand taped. An offensive lineman getting his hand taped on the sideline isn’t an unusual sight with how rough things can get down in the trenches. Mike Tomlin informed everyone on Tuesday that it was a bit more than just a routine taping, however DeCastro had fractured his hand. DeCastro has stated that the injury won’t affect his chances of playing in the game this Sunday, but depending on how they deal with the injury, things could be more difficult for him.
DeCastro was not the only other key player on the Steelers offense to get injured. Big Ben also ended up with a few bumps and bruises to his elbow after being sacked four times. Tomlin has come out and said that the injury would not have any adverse effects on the pro bowl quarterback, but any lingering issues could very well help the Chiefs on Sunday.
Those are just the top guys on the Steelers offense. We cannot forget about the Steelers rookie sensation from last year JuJu Smith-Schuster. Smith-Schuster played outstanding last season which led to the Steelers dealing former fourth-round draft pick Martavius Bryant to the Oakland Raiders for a 2018 third round pick. We all know Bryant’s story at this point when it came to his off the field shenanigans, so it was no surprise that Bryant was finally traded. Smith-Schuster rewarded the Steelers confidence this past Sunday with a performance of five receptions for 119 yards. Going against a struggling Kansas City secondary, we can expect him to have a similar day this week.
Smith-Schuster was not the only one to put up a big performance. Former Pittsburgh running back and survivor of Hodgkins Lymphoma James Conner had his first start in place of the absent Bell. Conner took on a hefty load for his first game, rushing 35 times for 135 yards, two touchdowns, and one fumble. He also tacked on an extra 57 yards on five receptions. There isn’t much more he could ask for in his first start, except for maybe a win.
With Conner playing this well there was some speculation that his performance would force Bell to come back to the team. The thought was quickly squashed when members of the Steelers organization said that they expected Bell to have a much more extended absence than just one week. The Bell situation will be something to monitor going forward, especially since they Steelers removed him from their depth chart this week. I would not hold my breath on him returning to play this weekend though.