Scouting report: How the Chiefs can beat the Steelers
By Grant Tuttle
The Steelers, like all teams, have strengths and weaknesses. What can the Chiefs do to beat the Steelers after a long drought? We discuss.
The Kansas City Chiefs are feeling confident after beating the Los Angeles Chargers in Week 1. The team hopes to have continued success in Pittsburgh. However, they have struggled in recent years against the Steelers. That being said, these are both very different teams.
In this article, I will be breaking down the Steelers strengths and weaknesses as well as the players that the Chiefs will need to contain and use heavily to secure a victory.
In addition to watching the Chiefs and the Chargers several times, I have now watched the Browns and the Steelers twice. First and foremost, this game was UGLY. Both teams seemed like they were lost at times and needed to have better coaching. However, there are a few things to take away from the game as to how to be successful against the Steelers.
OFFENSE
An Aggressive Passing Game
This is the most important thing: play aggressive. As Chiefs fans, we know that conservative quarterbacks struggle against Pittsburgh. Tyrod Taylor reminds me a bit of Alex Smith in this game. The Steelers made him uncomfortable and so he began to stop scanning the field. At a certain point of the game, Taylor was looking to check down, unless by design. What this means is this: unless the Browns ran all deep routes, Taylor was looking for the tight end or running back underneath. This got the offense nowhere. In fact, his stat line was abysmal: 15/40, 197 yards, 4.9 avg. 1 TD, 1 INT.
On this particular play, watch the bottom of your screen. If Taylor takes a moment to look back to his right he has an open window to hit an open receiver for a 20 yard gain. While there is a small amount of pressure, Taylor has more than enough time to throw the ball to the sideline.
Patrick Mahomes is aggressive and I think this may be what turns the tide for the Chiefs more than anything else. Because Alex Smith was too nervous to turn the ball over, he would always take what was easy, instead of pushing the ball downfield. The Steelers are a disciplined bunch and to win this game, the Chiefs will need to push the ball to spread the defense out.
This is the kind of play the Chiefs should be dialing up a lot during the game. The Browns ran some deep routes and it worked (despite a bad throw). Taylor could have thrown it to two different targets but ultimately chose Jarvis Landry to throw to. Landry made a great adjustment to the ball and snagged the ball on the sideline.
Mahomes will thrive in these kind of plays. If the Chiefs were to run something similar, I think that Travis Kelce would be the guy in the middle of the field with Sammy Watkins and Tyreek Hill on the outsides. I believe that Mahomes puts this ball in a better place and this could go for even more yards. This kind of play would open up the ground game.
Establish the Ground Game
If the Chiefs can throw the ball deep, several things can happen in the rushing game. On several occasions the Browns worked in draw plays that were successful. On this play, they ran Carlos Hyde, who is somewhat similar to Kareem Hunt, on a stretch play to the right. With a good chip from the tight end and block from the guard, Hyde finds a seam.
If the Chiefs stretch the field to open up the rushing game, expect Kareem Hunt to break a few tackles and pick up some yards. The recipe to moving the ball on the Steelers is to simply spread them out. If the Chiefs force their defensive backs to spread out and play off of the line of scrimmage, they can score points.