In week six the Pittsburgh Steelers went in to Arrowhead Stadium to play the only remaining undefeated team, the Kansas City Chiefs, and walked away with a 19-13 victory. More importantly they made a statement to all of the teams in the AFC; when they are playing well, they can beat any team in the league. Week six found the Steelers going back to a formula that has won the franchise multiple Super Bowl rings: A dominate running game and solid defense.
The Steelers defense, who were gouged by Leonard Fournette for 190 rushing yards in week six, limited the league’s best running back through week five, rookie sensation Kareem Hunt, 21 yards rushing on nine carries. While the offense is still not the juggernaut people expected it to be, the Steelers never trailed after Le’Veon Bell’s three-yard touchdown run in the second quarter and dominated the line of scrimmage for the duration of the game on both sides of the ball. Here are my gut reactions.
Pittsburgh Steelers Week Six Gut Reactions
Making a Statement
As Brian Harker and I discussed in the Last Word on Steelers Podcast this week, the game plan for beating the Chiefs is to stop the running game, and make quarterback Alex Smith and the Chiefs receiving corps win the game. By holding Hunt to twenty-one rushing yards the Steelers defense did just that.
Also, the Steelers defense snapped their four-week streak of allowing opposing running backs to average over six yards per carry, The Chiefs as a team rushed fifteen times for a 1.9 yards per carry average and only managed one rushing first down. Their inability to run stalled their number one ranked offense, which averaged 32 points per game entering week six. This put the Chiefs offense in third and long situations which allowed the Steelers to put pressure on Alex Smith. The Steelers limited the Chiefs offense to three for 11 on the third down conversions, not for two on fourth down conversions, and not for two in the red zone.
The Killer B’s
Ben Roethlisberger played decent football averaging ten yards per pass. Then Antonio Brown had a video game-like eight receptions for 155 yards and a touchdown on ten targets. Not to mention a 51-yard reception that might be the catch of the year to this point in the season.
But today the Steelers offense went through Bell. He rushed for 179 yards on 32 carries and scored a touchdown in the second quarter. A lead the Steelers never relinquished. While Bell wasn’t a huge asset in the passing game, this was the first game where he looked like his old self when running the ball. His unique combination of power and patients was on full display at Arrowhead Stadium. He was breaking tackles, running with authority and consistently fell forward for an extra yard or two.
Bell Cow
Perhaps no run perfectly demonstrated Bell’s unique running style better than his touchdown run. He was four yards from the end zone, and the Chiefs defense was stacking the box. Bell took the hand off to the right side, but was stuffed at the line of scrimmage behind right guard David DeCastro and center Maurkice Pouncey. He stutter-stepped, stayed patient, and Chiefs pro bowl linebacker Derrick Johnson pursued Bell. He was expecting Bell to come out of scrum behind either DeCastro or Pouncey. Instead, Bell waited for Johnson to shoot a gap, and cut back to his left for an easy score.
Essentially, he went right, and when Johnson tried to meet him in the hole, Bell used his vision to cut back left. Combined with his ability to break tackles, this is what makes Bell such a unique running back. At his best, Bell can be compared to a counter-punching boxer. He hits the hole, waits for any unblocked linebackers to commit to a gap, then reacts. Heading for the space the linebacker just vacated. Not only is it a one of a kind running style, and effective, but it’s fun to watch as well.
The Other Killer B
Along with Bell’s performance the Steelers defense was able to hold the Chiefs number one ranked offense to only three points entering the fourth quarter. Steelers defensive coordinator Keith Butler had a highly motivated defense and called a great game. The front seven was able to shut down Hunt and not let Smith get comfortable in the pocket when passing. They kept the pressure coming from all over and multiple looks, and it resulted in nine quarterback hits on Smith. Especially when the Steelers took a two-score lead in the third quarter Butler was dialing up pressure from everywhere.
Butler employed A-gap blitzes were extreme efficiency. They resulted in two sacks for Vince Williams. But that was only part of Butler’s scheme. He dialed up overload blitzes off the corner and safety blitzes as well. Not to mention his front four, especially Cameron Heyward, Stephon Tuitt and James Harrison (in limited action) were able to beat their one on one matchups. Which all contributed to preventing Smith from getting comfortable. While the offense has been the subject of much scrutiny, Butler’s defense has been the best unit on the team through six weeks. It took a blown coverage by Artie Burns in the fourth quarter for the Chiefs to find the end zone against Butler’s schemes.
Next Man Up
The Steelers offensive line was without both Ramon Foster and Marcus Gilbert for almost the whole game in Kansas City. Gilbert, one of the lynchpins of the offensive line, tried to play for the first time since week two but re-aggravated his hamstring. Hamstrings are notoriously tough to gauge and are slow to heal. Many NFL seasons have been lost to pulled hamstrings. The Steelers medical staff needs to make sure Gilbert takes his time in rehabbing his leg and that there isn’t another setback. Thankfully, Chris Hubbard, Gilbert’s backup played well against the Chiefs. He went up against pro bowler outside linebacker Justin Houston and didn’t allow a sack.
Foster’s backup, B.J. Finney also got the start Kansas City. It’s worth noting that in all three of Finney’s starts Bell has rushed for over 140 yards. That stat is not that hard to believe when you take into account that Pro Football Focus’ run blocking grade for Foster is 38. To give a point of reference, 70-79 is considered an average NFL starter. 50 is considered below NFL level talent.
Last year, Pro Football Focus ranked Foster’s run blocking metric at 82. 38, a major drop off in production. Essentially, Foster’s winning less than half the run-blocks that he did last season.Finney probably did not play well enough that he turned heads among the coaching staff. He’s a known commodity. But if Foster continues to underachieve and/or be injured, look for Finney to make the starting left guard spot his.
Last Word
With the Baltimore Ravens losing in week five the Steelers currently hold what amounts to a two-game lead over their division rivals at the moment. In week seven, the Steelers return to Heinz Field to play the Cincinnati Bengals in their third divisional game of the season. The Bengals will be fresh. They’re coming off a bye week. While they were the last offense in the NFL to score a touchdown. The Bengals have scored 75 points in their last three games behind a resurgent Andy Dalton and A.J. Green. Offensively, Green will be the best receiver the Steelers secondary has faced thus far this season, so mental mistakes like Burns’ that gifted the Chiefs a touchdown cannot happen.
Defensively, the Bengals present some matchup problems. They have one of the best defensive tackles in the league in Geno Atkins. He can disrupt the running game, and rush the passer. DeCastro will have his hands full. Also, the Bengals play similar defensive schemes as the Jacksonville Jaguars who picked off Roethlisberger for a career high five times in week five. It will be important for a second receiving option besides Brown to assert themselves in week seven in order for the Steelers passing game to have success.
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