Steelers strike with outstanding offensive outburst versus the Chiefs

Well, this Monday certainly feels a whole lot different than last week’s; and by “different,” I mean better.

The Pittsburgh Steelers hosted the Kansas City Chiefs in primetime Sunday night on a date dubbed “Redemption Sunday” by Head Coach Mike Tomlin. The Steelers rolled on The Chiefs with a final score of 43-to-14.

Redemption it was.

The game was reminiscent of last year’s primetime matchup versus The Indianapolis Colts. Everything seemed to go Pittsburgh’s way in a game where they needed to show that they are who we thought they were: a dominant offensive juggernaut.

When I say Big Ben was perfect, I’m being very literal.

The Steelers star quarterback posted a near-perfect rating of 152.5 last night, which is close to the highest possible rating for a QB (158.3). Ben was masterful, to put it lightly. #7 went 22/27 throwing for 300 yards and 5 touchdowns. Roethlisberger spread the ball around evenly, finding 9 different receivers throughout the course of the game, and it was the fifth time in Big Ben’s career that he has thrown for 5 touchdowns (tying him on the all-time list with Tom Brady).

Roethlisberger is now 18-3 all time in home games played in primetime.

Ben played so well that the home crowd actually got to see backup QB Landry Jones on the field last night: and it wasn’t a bad thing.

The tone for Pittsburgh’s offense was set immediately when Pittsburgh took the field for their opening possession. Ben decided to go deep on the very first play, connecting with Sammie Coates down the sideline: electrifying the already ecstatic crowd at Heinz Field.

Unfortunately, this drive stalled due to a holding penalty by guard, David Decastro.

Fortunately, that was one of the lone mishaps of the night for the black and gold.

Soon, the defense forced a turnover, and minutes later, Big Ben dialed up a long ball once again: this time to a wide-open Darrius Heyward-Bey for the 31-yard touchdown.

It was all uphill from there.

After yet another turnover forced by the defense, this time in the Chief’s redzone, the Steelers struck again. Antonio Brown found the end zone, flashing across the middle of the screen for the score off a dart from Roethlisberger.

Brown made it look too easy.

If you hadn’t noticed, the offense started a trend of scoring points off of turnovers in this game. When you do that, winning a football game becomes much easier.

After The Chiefs stalled on offense and were forced to punt, Pittsburgh did not take long to capitalize again. Roethlisberger chose to go long when he saw that AB was in single man coverage, and you can probably guess the rest. Brown catches the 38-yard dime from Ben, and the Steelers extended their lead to 22-0 at this point. (AB ended up with only 4 catches on the night, but 2 of those being touchdowns.)

Still in the first half, Pittsburgh caps off another successful drive with Ben finding tight end Jessie James in the corner of the endzone for a one handed grab.

I tweeted it and I’ll say it again: Jessie James has been a very pleasant surprise this season. He is a magnet for touchdowns and his hands are showing true consistency. Ladarius Green isn’t missed as much as most (myself included) thought he would be. I expect James to still see a lot of playing time when Green returns. He has earned it.

Coming onto the field after halftime, greeted by their 29-0 lead, Pittsburgh already appeared in full control of this game.

To make matters worse for Kansas City, you guessed it, Ben goes long again, finding Markus Wheaton in the endzone to extend their lead to 35-0. The touchdown was reviewed but upheld. That would be Markus’ only grab of the night (not counting the 2 point conversion) but a big one at that. It was awesome to see Markus bounce back after his disappointing showing last week, displaying real mental toughness and commitment to his craft.

However, I was even more impressed with Sammie Coates’ job well done last night. The 2nd year wide receiver led the team in catches.

I’ll say that again: Coates lead the team in catches: the same team with Antonio Brown and Le’Veon Bell on it. Sammie caught 6 balls for 79 yards on a variety of catches. A common knock on Sammie is his “limited” route tree.

The Steelers were so confident in Coates’ ability, they threw to him on the team’s opening play from the 5 yard line. Watch as Coates not only blows by the highly touted Chiefs corner Marcus Peters, but also adjusts to find the ball and put himself in a position to make the play.

Last night I saw more than just deep routes.

For instance, Coates ran a deep-out route in the Chief’s redzone to convert for a first down. (Side note: he caught an in-breaking route late against the Redskins to convert for a first down that was in traffic.)

One of those plays, show here, is how Coates runs a crossing pattern, then breaks free as Ben moves to extend the play. The result of the 3-and-5 play was an 18 yard gain for a first down.

Sammie’s progression and overall growth as a player is very encouraging to watch. An opinion is beginning to grow that Coates will overtake the number 2 receiver role soon (if he has not already done so) and I think I’m on board that ship. He even displayed admirable toughness, when late in the game, the receiver was thrown a screen that was immediately blown up. Coates saved it from being a negative play, and fought hard, back to the line of scrimmage.

Everyone should expect to see more of #14 out there.

In the midst of all the offensive fireworks was Le’Veon Bell, making his 2016 regular season debut.

Boy did he show up! I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the Steelers O looked the best it had all season.

Bell is a clear difference maker, and when it comes to NFL running backs, in a league of his own. The 4th year running back looked fast and well in shape. Any thoughts or suspicions of Bell having a “managed workload” went flying out the window as Le’Veon was given the ball 18 times on the ground and caught 5 passes in addition (which, was second on the team behind Sammie Coates with 6).

Bell rushed for 144 yards, and tacked on 34 receiving yards as well. “Juice” would have had a touchdown to top it all off, but after a long, rather impressive scamper late in the game, DeAngelo Williams was put in on the goal line package for the score.

The Juice was definitely loose last night. Hopefully it will remain “loose” for the rest of the season. DeAngelo Williams is an above average backup RB, but when Bell is in the game, Pittsburgh’s offense seems to gain one giant “step up” if you will. (Le’Veon cannot do it himself, and he is quick to admit that, and give credit where it is due.)

The offensive line did a fantastic job creating holes for the runners last night. They had their mistakes here and there, in the form of penalties, but Bell was finding a lot of space behind center Maurkice Pouncey, and guard BJ Finney,  in particular. Both men opened up holes all night, along with blocking TE David Johnson (who actually caught a nice pass last night too).

In the clip below, Finney (#67) and Johnson (#82) throw two crucial blocks, freeing Le’Veon Bell for an 18 yard gain.

I’m not sure how long Ramon Foster is sidelined for, but BJ Finney, his replacement, impressed for a second straight game in the eyes of many.

It’s hard not to root for Finney. He has worked his way up, from being an undrafted free agent, to starting guard for The Pittsburgh Steelers (his favorite team growing up). It’s even harder not to root for him considering he has graded out as our best offensive lineman two weeks in a row.

Ramon Foster is a good guard but hey, if Finney can outplay him and continue to grow, I’m all for finding diamonds in the rough.

After the dust had settled at Heinz Field, the final score read “PIT:43/ KC:14.”

Redemption had been achieved.

Hopefully The Steelers can keep on track this time, because Sunday night’s performance was an absolute beautiful thing to watch: Big Ben was phenomenal, and everything seemed to go right for The Steelers.


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