Mitchell denies he’s dirty after ‘late-hit’ complaint

Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Alex Smith wasn’t happy with a late hit by Steelers safety Mike Mitchell near the end of the third quarter Sunday at Arrowhead Stadium.

But Mitchell denied that the hit was intentional and refrained from blaming Steelers outside linebacker Anthony Chickillo, who appeared to trip Mitchell.

The hit received backlash on social media with many viewers believing Mitchell intended to take out Smith’s legs.

“I’m not a dirty player, I’m not out here trying to take his legs out,” Mitchell said. “It’s just one of those things you don’t want to see in a football game.

“So unfortunate that it happened because it ended up flipping momentum on the field in a significant way. We were in dominant control of that football game, and really before that.”

The hit came seconds after Mitchell missed a sack on Smith, who proceeded to find running back Kareem Hunt for a 37-yard gain to the Steelers 24. The late-hit penalty added an 12 yards to the play.

“I thought it was pretty late,” Smith said. “I mean, when you get hit in the back of your knee like that I didn’t understand how that happened.

“Certainly, guys falling, rushing the quarterback I get hit when it’s happening from the front and guys are trying hard. That one to me just seemed so weird to get hit that low coming from behind.”

Mitchell also received backlash for initiating helmet-to-helmet contact with Chiefs running back Charcandrick West, who left the game with a concussion and might not be available for Kansas City’s Thursday night matchup against the Oakland Raiders.

Foster hopes to return

Left guard Ramon Foster, who is nursing a back injury, was a late scratch for the Sunday game.

Foster said his back started bothering him a couple of weeks ago, and coaches decided to hold him out now rather than in the second half of the season.

“It honestly happened about a couple weeks ago,” Foster said. “I had just been dealing with it. It came to a point where I couldn’t just deal with it anymore. We’re about to hit a stretch in the season where in-conference play comes.

“We have [Cincinnati], we have a late Sunday night game, and then the second half of the season really gets amped up. It’s better to just rest in a non-conference game, a non-divisional game, than to risk being out later.”