Steelers take down last of the unbeatens
Le’Veon Bell, Antonio Brown star as Pittsburgh hands Kansas City first loss
KANSAS CITY, MO. This was a bad way for the Kansas City Chiefs to try staying perfect.
Le’Veon Bell came to Arrowhead Stadium, and man did he conquer.
It was like a flashback to last season. Bell left, spinning and slipping through tiny cracks. Bell up the middle, delaying, then accelerating for a big chunk. Bell, slashing right.
When it was over, the Pittsburgh Steelers running back had carried
32 times for 179 yards and the NFL’s only undefeated record went up in the smoke of a 19-13 verdict that didn’t really seem so close.
So the Chiefs (5-1), who have been so gritty, resilient and explosive this season, have finally lost a game. Mercury Morris and the rest of the crew from the 1972 Miami Dolphins can pop that cork again, because once again it’s official that there has been just one perfect team in the NFL.
On Sunday, it was the perfect matchup that squashed Kansas City because once again the Steelers
(4-2) put this team away — and propped up embattled quarterback Ben Roethlisberger — with a barrage of body blows from Bell.
Sure, the Chiefs rallied during a furious fourth quarter and still had a shot in the final seconds until 92year-old linebacker James Harrison beat 26-year-old tackle Eric Fisher on a speed rush to sack Alex Smith, forcing the fourth-and-18 scenario that netted no miracles.
Yet this game belonged to Bell and his bodyguards on the Steelers’ offensive line more than anyone. Pittsburgh had drives of 75 yards and a season-best 93 yards in the second quarter, which went a long way toward the ideas of wearing down a defense, inflicting will and controlling tempo.
The Steelers had their highest yardage total of the season (493 yards), most rushing yards (194) and biggest margin of clock control, with 36 minutes, 39 seconds of possession.
And shoot, Bell even outdid himself.
In a three-victory sweep of the Chiefs dating to last season, Bell has rushed for 493 yards and averaged 6.2 yards per carry. If only he could play this defense every week. During the Week 4 showdown at Heinz Field last year, he rushed 18 times for 144 yards in his first game back from suspension. In the divisional playoff here in January, it was 30 rushes for 170 yards. Then came Sunday, when he put up his biggest numbers yet against Kansas City.
That’s not a coincidence. That’s a trend, a pattern and a problem.
“That’s just the offensive line controlling the guys up front,” Bell said.
He made it seem so matter of fact. “They got me to the second level,” he said.
In the violent world that is football, that sounds a lot like steamrolling people to clear room and leave the huge holes.
“He makes great cuts,” Chiefs linebacker Dee Ford noted. “We just weren’t gap sound, at the end of the day.”
Or the beginning of the day, either.
There was one instance in the first quarter when the Steelers faced a third-and-9 from midfield. Obvious passing play. Instead, Ocoordinator Todd Haley dialed up a shotgun draw play for Bell, who jetted around right corner, lowered his shoulder and slashed for a first down.
The play-call illustrated something about why the Steelers must love this matchup a whole lot better than those gloomy matchups in Foxborough, Mass.
“Kansas City does what they do,” Bell said. “They play a lot of manto-man. They pride themselves in that. … Sometimes, if they caught us in third-and-long, we knew they’d play some man-to-man, and we’d catch them on a running play.”
Maybe it’s fitting that the Chiefs needed to see the Steelers again. There’s a chance this matchup will present itself again in the postseason, so Kansas City is duly warned. Maybe the next time the battered Chiefs will be healthier. And there has to be some material on film to learn from when it comes to the scheme adjustments.
Still, while Bell ran wild, the Steelers defense — which entered the game ranked No. 1 against the pass — had Smith’s number. Kansas City netted just 6 yards in the first half, and in the end, Smith completed just 55.8% of his passes, which is more astounding when considering he led the NFL with a sizzling 76.6% completion rate through the first five weeks.
The Steelers defense, though, limited both the big plays that have been Kansas City’s staple and shut down rookie sensation Kareem Hunt (21 yards on nine carries).
No, Bell was the class runner this day.
And it was quite the tonic for Roethlisberger, who has been spotty this season and came off arguably his worst game of the season.
“He has big shoulders,” Steelers receiver Antonio Brown said of Roethlisberger, who threw just 25 times for 252 yards, with an interception and a fortunate 51-yard TD pass to Brown that deflected off Phillip Gaines.
Brown knows how eventful of a week it was for Roethlisberger, who threw five picks a week earlier against Jacksonville.
“He’s a warrior,” said Brown, who caught eight passes for 155 yards. “There’s nothing he hasn’t done on a football field. He don’t pay attention to what you guys write. I guess everybody will be licking him up, after slandering his name last week. He didn’t do nothing that I didn’t expect. He’s a competitor. It was the type of performance he needed to have, and he had it.”
And it was the type of performance that was set up by the dominant running of one of the NFL’s best running backs, just when the Steelers needed it.