Kansas City aims to atone for blowout in Pittsburgh
By Dave Skretta
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Alex Smith endured watching film of the Kansas City Chiefs’ meltdown in Pittsburgh this season “a bunch of times” last week, still trying to figure out where everything went wrong.
As if he hasn’t relived it enough in his nightmares.
Ben Roethlisberger threw five touchdown passes. Le’Veon Bell starred in his return from a three-game suspension.
The Steelers scored 22 first-quarter points, led 36-0 before the Chiefs finally scored and proceeded to route the eventual AFC West champions 43-14 that October night.
“It’s been a long time,” Smith said, “so they’ve changed. Over the course of the season, they’ve progressed and gone a certain direction. There’s a lot they change week-toweek as well.”
But the Chiefs (12-4) are a different team, too.
Wide receiver Tyreek Hill has made a name for himself as one of the NFL’s most dynamic rookies, going from special-teams standout to offensive differencemaker.
Top pass rusher Justin Houston is also expected to be available after missing the first meeting while recovering from knee surgery. Oh, and this matchup with the Steelers (12-5) will be at loud Arrowhead Stadium rather than Heinz Field, and a spot in the AFC title game awaits the winner.
“We got embarrassed in the first meeting,” Chiefs center Mitch Morse said, “and we had to come back and kind of take a step back and realize, ‘We’re a good football team.’ We had to understand where we were. We learned a lot from that game and we were able to take the next step.”
Indeed, the Chiefs ripped off five straight wins after that loss in Pittsburgh. They wound up overtaking the Raiders for the division title on the final day of the regular season, earning a firstround bye.
Chiefs coach Andy Reid is 16-2 record in the regular season after a week off, including a road win over the Raiders this season. He was also perfect in three divisional playoff games in Philadelphia when his teams earned a first-round bye, including one season that ended in the Super Bowl.
The Steelers routed Miami last weekend to advance.
“I think a postseason challenge on the road is one thing,” Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said, “but at a legendary venue like that is something else. We’re excited about it. We respect it.”
But the Steelers have been in enough big games over the years that it takes more than a trip to Kansas City, where the Chiefs have not won a playoff game since the 1993 season, to leave them quaking in their cleats.
“If you need the ‘revenge factor’ in the playoffs to help you win, something is wrong with you,” Roethlisberger said. “You’re in the playoffs, so you need to throw everything out, whether you played them before or didn’t play them before, personnel or whatever it is. You need to start fresh.”
While Roethlisberger has completed 71 percent of his passes for 320 yards per game with 20 TDs and five picks at home this season, he is 59 percent for 238 yards per game with nine TDs and eight picks on the road.