Steelers vs. Chiefs Week 16 film study: 1st-half struggles again too much to overcome
NFL football analyst Matt Williamson will break down each of the Steelers games this season in the Trib’s Steelers Film Study. Here’s what he saw in the Steelers’ Week 16 loss to the Chiefs.
Maybe the NFL’s hottest team, the Kansas City Chiefs hosted the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday afternoon. And the Steelers got their doors blown off by a far superior football team.
Meanwhile, the Chiefs won the AFC West for the sixth consecutive year under Andy Reid and look like the team to beat in the AFC. Kansas City has now won 22 straight games played in November and December as Reid became the second winningest coach in Chiefs history despite this being just his ninth year in Kansas City.
Horrific starts continue to be a theme for the Steelers. In their last six games, Pittsburgh’s first quarter point differential is minus-41. In that timeframe, Pittsburgh has scored just nine first-half points and allowed 114. The Steelers haven’t scored a first-half touchdown in their last five games.
Coming into this week of play, only the Lions, Jets and Jaguars have snapped the football with a lead on the scoreboard a lower percentage of the time than Pittsburgh.
Statworthy and not so worthy
As usual, let’s review the key stats for this game. But the reality is, the game was much more lopsided than the stats even reveal.
• At the half, Kansas City led 23-0 and the game was basically already over. At that point, the Chiefs had run 40 plays compared to 26 by the Steelers, although many of those Pittsburgh plays were at the end of the half against a prevent defense with little chance of scoring points.
• The Chiefs exactly doubled Pittsburgh’s time of possession through two quarters and averaged 6.4 yards per play against 4.2 by the Steelers offense.
• Kansas City only had 50 rushing yards at halftime, but QB Patrick Mahomes was 19 for 25 for 205 yards and two touchdowns.
• Six different Chiefs had at least two catches with Tyreek Hill catching just two passes for 19 yards, which ended up being Hill’s final stat line because he simply wasn’t needed in the second half of play.
• Meanwhile, Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger had thrown for just 88 yards at that point with an interception. Going into halftime, running back Najee Harris had carried the ball eight times for 29 yards and had five catches, but for just 17 receiving yards.
• When it was all said and done Mahomes (23-30, 258 yards, 3 TDs) threw for about 100 more yards than Roethlisberger (23-35, 159 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT), but Mahomes didn’t throw an interception and had three touchdown passes compared to one of each for the Steelers quarterback.
• Harris finished the game with 110 yards, but a lot of those were empty calories late in the game.
• Kansas City’s offense produced 5.7 yards every time they snapped the ball compared to 4.3 by the Steelers, but you must remember that Pittsburgh’s offensive stats were greatly padded in the second half against soft defensive schemes as the Chiefs played with a big lead.
Steelers again rely on RPOs
The Steelers offense has no conventional running game to count on, no dropback passing game to lean on and has become unbelievably reliant on RPOs just to gain any sort of yardage during meaningful times of the football game. The RPO reliance is probably just a reflection of Pittsburgh’s quarterback, but that certainly isn’t to absolve coordinator Matt Canada of blame for his influence on this side of the ball.
Roethlisberger completed 23 passes in this game on his 35 attempts. However, 20 of those 23 completions came within 9 yards of the line of scrimmage. He averaged a measly 4.5 yards per attempt, which is the sixth lowest in his 267 career starts.
His footwork is poor. He offers little in the way of second reaction ability. He isn’t reading defenses well or attacking weaknesses. He hasn’t elevated those around him and looks reluctant to stand in the pocket and take a hit in order to deliver the ball downfield.
Roethlisberger can no longer protect himself on the football field. Interior pressure just destroys the immobile Roethlisberger, and he saw plenty of it in Kansas City from Chris Jones and Co.
The Chiefs played quite a bit of press man coverage, but Pittsburgh still rarely challenged them downfield. Meanwhile, Roethlisberger has thrown just one touchdown over the past two games. There were too many plays that could have been made left on the field Sunday.
Claypool an offensive bright spot
Wide receiver Chase Claypool has been criticized heavily of late, but he was one of the few bright spots in this game. Obviously, he is inconsistent and must mature as a player, but Claypool’s immense tools showed up in this game. The Steelers might be rewarded for sticking with this young player and might have to lean on him more the rest of this season.
Claypool does spend too much time on the ground though for a wide receiver, which is an oddity. It was good to see Claypool (59 snaps) playing the second most wide receiver snaps and second most routes run even in a losing effort.
Mixed numbers for other receivers
This certainly wasn’t receiver Diontae Johnson’s finest games as drops and a ridiculous unprovoked fumble really stood out, but he did get nine targets and deserves a high volume still every week.
Who doesn’t deserve volume but still gets it every week is Ray Ray McCloud, as is written in this column time and time again. Against the Chiefs, McCloud played 45 snaps and was thrown the ball eight times. Both of those numbers are way too many.
Nearly 23% of the passes Roethlisberger threw went to McCloud. That is losing football and exactly what the opponent wants you to do. And while it was a debatable call, McCloud’s taunting penalty when down 30 points was also ridiculous.
Harris breaks long runs
Much of Harris’ production came when this game was out of reach when Kansas City was begging the Steelers to run the ball and eat clock. But Harris put a quality performance on tape nonetheless. He had two runs over 10 yards and four of his rushing attempts resulted in first downs. Still, Harris now has just two runs over 15 yards since Week 6.
Losing 30-0, the Steelers actually put their first scoring drive together. However, that drive ate over five minutes of clock and resulted in a Chris Boswell field goal. So those 15 plays produced three points…a trade Kansas City would make in an instant.
Chiefs defenders stand out
Twenty-two different Chiefs defenders played 22 or more snaps of a possible 72 in this game because Kansas City could get some backups key playing time while resting their top players.
This might be a breakout game for the Chiefs Tershawn Wharton, who gave the Steelers pass protection fits all afternoon. Wharton had a sack and caused a Roethlisberger fumble but was disruptive for most of the game.
In his second season, Willie Gay has really come on for Kansas City on the second level. Gay made plays all over the field and has rare athletic ability for the position.
Steelers linemen struggle
Pittsburgh’s blocking, especially from center to the left side of the offensive line, was totally overwhelmed by the Chiefs front seven, led by Chris Jones, but a unit that got great contributions from guys like Wharton and Gay. And in reality, this was far from Jones’ best outing, and Kansas City only needed him for 35 snaps in this game.
The Steelers could get guard Kevin Dotson back soon to provide some stability, as well as give the team a chance to better evaluate this young line for the future.
If we really squint, maybe we can look at Chukwuma Okorafor as a solid starting right tackle. His play has improved of late while guys like center Kendrick Green continue to be overwhelmed week after week. It has to be noted that JC Hassenauer played 27 snaps at center in this game and held up quite well.
And one last blocking note: while tight end Zach Gentry won’t ever be mistaken for Pat Freiermuth as a receiver, Gentry did have a fine day both pass and run blocking.
Focus on Hill
Understandably, the Steelers were extremely worried about Chiefs receiver Tyreek Hill and consistently put safety Minkah Fitzpatrick on Hill’s side of the formation to take away the deep ball. But Mahomes was patient and mature with his decisions and just keep feeding the open receivers. Just imagine if tight end Travis Kelce (covid) had played in this game.
It was Byron Pringle and Derrick Gore who really stepped up with Hill’s services not needed for long and Clyde Edwards-Helaire leaving this game with a collarbone injury. Pringle caught six of his seven targets for 75 yards and two touchdowns while also leading all Chiefs wide receivers in snaps played and routes run.
Pringle’s 2.68 yards produced per route run is an exceptional number. Running back Derrick Gore compiled 43 rushing yards on 10 attempts but made a big play as a receiver as well and finished the day with 104 yards from scrimmage. Nine different Chiefs caught a pass from Mahomes on Sunday, and Hill only had to play 29 of a possible 69 snaps after not practicing all week.
Fitzpatrick again plays well
As for Fitzpatrick, he again showed up in a very positive manner against the Chiefs. He broke up passes, came up and played the run and helped take away big plays. Fitzpatrick keeps racking up big tackle numbers every week and his tackling has greatly improved from the start of the year. That being said, a safety that spends much of his time well off the ball shouldn’t be forced into so many situations to rack up tackle numbers. He has 26 tackles over the past two weeks. That isn’t how you draw up the defense.
Tough day for red zone defense
The Steelers defense was horrid in the red zone. Coming into this game, Pittsburgh’s red zone defense ranked fourth in the NFL. But in Kansas City’s six trips into the red zone, they scored four touchdowns and didn’t face nearly enough resistance in tight quarters. And the two times the Chiefs didn’t turn a red zone opportunity the game was already well out of reach for Pittsburgh.
Attacking Mahomes
Blitzing Mahomes is a bad idea as he just destroys defenses that bring extra pass-rushers. The Steelers blitzed just four times, and Mahomes completed all four of those attempts. He racked up 53 yards and a touchdown pass on those four opportunities in which Pittsburgh sent added pressure.
Mahomes was exceptional at getting the ball out of his hands crisply and quickly while dissecting Pittsburgh’s defense. Still, a little bit of pass-rush shouldn’t be too much to ask for from this defense.
Linebacker T.J. Watt did make an impact despite his rib injury, but availability was once again an issue for the Steelers star defender. Watt played just 38 of a possible 69 snaps in this game and was clearly playing in pain. Chiefs right tackle Andrew Wylie had his way with Watt at times in the run game.
Chiefs rookie center Creed Humphrey really stood out in this game, as he has all year.
Coming into this game, only the Vikings averaged more sacks per game than Pittsburgh. It wasn’t all dinking and dunking for Mahomes though. He completed seven passes over 10 yards downfield for 125 yards and a touchdown.
D-linemen trending up and down
Defensive lineman Isaiahh Loudermilk remains an intriguing prospect. His role grew — deservedly so — with Chris Wormley unable to play in this game. The Steelers have slowly given Loudermilk more and more this year, and he looks to be passing every test.
That being said, defensive lineman Henry Mondeaux is trending the other direction. His time of getting significant playing time should be coming to an end.
Inside linebackers OK vs. run
Inside linebacker Devin Bush was inactive for this contest and while Bush’s play has been a problem all year, he did play a little better last week against the Titans. His replacement, Robert Spillane was picked on by Mahomes in the passing game. Spillane and Joe Schobert were OK (at best) against the run, and Spillane brought an aggression that has been lacking, but the second level of Pittsburgh’s defense made little positive impact once again on the outcome of the game.
Haden targeted in secondary
Another spot of this defense that stood out in a negative manner was the play of cornerback Joe Haden. He was targeted eight times and allowed eight receptions. It should be noted that Ahkello Witherspoon played 27 snaps against the Chiefs, had an interception that was called back, and very well could have been Pittsburgh’s best cover man in this game. His role is expanding, as it should.
Long drives plague defense
The Steelers’ defense’s inability to get off the field has reached catastrophic levels — this is now six games in a row in which Pittsburgh last lost the time of possession battle. As has become the case every week, Kansas City had scoring drives of 14, 10 and 12 plays. In this case, it was easy completions from Mahomes rather than just running it down Pittsburgh’s throats, but the Steelers still bumped their streak to eight straight games allowing 100 yards on the ground.
The Steelers defense simply doesn’t have the depth to handle so many defensive snaps. In reality, very few defenses in the NFL truly do and the saying, “Less defense is better defense” is absolutely true in the NFL right now.
Here are some snap counts from defensive players that ideally, you really don’t want playing all that much: Montravius Adams (34 snaps), Mondeaux (24), Derrek Tuszka (22), Taco Charlton (13), John Simon (11), Ulysees Gilbert (9).
Punter elevates special teams
As for special teams, the Steelers might just have something in Corliss Waitman. The 26-year-old punter was signed extremely late in the week and was dropped right into action on the road in a tough environment. Waitman only punted twice, but both were beauties. He averaged 60.5 yards per punt, although his second one got a lot of yardage after it landed. But that punt also very well could have been downed inside the 10-yard line. At a minimum, the Steelers should see what Waitman can do next week.
As for the rest of this phase, there weren’t any big plays created in a game in which the Steelers needed every edge and hidden yard they could get — something that never came from the special teams.
Overall thoughts
This is a bottom third of the league team right now. That being said, 9-7-1 could still get Pittsburgh into the postseason believe it or not. Pittsburgh really benefited from the Chargers, Ravens, Broncos and Browns all losing in Week 16, although the Dolphins are coming on strong and won Monday night. All four teams in the AFC North are still alive, which is just amazing.
The Steelers now have an extra day to recoup before hosting Cleveland on Monday night in what likely will be Roethlisberger’s final game at Heinz Field. It isn’t over for the Steelers, but they are still a poor team as we speak, and they sure showed exactly that in Kansas City.
Remove the ads from your TribLIVE reading experience but still support the journalists who create the content with TribLIVE Ad-Free.