Steelers vs. Chiefs preview
The Pittsburgh Steelers will face the Kansas City Chiefs this week on Monday Night Football.
The Steelers are coming off of an impressive win over the reigning world champion New York Giants. Now they face the 1-7 Kansas City Chiefs. The Chiefs have been a model of futility. They’ve turned the ball over more than any other team in the NFL. They’re so bad on offense that they’ve actually struggled to decide which is the better choice for starting quarterback, Matt Cassell or Brady Quinn. That alone should be a clear indication of how bad they are. If Brady Quinn were on the Steelers, he’d be the 4th string quarterback. Or the backup holder for field goals.
But let’s not take the Chiefs too lightly. After all, their lone win did come against the New Orleans Saints. Yeah, the ones with Drew Brees. So the Steelers have to be careful to stay focused on the Chiefs, and not look past them to next week’s game against the Baltimore Ravens. If they take the Chiefs too lightly, they may join the Saints in losing to them.
One person who will have extra incentive to win the game is offensive coordinator Todd Haley. Haley was the Chiefs head coach before being fired. While Haley says that this game has no special meaning for him, we all know that that’s not true. He’d like to beat that Chiefs 150-0. In fact, he may even allow Big Ben to throw long passes to Mike Wallace (something we haven’t seen very often this season), just to embarrass the Chiefs.
For the Steelers, there will be good news and bad news when they face the Chiefs. The good news is that they’ll have far more running backs available to them than they had last week. Rashard Mendenhall returned to practice this week, and he’ll be available to the Steelers in a pinch. However, the team probably won’t use him. But they will use Jonathan Dwyer. Dwyer was also out last week. Chris Rainey will also be returning this week. And last week’s hero, Isaac Redman will also be playing. That’s good for the Steelers, but bad for the Chiefs.
But the bad news for the Steelers is that wide receiver Antonio Brown still won’t be available to play. In fact, he’s likely to be out for several more games. And on defense, Troy Polamalu still isn’t ready to return to the lineup.
Even playing at less than full strength, the Steelers should still be able to beat the Chiefs. The Chiefs rank 29th in the NFL in points scored, while the Steelers have the #1 defense in the NFL. That should prove to be a mismatch.
I’m predicting a Steelers win, with a final score of 31-13.
Go Steelers!
Cold front blew in right on schedule. Beautiful weather.
1It’s like a pall at Heinz Field.. For the Chiefs.