Quarterback grade: Alex Smith, 82.4
Smith rarely under pressure
Alex Smith took a few more deep shots down the field than he averaged over the regular season. He was off-target on a few, but also had a couple of well-placed ones, including a deep pass to tight end Travis Kelce that was dropped. He also had a few nice intermediate throws, but the majority of the Chiefs’ passing game revolved around the line of scrimmage, as usual. Nearly one-third of his completions came on passes thrown behind the line scrimmage, and 16 of 29 targeted passes were under 10 yards downfield.
Top offensive grades:
QB Alex Smith, 82.4
RT Mitchell Schwartz, 81.8
RG Laurent Duvernay-Tardif, 79.3
LT Eric Fisher, 72.0
TE Travis Kelce, 67.9
Offense fails to outscore touchdown-less Steelers
Anytime the opposing team is held without a touchdown, it gives you a pretty good shot at winning. However, Kansas City managed just three scores on the night, and a disastrous holding penalty by LT Eric Fisher on the successful two-point conversion hurt the Chiefs’ chances of tying it up at the end. Tight end Travis Kelce finished the game with five catches for 77 yards, but he disappeared for long stretches of time and his dropped pass would have put the Chiefs in the red zone, and instead they never got past the 30-yard line on that drive. Wideouts Jeremy Maclin and Albert Wilson also dropped passes, and the former had just two catches for 28 yards. Kansas City did OK when running the ball, but Spencer Ware was only given eight carries and Tyreek Hill three. They couldn’t sustain drives in the first half, and when they could later in the game, they still abandoned the run.
Top defensive grades:
LB Ramik Wilson, 83.9
CB Marcus Peters, 82.5
CB Steven Nelson, 82.0
CB Terrance Mitchell, 76.3
OLB Frank Zombo, 74.8
Feeling the loss of Derrick Johnson
One can’t help but wonder if things would have gone differently if Kansas City’s veteran linebacker was still healthy. Terrance Smith was a complete non-factor after getting bumped up the depth chart. He was walked off the line of scrimmage multiple times by the Steelers’ interior linemen. Ramik Wilson played well in his stead, registering five stops, but even he got sealed out multiple times at the second level, creating big plays.
By saying Alex Smith was the best player they are basically saying everyone stunk together.
