|
Big Ben has not played remotely well but he is an extremely resilient guy if the game is close and he gets in a rhythm. The body simply isn’t there anymore, the arm isn’t there, but his mind can still diagnose as quickly as any in the league. If you keep the game close down the stretch you’ll be in a dogfight. He can be blitzed and brought down, but he doesn’t get shaken.
A lot of people have been singing about Najee Harris but I don’t see it — he seems at this point merely an above average back, and not even by that much. He’s a big load to being down and good in the passing game. Perhaps it’s because the offensive line is garbage. Chris Jones in particular will wreck these guys all game.
The WR, however, seem tailor made for what the Chiefs CBs have struggled with, and that’s YOLO jump catches, which if he has steady footing, Big Ban can place. In particular, Chase Claypool is going to be a problem there. We need to see Spags adjust.
This is not the same TJ Watt we saw a month ago. He seems completely healed somehow? THIS RIGHT HERE is why we acquired Orlando Brown. Can he largely handle Watt for 4 quarters? I assume we will be able to help Wylie against Highsmith, as we’ve been helping him all season. But Watt is going to be a serious, serious problem.
The Steelers do have talent on their DL but it wouldn’t shock me if we could manage to run on them a bit. I’m particular, I’d like to maybe see McKinnon get some shots at being explosive.
But we roasted these guys early in the season in part because Reid had their defense completely mastered. Mahomes lit up the stat sheet and the Chiefs did everything they wanted offensively, without Kelce at all and Hill for much of the game.
Under Mahomes, we’ve been able to shake our demons, most of them anyway. He’s avenged us against the Colts, the Titans, the Bills. Well the Steelers edged us in an infuriating Bob Sutton gameplan and typical Alex Smith implosion in the 2016 divisionals. We’re due to avenge them as well and send Big Ben to the glue factory.
|