Tag: Steelers vs Chiefs

Is dissention brewing among the Steelers players?

Several Steelers players questioned the team’s effort after Wednesday’s loss including Calvin Austin III.

There’s nothing like a three-game losing streak to bring out the ugliest parts of an NFL roster. On Christmas Day, the Pittsburgh Steelers laid down and got blown out by the Kansas City Chiefs to fall to 10-5 on the season and lost the lead in the AFC North.

This prompted multiple players to air their discontent publicly when they addressed the media after the game. We already talked about safety DeShon Elliott calling out his defensive teammates for not doing their job and we heard Cameron Heyward say something similar.

The offense wasn’t immune from public criticism on Wednesday night. Wide receiver Calvin Austin III aired his issues with his teammates as well,

“It’s more frustrating when you give it to them almost and you don’t put up a winning effort,” Austin said. This felt less like a personal call-out like what Elliott and Heyward did but it still calls into question how hard the Steelers played.

Now the Steelers have a mini bye week to try to right the ship and get everyone on the same page before they wrap up the regular season against the Cincinnati Bengals.

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Steelers S DeShon Elliott calls out teammates on defense`

According to DeShon Elliott, some of his teammates aren’t doing their jobs.

On Wednesday, the Kansas City Chiefs proved to be the third straight team to expose the Pittsburgh Steelers defense. In particular the secondary. Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes threw for an easy 320 yards as Chiefs receivers and tight ends ran free against the Steelers defense.

After the team’s 29-10 loss to Kansas City, all the talk was about issues with communication on defense. Strong safety DeShon Elliott, who returned from missing two weeks with injury wasn’t hearing the excuses and called out his teammates for not doing their jobs.

“We communicated, guys just weren’t doing their freaking job,” Elliott said.

If this is the case, the responsibility for at least some of this has to fall at the feet of defensive coordinator Teryl Austin. For whatever reason, Austin seems to avoid criticism despite struggling with the most expensive defense in the NFL.

Austin’s group has one more shot to get things right before the start of the playoffs and that’s against the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 18.

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Mike Tomlin sums up loss to Steelers perfectly with 2 words

The Steelers performance against the Chiefs was miserable and Tomlin knows it.

We knew beating the Kansas City Chiefs wouldn’t be easy for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Even at nearly full health, the Steelers would have their work cut out for them. What ended up happening was the Steelers got blown out 29-10 at home on Christmas to extend their losing streak to three games.

When head coach Mike Tomlin addressed the media shortly after the game, he summed things up perfectly when he said, “That sucked.”

It did indeed. The Steelers offense was held back by poor play from quarterback Russell Wilson and far too many unforced errors by the offensive line. On defense the news was no better with Chiefs players running wide open in the passing game and quarterback Patrick Mahomes with far too much time to make plays.

Now the Steelers get another mini-bye week before taking on the Cincinnati Bengals at home in Week 18. The Steelers have already clinched a spot in the playoffs but could be letting the AFC North title slip through their fingers.

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Steelers get walloped on Christmas vs the Chiefs

The Steelers got blown out at home by the Chiefs.

Well, you can’t say it was because the Pittsburgh Steelers weren’t healthy. You can’t say it wasn’t because they were on the road. You can’t even blame the officials. Nope, Pittsburgh decided to celebrate Christmas by gifting the Kansas City Chiefs a blowout win for KC.

The Cheifs came to Pittsburgh and bullied the Steelers en route to a 29-10 win. Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes was masterful in carving up the highest-paid defense in the NFL who had no answers to stopping the pass.

On offense, the Steelers got wide receiver George Pickens back but it didn’t seem to help. Quarterback Russell Wilson has seriously regressed during this losing streak and looks more like the guy who struggled with the Denver Broncos than the guy from earlier in the season.

Now the Steelers need to hope the Baltimore Ravens lose to the Houston Texans so they can hold onto their lead in the AFC North going into the final week of the regular season.

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Steelers vs Chiefs injury updates: KC minus star defender

The Chiefs and Steelers will each be minus a top defensive player this week.

This week the Pittsburgh Steelers face a huge challenge in trying to get past the Kansas City Chiefs. However, according to ESPN NFL reporter Adam Schefter, the Steelers won’t have to contend with star defensive tackle Chris Jones.

Schefter is reporting that the calf injury Jones suffered will keep him out of the Christmas Day showdown. This is due in large part to the short week and lack of time to rehab and prepare for the game.

Pittsburgh is dealing with a similar situation with cornerback Joey Porter Jr. Porter suffered an ankle injury last week that is keeping him out of this week’s game but if the game were on Sunday instead of Wednesday, he might have a chance to play.

Steelers QB unlikely to play vs Chiefs

The Steelers look to be without Justin Fields vs the Chiefs.

According to NFL reporter Ian Rapoport, the Pittsburgh Steelers will not have the services of quarterback Justin Fields in today’s game versus the Kansas City Chiefs. Fields suffered an abdominal injury two weeks ago and was inactive versus the Baltimore Ravens last week.

If Fields cannot go, veteran Kyle Allen would serve as the primary backup to Russell Wilson and Fields would be listed as inactive but the team’s emergency third quarterback.

The absence of Fields means another week without having Fields in there as a threat to run the football. Pittsburgh has used Fields in a very limited capacity since turning to Wilson as the starter but for the most part, Fields has been effective. During the season, Fields has 289 rushing yards and 62 carries.