The Steelers finally went to work fast and jumped all over an opponent.
Their 43-14 rout Sunday night of the Chiefs represented the first time that Ben Roethlisberger, Le'Veon Bell and Antonio Brown played a complete game together since they beat the Chiefs two seasons ago. And it looked like none of the big three had missed a beat. Roethlisberger threw five touchdowns, Brown caught two of them and a 2-point conversion, and Bell gained 178 total yards from scrimmage.
The defense also had a huge night, forcing two first-quarter turnovers that allowed for the quick lead. They also notched four sacks of the Chiefs' Alex Smith, three by Cameron Heyward, who would also bat a pass that led to an interception for Jarvis Jones.
This film room session reviews some of the big plays that showed the dominance at Heinz Field:
TAKING FLIGHT
The passing game missed several opportunities to make big plays last week against the Eagles, but that was not the case this week. This play was one of several where Roethlisberger carved up the Chiefs' secondary as his offensive line absorbed their pass rush. What you cannot see on the play is how the deep safety flowed away from Brown's side of the field and Roethlisberger did not hesitate to take the deep shot.
Last week, we reviewed how Roethlisberger missed multiple opportunities like this which the Eagles presented to him with Brown.
As we said in our preview, the Chiefs' top cornerback, Marcus Peters, was going to stay to one side of the field instead of following Brown around the field as the Chiefs' defense stuck to their system. Knowing that meant that Roethlisberger knew pre-snap that if the deep safety shaded away from Brown that the deep ball would be a good opportunity to break the game open.
DEFENSE CREATED TURNOVERS
The defense certainly turned up the heat on Kansas City as Keith Butler dialed up blitzes from different players and different looks all game.
This play was a big example what pressure and aggressiveness can do for this defense. Jordan Dangerfield came off the left edge and disrupted the timing of a screen, and Heyward kept his head up and was able to tip a pass that found its way into Jones' hands for his second career interception.
Notice how even without Dangerfield's pressure, the interior linemen and linebackers at the line of scrimmage were doing a pretty good job of reading the screen. Stephon Tuitt was being a wrecking ball to the middle of the line, and Javon Hargrave was rolling to the flat to help take away lead blockers for the potential screen.
BELL AND THE O-LINE DOMINATE
The Steelers' offensive line had a big game against a tough Chiefs' defensive front, but this play was ridiculous. Watch how Maurkice Pouncey and B.J. Finney pulled down the line as lead blockers for Bell. Finney does a solid job picking up his assignment, but thanks to a great job by Jesse James and Alejandro Villanueva, Pouncey has nobody to block and decides to turn up the field with Bell and help keep defensive backs away from his superstar back. DK writes about this play more today, too.
Despite missing Ramon Foster and losing Marcus Gilbert, the offensive line looked solid as Finney put in a very impressive performance in his first start. Dangerfield did not look out of place at all as he filled in for Robert Golden at strong safety for his own first NFL start, and Vince Williams was flying to the ball this week as he replaced Ryan Shazier.
This was an elite performance from a Steelers team that has a lot of potential. As the week rolls on, we will take a closer look when the coaching camera angles become available, but there is a whole lot to study and like about this week from both replacement players and starters.
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