James Harrison knocks himself in the helmet after drawing a hold on the pivotal play of the Steelers' playoff victory Jan. 15 in Kansas City. - MATT SUNDAY / DKPS

Steelers

Kovacevic: Flip those wrongs to rights

By Dejan Kovacevic

Oct 15, 2017 • 12:00 am

8.4K

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The sun will come up.

No, really, it will. After a 24-hour stretch of torrential rain and whipping winds out here in Dorothy-land, the weather forecast for the Steelers' semi-showdown with the last-of-the-undefeated Chiefs today calls for 100 percent sunshine and a sweet kickoff temp of 61.

So, you know, go do something with it.

The Steelers have an extraordinary opportunity here. They can flip a whole lot of wrongs into a whole lot of rights:

• Ben Roethlisberger is coming off five interceptions, and he was bad. But he's also been much worse, if one seriously studies those sequences and grasps what all went awry on each one. And when he's had a bad game -- meaning the six times he's thrown three or more interceptions -- he's 6-0 the following week.

• Intangibly but maybe more important, if doubts about Roethlisberger's commitment to continuing his football career are grounded in so much as a sliver of reality, that'd be poison for all concerned. But if he's as focused, as fired up as he's come across these past few days ... there would be your biggest flip. What a boon a victory Sunday would be for the franchise quarterback. Just picture it.

• The receivers other than Antonio Brown haven't gotten the job done, and I'm lumping the tight ends in here, too, unless anyone can conceive of a reason to let all zero of Vance McDonald's catches slide.

I'm squarely in the corner of getting Eli Rogers more involved, if only because Roethlisberger's reads historically have gone something like this:

1. Look for AB.

2. Damn, AB's triple-covered.

3. Where's Heath?

Heath Miller isn't around anymore, though his name sure came up more than ever in the past week. That's because Roethlisberger has missed his great safety valve, maybe never more than against the Jaguars, who'd openly mock him afterward as having been "flustered" because they knew they only needed to head off AB and, presumably, that Heath wasn't around, either.

So yeah, let's see Eli. He's not big on yards after the catch, but he finds open space over the middle and at least it'll take more than a soggy Q-tip to take him down, unlike Martavis Bryant. Throw in some more Le'Veon Bell in the flat, and the Steelers might finally get that intermediate-route game back.

• That said, there'd be little sense in burying Martavis. The mere sight of his breaking the huddle can stretch a field, and the Steelers would have safeties up their nostrils if he's not out there.

Besides, imagine if he looked anything like he did all through training camp.

• Let's see the offensive line live up to the hype.

Not that the hype isn't legit. Excellence absolutely should be the bar for a group this experienced, this together and, yeah, this expensive. With all due respect to a decent showing in Baltimore, it's well past time to start earning all that beyond a single game.

Marcus Gilbert's back. That's huge. He might be the best right tackle in the game, and he's a ton better than Chris Hubbard. Ramon Foster's back ... is ailing right now, so he might not be good to go. But B.J. Finney, with all his underhanded guile in the trenches, is a competent shock to the system when he's out there. Alejandro Villanueva is healthy, but he's been a mess on the field, and it's hard not to connect that with the mess off the field post-Chicago.

Imagine if Villanueva got right. Imagine if that allowed him and a whole lot of people to finally, fully close that chapter.

• Most of the flipping's got to be done by the offense, but the defense is hardly exempt.

The Chiefs' 32.8 points per game leads the NFL, and that's mostly because of Alex Smith performing at an MVP level to this point. And make no mistake: That's the script this weekend. It's all about him and that wild 125.8 passer rating, 11 touchdowns and no interceptions. Heck, he's even attempting passes longer than his arm this season.

Well, sorry, but water finds its level in the real world, and Smith is due for one whale of a correction. Even with the current surge counted, he's got an 86.8 career passer rating, 91 interceptions and 50 fumbles in his dozen years and 146 games in the NFL. The man's 33. He hasn't topped 20 touchdowns in half a decade.

What's more, the two times he faced the Steelers' defense last season, once in the regular season and again in the playoffs, he went 0-2 with three touchdown passes, two picks, a 59.5 percent completion rate, five sacks and his team averaging 15 total points.

Maybe the Steelers have the NFL's No. 1-ranked pass defense primarily because they've faced a bunch of nobodies. But maybe they just needed a somebody like Smith to come along for their own big flip.

• Oh, one last one: James Harrison is washed up at age 39, right?

No need to flip anything in that equation other than poor Eric Fisher himself. You know, just like every single time Deebo's lined up against the Chiefs, not least of which was his comedic domination of the former No. 1 overall pick in the playoff victory this past January:

And, of course, the holding call Harrison drew on Fisher that would seal a trip to the AFC Championship Game:

Nope, the Steelers have no chance today.

WHAT'S BREWING

• Matt Gajtka and Christopher Carter will represent us on the panel of our news partner WPXI-TV's 'Subway Final Word.' It's scheduled to air at 11:35 p.m., but it's almost always pushed back this time of year by the NFL night game.

• The first of our new, expanded Wilkes-Barre Watch features, spanning the Penguins' entire system including on-the-scene reports from Sara Civian, debuts Monday morning.

• Site Stuff this weekend reveals a new major partner for our business: Miller Lite. And there's more on the way.

STEELERS TODAY

• Event: Game vs. Chiefs

• Location: Kansas City, Mo.

• Kickoff: 4:25 p.m.

• Lots open: 11:55 a.m.

• Gates open: 2:25 p.m.

• Will call open: 2:55 p.m.

• Tickets: Available

• Our coverage: Kaboly, Sunday, DK

PENGUINS TODAY

• Event: No team activities