LOCATION-HEINZ FIELD
PITTSBURGH,PA—Tonight the Pittsburgh Steelers host the Kansas City Chiefs in a primetime Sunday Night Football matchup. This game represents a heated game between two potential playoff contenders, who will see their prized running backs return to action for the first time this year. Chiefs' back Jamaal Charles has been on the disabled list with a torn ACL from the previous season, while Le’Veon Bell is returning from suspension. Charles has averaged an astonishing five yards per carry during his career and has been the Chief’s leading rusher three of the past four years. PREGAME NOTES Both the Chiefs and Steelers are entering this week's key matchup with a 2-1 record. Last season's matchup went well for KC fans as the Chiefs were able to take down a Big Ben-less Pittsburgh Steelers squad 23-13. However, injuries will not be a factor in this years matchup. Both teams are welcoming back their All-star caliber running backs. Le'Veon Bell returns to the Steelers after missing time for violating the NFL's substance abuse policy in which he failed to report to his drug test resulting in automatic positive test. In the Chiefs' backfield, Jamaal Charles will be returning from another offseason battle. Charles tore his ACL during last years regular season which was his second injury of this sort. Charles was given the green light this week to participate in this week's game but due to his age and the severity of his injury, it is safe to assume he will be given a light workload. After a devastating lost to the Philadelphia Eagles in week 3 it will be interesting to see if the Steelers can get the high powered offense going against a stingy Kansas City defense. Ben Roethlisberger wants revenge from last season's lost and has the offensive weapons to challenge any defense in the league. Antonio Brown is one of the most dynamic receivers in the game and finds himself regularly shredding defenses while Le'Veon Bell waits patiently in the backfield to deliver the knockout punch. The question is if his two favorite weapons will produce big numbers against a defense looking to prove themselves to the entire league. GAME NOTES/SUMMARY Big Ben threw for three touchdowns on six offensive snaps in the first quarter, two to Antonio Brown and Derraius Heyward-Bey added one as well. While the Chiefs could not find any rhythm in the first quarter due to an early fumble by running back Spencer Ware and a costly interception by Alex Smith on the very next drive. Three punts and two turnovers put the Chiefs down in the first quarter. The dominance shown in the first quarter only continued. Ben Roethlisberger, was responsible for throwing four passing touchdowns by halftime. He threw two touchdowns to their most dangerous wide receiver Antonio Brown, and then also found Heyward-Bey and Jesse James for scores. While their offense continued to dominate, Kansas City’s offense did not fare as well. At halftime, the score was 29-0 in favor of Pittsburgh, but our offense surrendered two turnovers in that same time frame. Alex Smith, Quarterback of the Chiefs, failed to compare statistically, but I believed that he would lead the offense to a better second half performance. After a dominant first half from the Steelers, the Chief’s received the ball in the second half first, and looked to gain momentum early. in the second half. Unfortunately, the Steelers struck first as Big Ben and company marched down field, completing a touchdown pass to Markus Wheaton and took a commanding lead, 36-0. Kansas City only possessed the ball twice on that drive in which resulted in yet another punt and an long eighteen play drive that resulted in a turnover on downs at the goal line. In the fourth quarter, Alex Smith connected with receiver Tyreke Hill for a ten-yard touchdown to finally get the Chiefs on the board. The Steelers responded immediately with a touchdown from running back Deangelo Williams extending the lead 43-7. On the final drive of the game, Alex Smith was able to complete his second touchdown pass of the night to tight end Travis Kelce in garbage time. The Chief’s lost a tough and embarrassing road game, 43-14. The Chiefs will enter their well-needed bye week with plenty of film that will be watched to solve many of the issues they faced against the Steelers. POST GAME NOTES Well, the Chiefs and Steelers game turned out completely different than anyone could have expected. The first quarter ended with Pittsburg being ahead of Kansas City 22-0. Considering that the Steelers lost by a large margin during the previous week, expectations were that they would be rather sluggish versus the Chiefs and their stingy defense. Pittsburgh saw star running back Le’Veon Bell return to the lineup after an NFL-mandated suspension, and it was as if he did not miss a beat, rushing for 144 yards on 18 attempts while adding 34 yards receiving. Only fantasy football owners would be disappointed with this performance as he did not find the end zone during this blowout. He paced the Steelers’ running attack, which only elevated the passing game. Antonio Brown added two touchdowns himself as he continued to show why he is such a dynamic part of the offense. The final score was 43-14, as the Steelers thumped the Chiefs behind the passing attack of Ben Roethlisberger completing 22/27 attempts and five touchdowns. Jamaal Charles' much anticipated debut was cut short as he only rushed on two attempts for 7 yards before checking out of the game and did not return. Alex Smith was forced to attempt 50 passes to generate any progress for the Chiefs but the defense had no answer for the high powered Steelers offense. GAME INFORMATION Location- Heinz Field, 100 Art Rooney Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15212 Time-8:30 pm ET , October 2, 2016 Attendance-61,278 Capacity-64,000 Referees: Greg Gautreaux, Ronald Tobert, Greg Yette, Jim Howey, Mark Steinkerchner, Paul King, Aaron Santi Steelers Roster Chiefs Roster DEADLINE It was hard for me to meet the deadline for this game, I traveled to Pittsburgh, got rained/hailed on but overall enjoyed my time. I was not able to leave the game until after midnight. It was difficult to meet the deadline of 11:55 because the game started at 8:30pm and was not over until midnight and the train was another 20 minutes to get to my hotel, not including getting lost in my first visit to Pittsburgh. I do enjoy writing on the go, because it has advantages such as providing in the moment thoughts. Due to the weather I was forced to take notes only during halftime or when weather cooperated but shortly after arriving at my hotel I was able to warm up and upload this article.
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