Maybe they were inspired by Hall of Fame Sackmaster Kevin Greene, who spoke to the team before the game per Mike Tomlin’s request. Maybe they were tired of being ridiculed for going three games without so much as one sack. More likely they knew they were capable of so much more and decided to play like it.
Cam Heyward and Stephon Tuitt dominated the Kansas City Chiefs Sunday night at Heinz Field.
“We have the best big people in the NFL,” Steelers linebacker Vince Williams said. “Those guys are phenomenal players.”
The talk shows will be buzzing this week about Ben Roethlisberger’s five touchdown passes in the rain and the successful return of running back Le’Veon Bell with 144 rushing yards in the Steelers’ 43-14 bounce-back victory. That is as it should be. They were terrific. But, make no mistake, it was Heyward and Tuitt who led the way and made that 34-3 loss to the Eagles in Philadelphia a week earlier seem like a mere bump in the road on the way to Super …
I know. I’m getting way ahead of myself.
But that doesn’t change the fact that Heyward and Tuitt — arguably the two best defensive players on the team — made it a long, horrible night for Chiefs quarterback Alex Smith and his offense and pulled the Steelers into a first-place tie in the AFC North Division with the Baltimore Ravens at 3-1.
“They’re as good as any defensive ends in the league,” Roethlisberger said. “But as I told them, this can’t be just an occasional thing. They’re good enough to do that every week.”
It started on Kansas City’s first possession when Tuitt twice hurried Smith into bad throws and Heyward bull-rushed guard Zach Fulton to get the first of his three sacks in the game. The Steelers had just seven pressures and one sack in the first three games, the sack a cheap one at that by linebacker Arthur Moats for 0 yards against the Cincinnati Bengals.
“I thought everybody got pressure,” Heyward said. “I might have gotten three, but it wasn’t just me. Tuitt had some really nice pressures. I just cleaned up the trash.”
Tuitt struck again on the first play of the Chiefs’ second possession, forcing a fumble by running back Spencer Ware. Ross Cockrell’s recovery at the Kansas City 32 set up the first of Roethlisberger’s four first-half touchdown passes, 31 yards to wide receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey.
Then, it was Heyward’s turn again. On the Chiefs’ next possession, he reached high to tip a Smith pass at the line of scrimmage, setting up linebacker Jarvis Jones with an easy interception. That led to Roethlisberger’s touchdown pass to Antonio Brown on the next play for a 15-0 lead. On and on, it went like that.
You almost could hear television sets on Football Night in America being turned to the season premiere of Madam Secretary.
Heyward set up a sack by Williams after again powering through Fulton and picked up two more sacks of his own in the second half. Tuitt deflected a Smith pass for an incompletion to add to his big night.
That’s four sacks and a whole bunch of quarterback hurries if you are keeping score at home.
Greene, who had 160 sacks in his marvelous career and was honored at halftime for his Hall of Fame induction in August, loved every minute of it. He’s probably still waving his Terrible Towel.
Greene’s pregame message?
“Have fun. Kick butt,” Heyward said.
Heyward also enjoyed the night. He is a Steelers defensive captain, along with William Gay, and the conscience of the unit. He was embarrassed in Philadelphia, using words like “stunk” and “We got our [fannies] kicked” to describe the carnage rookie quarterback Carson Wentz caused.
“We’re not going to be defined by this,” Heyward growled after that game.
The Steelers defense wasn’t, at least not on this night.
Making the performance even more impressive is it came without injured linebacker Ryan Shazier, safety Robert Golden and slot cornerback Sean Davis. Williams filled in for Shazier and made tackles all over the field, 15 total. Jordan Dangerfield started for Golden and held his own. Artie Burns and Justin Gilbert — taking his first snaps on defense — did the heavy lifting for Davis.
It was 36-0 before the Chiefs scored for the first time early in the fourth quarter. Heyward was happy but was quick to point out it was just one game — just like the Philadelphia game. Bouncing back from that game was one thing. This week, leading up to a game Sunday at Heinz Field against the New York Jets, presents a different challenge.
“It’s going to be tougher this week,” Heyward said. “When it comes down to it, it’s easier to respond from a loss than a win. We don’t want to rest on our laurels.”
Heyward won’t allow it.
Neither will Roethlisberger.
Ron Cook: rcook@post-gazette.com and Twitter@RonCookPG. Ron Cook can be heard on the “Cook and Poni” show weekdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on 93.7 The Fan.
First Published: October 3, 2016, 4:12 a.m.
