Steelers insider Gerry Dulac shares his real-time notes from each quarter of Steelers-Chiefs:
Third quarter
• The start of the second half wasn’t much better. Mahomes came out with three consecutive completions for 49 yards to get to the Steelers 13. But the defense forced three consecutive incompletions and the Chiefs had to settle for a 32-yard field goal from Harrison Butker.
• Wilson continues to make plays with his feet, scrambling for 15 yards on 3rd-and-9 to the Chiefs 44.
• Do we need to see anymore from the RB rotation? Keep getting 30 the ball.
• Warren’s 21-yard catch-and-run on a swing pass was the other big play in the drive that resulted in Chris Boswell’s 36-yard field goal.
• Mahomes is on fire. He's completed 8 of 8 passes for 82 yards to the Steelers 6. Uh oh.
Second quarter
• Freiermuth upstaging Kelce with three catches for 37 yards, including 15-yarder to the KC 5 to set up Wilson’s 1-yard run. Finally. What have they been waiting for?
• I think it’s easy to see the better running back choice today (maybe longer). Warren has six carries for 50 yards, not counting the 8-yard TD that was wiped out by a holding penalty. Harris has 5 carries for 19 yards.
• That’s a big comeback TD after the end-zone pick — 11 plays, 72 yards, five first downs. It’s 13-7.
• And it’s easy to see why Mahomes is so difficult to get on the ground. Just when it looks as though he’s going to be sacked, he finds a way to push, heave, shovel the ball out of the pocket.
• Explain that one to me: 3rd-and-3 and handoff to Cordarrelle Patterson, who hasn’t touched the ball all game. Stopped for 1 yard gain. Ugh.
• And please explain the infatuation with Patterson because I don’t get it.
• Steelers got a big break, though, when Chiefs had 12 men on the field for a bad punt by Corliss Waitman. Gives them a first down and, hopefully, encourages a better play call.
• It’s a not good day for the punter. Just a 30-yard punt from the 50 for Waitman.
• Minkah Fitzpatrick has, like, 143 tackles in the first half, but keeping Xavier Worthy to a 1-yard gain on 3rd-and-4 was huge.
First quarter
• Merry Christmas from Acrisure Stadium, where the Steelers will find out if they got coal or presents in their stockings against the Chiefs.
• Well, another three-and-out for the offense to start the game.
• And another receiver wide open in the red zone for a touchdown. This time Xavier Worthy. 7 yards. Chiefs missed the extra point because Worthy had unsportsmanlike penalty after his touchdown. The point after was from the 48 and was wide right.
• Patrick Mahomes 3 for 3 for 18 yards, plus a 14-yard scramble. Nothing great, just efficient as all heck.
• Another ball on the ground that the Steelers didn’t recover. That’s four in two games, three on special teams.
• Wilson has been sacked 25 times in six previous games against the Chiefs, the most by any team outside of the NFC West where Wilson resided for 11 years. He’s already been sacked twice for 21 yards on two series.
• James Pierre looked confused pre-snap on the play in which he was beaten for an 11-yard TD to WR Justin Watson.
• Not a good sign: trailing the Chiefs 13-0 in the first quarter.
• Watson, who had 19 catches coming into the game, has two for 60 yards already.
• One play after Jaylen Warren’s 8-yard TD run was negated by a holding penalty on Darnell Washington, Russell Wilson throws a bad interception in the end zone trying to get the ball to Pat Freiermuth.
• Big mistake given the circumstances. Just when it looked as though they were quickly getting back in the game
• Oh man, big missed opportunity. Patrick Queen dropped what would have been an interception after Cam Heyward tipped Mahomes pass in the air at the line of scrimmage from the Chiefs 28.
First Published: December 25, 2024, 6:47 p.m.
Updated: December 26, 2024, 3:09 a.m.
