PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – Patrick Mahomes embarrassed the Steelers again. What Russell Wilson said of the offensive struggles. Some scathing quotes from the Steelers locker room in a 29-10 loss to the Chiefs on Christmas Day.
Mahomes finished 29-38 for 320 yards and three touchdowns. In his career against the Steelers 75-96 for 904 yards, 12 touchdowns and no interceptions.
He humiliated the Steelers defense again, whether it was conventional throws, his trademark unconventional flips or with his legs. Mahomes did whatever he wanted while not being sacked once and hurried only twice.
Steelers captain Cam Heyward said what is really frustrating is, they know what the Chiefs are doing. They know what is coming. He said they didn’t operate at a high level and they beat them to death and made it look easy.
“It's no secret that he's a hell of a player,” said captain TJ Watt. “He has great weapons. They have a good scheme. You can't afford to spot them points and allow them to scramble around in the pocket and have time, and we didn't have any success on any of the things I just said.”
“What can be said about him that hasn't been said in terms of his talents
and his knowledge of the offense, his relationship with his eligibles, his understanding of where people are, et cetera,” said Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin. “But when you think about today, man, I think about the short fields we gave them. The first touchdown drive was 40 yards. We turned the ball over in the second half. I think it was a 20-something yard drive in that half.”
“I know a guy like him with his talent level and resume, you can't give him short fields and things of that nature.”
In the last three meetings the Chiefs have outscored the Steelers 107-41.
Offense no better
There was a point where the offense and defense were working in concert with each other, now each is failing equally. Steelers were pushed around in Philadelphia, made too many mistakes against the Ravens and just overall inconsistent, with a couple of key mistakes against the Chiefs. In the last three games they’ve had a total of 10 second-half points.
Wednesday, it was a red zone pick, settling for a field goal, holding penalty negating a touchdown, even some of their rushing yards were in garbage time.
Tomlin noted the lack of situational playmaking and overall their performance was junior varsity.
“They played better than we did as a collective effort, as a collective team,” said Steelers quarterback Russell Wilson. “They capitalized on moments. We were 3rd and long too many times, especially in I think the second half. We just had too many situations where we were kind of backed up and couldn't get a rhythm in certain moments.”
“Score is 16-10 coming out of half, and we have a great opportunity to go down the field and try to make something happen, and nothing really happened for us the right way.”
“We've got to figure that out and study that and just see where we can get better.”
A lot of Steelers discussed looking in the mirror, Wilson can do that as well. In the last three games 3 touchdowns and two interceptions and averaging 183 yards a game.
“We’ve got to get better, and it starts with us, and just trying to find a way to capitalize on moments,” Wilson said.
Quotes
“The last three weeks we’ve played like s---, simple as that.”
Captain Cam Heyward
“You know that sucked, to be blunt.”
Head coach Mike Tomlin
“Guys can’t be (fudging) wide open. That’s the first thing, just do your job.”
Safety DeShon Elliott
“We need to continue to work, look ourselves in the mirror and get back to work.”
LB TJ Watt
“Junior varsity (play) is not good enough. We’ve got to own that.”
Mike Tomlin
“It’s more frustrating when you give it to the them almost and you don’t put up a winning effort.”
WR Calvin Austin
“We got to look in the mirror and own it. We have to realize we only have two guaranteed games left. We got to put our head down and work.”
LB Alex Highsmith
“We've also got to look at what it is we need to do different. We're not going to continue to do the same things and hope for a different result.”
Mike Tomlin
Inactives
Steelers announced corner Joey Porter, Junior and wide receiver Ben Skowronek wouldn’t play on Tuesday.
Three other decisions
· Justin Fields (emergency QB)-only a limited practice participant with an abdomen injury
· LB Preston Smith-first game he didn’t dress with Steelers
· DE Dean Lowry
Chiefs played without Pro Bowl defensive lineman Chris Jones.