Your Gumbygirl/Revanchist (Steelers/Chiefs) Darby and Open Thread

Last one, I promise. I’ve a feeling GG would go way over the top if she went to the Kentucky Derby so I picked out a little something for her.

To The Game!

Steelers/Chiefs:

-How does Tomlin get these severely flawed teams into the playoffs all the freakin’ time? Well, this time Pitt limited opposing teams to 14 or less down the stretch-that way you can get the W while only scoring 20 or so.

-The Steelers only loss during that time was a doozy and particularly relevant. It was a 36-10 whooping by these very Chiefs.

-Since the bye Mahomes’ YPA is a ‘mere’ 7.8, far below where he should be but we’ve heard time and again that teams have taken the deep stuff away from him.  So what is he supposed to do? Of course he’s going to work the short and intermediate routes for all their worth.

-As well, talk of Patty not posting his usual numbers really misses the point about this well-balanced Chiefs team. The yin/yang is much stronger with this edition. They’ve held nine(!) teams to 20 points or less this season. There’s no need for Mahomes to go bananas as he’s had to do in the past.

-So there should be some credit given to Steve Spagnuolo. ‘Spags’ to me is the perfect DC in that he has his base concepts of course but as the season progresses he identifies strengths and emphasizes them. He’s built rock-solid defenses using pressure from the interior line and also done the same by focusing on a gifted secondary.

-Juju has been out of commission since October but says he expects to play today. A physical wr that is a very effective blocker, I’m sure Najee will welcome his return-he’ll need all the help he can get.

-Depending on the metric the Steelers are the worst vs the run (I’d have bet the Chargers me-self) so maybe the sneaky play is Derrick Gore? (I’m guessing that Boris addressed this in his column)

Go get ’em.