4. The quick passing game was humming for the Chiefs last week.
The Chiefs’ offensive gameplan against Houston, which relied on a quick passing attack, worked quite well against the Texans’ dynamic pass-rush.
On dropbacks in which quarterback Patrick Mahomes threw the ball in fewer than 2.5 seconds, he completed 17-of-19 attempts for 155 yards and a touchdown. Those numbers worked out to an average yards-per-attempt of 8.2 and a passer rating of 118.2.
That scheme could make some sense against the Steelers, who have recorded the second-most quarterback knockdowns (60) of any team in the league. Notably, the trio of edge rusher T.J. Watt (11.5 sacks), defensive tackle Cameron Heyward (8.0 sacks) and edge rusher Alex Highsmith (6.0 sacks) is one the better groups of pass-rushers in the NFL.
Watt, in particular, leads the league with 18 tackles-for-loss this season. He also ranks third in the NFL in quarterback hits with 27.
Additionally, this will mark the third-straight week that Kansas City will have faced an edge rusher who ranks among the league-leaders in sacks. Fortunately, the Chiefs held the first two (Cleveland’s Myles Garrett and Houston’s Danielle Hunter) without a sack in those respective matchups. Kansas City will now aim to do the same to Watt.
5. Steelers’ kicker Chris Boswell has made the most field goals of any player in the league.
Boswell – who leads the NFL in points with 149 – has connected on a league-most 39 field goals this season, successfully connecting on all but three of his attempts for the year. The veteran kicker has been perfect inside the 39-yard line this season, and on kicks beyond that mark, he’s still an impressive 19-for-22. Additionally, his 12 successful kicks of 50+ yards rank third in the league.
His services have been necessary, too, because Pittsburgh has scored touchdowns in the red zone at the third-worst rate (48%) of any team in the NFL. Digging a bit deeper, the Steelers also rank second-to-last in terms of “goal-to-go” touchdown efficiency (at 58.3%) and have settled for a field goal on seven of 24 drives.
The Chiefs, meanwhile, have posted the league’s No. 8 red zone defense this season (at 51.1%) and held Houston to a 1-for-3 mark last week. Kansas City now owns the No. 3 scoring defense in the NFL through Week 16, and with a shot at the No. 1 overall seed in the AFC playoff picture in sight, the Chiefs will aim to turn in another strong defensive performance on Wednesday.
