The Steelers beat the Chiefs. The Patriots beat the Steelers. So what did the Patriots do that the Chiefs couldn’t? Terez Paylor has a solid read on this you should check out. A few of the things I saw:
Le’Veon Bell got hurt. Injuries aren’t an excuse, blah blah blah ... Bell was dominant against the Chiefs. He got hurt early against the Patriots. Sometimes being healthy is your best strength.
The Patriots stopped the run. See: Bell’s injury. DeAngelo Williams had 34 yards on 14 carries while Bell had 20 yards on six carries. Bell had 30 carries for 170 yards against the Chiefs.
The Patriots didn’t have any awful drops. On a flea-flicker, Tom Brady hit Chris Hogan perfectly for a touchdown. Alex Smith went deep to Travis Kelce and he dropped it instead of putting the Chiefs in the red zone. The Chiefs had a few drops in that game that hurt them.
The quarterback was better. Tom Brady was 32/42 for 384 yards and three touchdowns. An absolute clinic on how to carve that defense up. Alex Smith was 20/34 for 172 yards, one touchdown and one pick. The Steelers scored one more point against the Chiefs (18) than they did against the Patriots (17).
The Patriots were at home. Oh, the Chiefs were, too? Damn it.