FINAL: Steelers 17, Kansas City Chiefs 7
FOURTH QUARTER
2:00 Marcus Allen drills Kansas City tight end Blake Bell, knocking the ball loose. Tegray Scales falls on it. That should put the result out of question.
4:22 That one is going to count. Hodges finds Johnson for 24 yards, in between defenders down the left-side numbers. The officials reviewed Johnson’s diving catch, but it withstood scrutiny.
Boswell’s extra point is good. Steelers drive went 10 plays, 80 yards and took 5:48.
10:10 Devlin Hodges is in at quarterback for Pittsburgh. Dobbs finishes going 6 of 11 for 95 yards with an interception.
12:47 Rookie kicker Matthew Wright connects from 46 yards out into the open end at Heinz Field to mercifully break the tie.
14:15 Diontae Johnson thought he had his first NFL touchdown, but he was called for a push-off and offensive pass interference.
Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin threw a challenge flag and had the officials review their penalty call, the first time he’s done so under a new NFL rule.
The officials upheld the call.
THIRD QUARTER
9:03 Steelers doing some cross-training in the secondary. Mike Hilton moved from slot corner to free safety, Cameron Sutton moved from slot corner to outside corner and Kameron Kelly moved from free safety to slot corner.
HALFTIME LEADERS
Mason Rudolph 10-15, 77 yards
Chad Henne 7-14, 96 yards
James Conner 6 carries, 28 yards
Darwin Thompson, 4 carries, 30 yards
James Washington 3 catches, 73 yards
Deon Yelder 2 catches, 31 yards
SECOND QUARTER
0:11 An ill-advised throw by Josh Dobbs was intercepted and nearly returned for a touchdown. He made a nice tackle to stop a score, but went 0-for-2 in two tries in the two-minute drill.
0:28 Steelers drive stalls despite a long pass from Dobbs to Washington, but he’s going to get another shot. Henne fumbled the snap and Tuzar Skipper falls on it.
1:04 Josh Dobbs is in at quarterback to rn the two-minute offense.
Rudolph finishes 10 of 15 for 77 yards.
1:11 Chiefs get the score back before the half on a 17-yard pass from Chad Henne to Mecole Hardman, a second-round pick out of Georgia.
Extra point is good. Scoring drive goes 13 plays, 81 yards in 5:26 and sets up the Steelers with a two-minute offense opportunity.
6:11 Looks like the Steelers’ top backs and receivers are done for the day.
James Conner: 6 carries, 28 yards; 1 catch, 6 yards
JuJu Smith-Schuster: 3 targets, 0 catches
Donte Moncrief: 1 target, 1 catch, 1 yard, fumble
Vance McDonald: 1 target, 1 catch, 5 yards
6:39 Jaylen Samuels gets on the board with 14-yard scamper around the left side. The Steelers have been hitting the outside edges for good gains all night.
Chris Boswell hits the extra point. Scoring drive went 14 plays, 89 yards in 8:06.
FIRST QUARTER
7:26 The Steelers were hoping for a nice test from the Kansas City first-team offense, and Andy Reid said they might play a half, but Patrick Mahomes lasted just two series. Chad Henne in at quarterback and promptly sacked by Bud Dupree.
7:41 Steelers give it right back. Donte Moncrief coughed up the ball after a short completion from Rudolph. It is wet out there. Steelers had uncharacteristically mild weather throughout training camp. Haven’t had a ton of wet ball work.
7:54 Artie Burns and Terrell Edmunds forced a fumble after the Steelers were badly out-manned on a running play to their side of the field. Burns was the only unblocked black shirt at the point of attack and stood up Carlos Hyde. Edmunds ripped the ball out.
Turnovers have been a point of emphasis for the Steelers’ defense all season.
9:33 Steelers punt for the second time, one from each punter. Jordan Berry took the first rep, backup Ian Berryman took the second. Just 37 yards for Berryman.
11:09 Even though he’s dressed, there was no Devin Bush in the Steelers’ first defensive drive. He took warmups and is on the sideline in uniform, but doesn’t appear to have a helmet.
Bush missed some time in practice this week and Mike Tomlin suggested he could be dealing with an injury.
15:00 Steelers starters:
QB Mason Rudolph
RB James Conner
TE Vance McDonald
TE Xavier Grimble
WR JuJu Smith-Schuster
WR Donte Moncrief
LT Alejandro Villanueva
LG Ramon Foster
C B.J. Finney
RG Matt Feiler
RT Chukwuma Okorafor
DE Stephon Tuitt
NT Javon Hargrave
DE Cameron Heyward
OLB T.J. Watt
ILB Mark Barron
ILB Tyler Matakevich
OLB Bud Dupree
CB Steven Nelson
CB Artie Burns
FS Sean Davis
SS Terrell Edmunds
PREGAME NOTES
8:30 p.m. The Chiefs won the coin toss and will defer to the second half.
The Steelers prayed as a team before taking the field and the whole stadium offered a moment of silence for Darryl Drake.
8:00 p.m. The NFL doesn’t do official inactive for preseason games, but following players do not appear dressed for tonight’s game:
QB Ben Roethlisberger
TE Zach Gentry
TE Christian Scotland-Williamson
OL David DeCastro
OL Maurkice Pouncey
LB Vince Williams
LB Sutton Smith
LB Ola Adeniyi
CB Joe Haden
7:35 p.m: Make it 15 more minutes, as the Steelers have announced an 8:30 p.m. kickoff. The fans are filtering back into the seating area.
Kickoff is set for 8:30 p.m. ET.
— Pittsburgh Steelers (@steelers) August 17, 2019
🚨UPDATE🚨
All fans can now return to the seating area!
— Acrisure Stadium (@AcrisureStadium) August 17, 2019
7:30 p.m: Kickoff has been rescheduled for 8:15 p.m., a delay of 40 minutes.
Due to inclement weather in the area, players are expected to take the field at 6:30 CT with an anticipated kick off time of 7:15 CT.#KCvsPIT
— Kansas City Chiefs (@Chiefs) August 17, 2019
7:00 p.m: With a heavy rain coming down and storms into the area, the Steelers have cleared the field during warmups and delayed the kickoff of tonight’s game.
The Heinz Field staff has also cleared the stands, moving fans.
🚨UPDATE🚨
Due to incoming weather, all fans should leave the seating area and move inside.
We will update this message when the weather has cleared.
— Acrisure Stadium (@AcrisureStadium) August 17, 2019
A time for kickoff, originally scheduled for 7:35 p.m., has not been announced.
GAMEDAY INFO
Saturday, August 17, 7:35 p.m.
Heinz Field, Pittsburgh
SN Coverage: Alan Saunders, Mike Asti
TV/Radio: KDKA-TV (Pittsburgh) and NFL Network (Nationally), Steelers Radio Network (102.5 WDVE-FM)
PGH WEATHER NOW FORECAST
Party cloudy, 83 degrees at kickoff.
WHAT TO WATCH FOR
• Mason Rudolph will get the start after backing up Josh Dobbs in Week 1 as the two continue to battle for the backup quarterback job. Dobbs is also expected to play, as is fourth-stringer Devlin Hodges.
• Mike Tomlin started just three of his 22 first-team players against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers last week. He said he’ll play more this week, but declined to get into specifics.
• The wide receivers unit should be close to full strength, with free agent signing Donte Moncrief and rookie Diontae Johnson both returning to practice this week after missing last week’s game. Moncrief has played X receiver opposite JuJu Smith-Schuster, and should be a first-week starter, but Johnson has played just about everywhere. It will be interesting to see how the Steelers work him in.
• The team will debut its season-long memorial tributeseason-long memorial tribute to wide receivers coach Darryl Drake, who passed away on Sunday. Expect there to be a moment of silence and other, individual tributes, as well.
INJURY UPDATES
OUT: OLB Ola Adeniyi, who had surgery on a torn meniscus on Friday and is expected to miss two to four weeks.
QUESTIONABLE: Players that did not practice Thursday include CB Joe Haden (foot contusion), RG David DeCastro (soreness), TE Christian Scotland-Williamson (upper body), ILB Vince Williams (hamstring).
ILB Devin Bush (undisclosed), C Maurkice Pouncey (undisclosed) and OLB Sutton Smith (abdomen) also missed time in practice this week.