The Kansas City Chiefs play host to the Pittsburgh Steelers at Arrowhead Stadium in the Divisional Round of the playoffs.
Andy Reid’s side were the number two seed in the AFC after finishing the season 12-4 and they were on a bye last week, while the Steelers were in action.
Heinz Field played host to the match with the Miami Dolphins, and Pittsburgh eased their way past Adam Gase’s outfit 30-12.
Big Ben looking to edge out Kansas City again
Ben Roethlisberger threw for two touchdowns in the game, while running back Le'veon Bell, who struggled in the regular season against Miami, rushed for 167 yards and two touchdowns.
It was a fairly one-sided affair, but the divisional match-up with the Chiefs promises to be one of the stand-out matches at this stage of the playoffs.
Due to a storm warning in the area, kick-off has been pushed back to 8:20 ET and will be the final match before next weeks Championship games.
The winner of the game at Arrowhead will travel to face the New England Patriots next weekend for the AFC Championship.
Smith spearheads in-form offense
There is no hiding the fact that this Chiefs side has the ability to go all the way – experienced head coach, free-flowing offense, tough defense and they also have it in their locker to make big plays on special teams.
One player to look out for in the game is Tyreek Hill, who has five touchdowns of 50+ yards this season, all in the last six weeks of the season – the most in the NFL.
Smith has thrown 15 touchdown passes to Roethlisberger’s 29 so far, but the 6’ 4” quarterback is a game manager, and in his five playoff games to date, he has only thrown one interception.
Steelers thrashed Chiefs in regular season
The Steelers and the Chiefs met back in week 4 of the regular season, and an in-form Pittsburgh ran riot and picked up a 43-14 victory over Reid’s side.
Roethlisberger had one of his games of the season when he threw for 300-yards and for five touchdowns in the game – receiver Antonio Brown caught two of those touchdown passes.
This was in Pittsburgh, where Big Ben has a 115.3 passer rating, but on the road this is just 78.5 and the Chiefs defence is hot right now.
Reid is the proclaimed ‘king of the bye week’ as he has a 19-2 record in games following a bye, while his quarterback Smith will be looking to improve his playoff record to 3-3 with a win against Pittsburgh.
Injury Report
Mike Tomlin’s side have one player ruled out of the game at Arrowhead and that is linebacker Anthony Chickillo (Ankle).
Ladarius Green is doubtful for the game with concussion, but Ricardo Mathews (Ankle) and Fitzgerald Toussaint (Concussion) are listed as questionable.
Tamba Hali (Knee) did not participate in practice on Friday, but is expected to play – as is Eric Berry (Achilles), Justin Houston (Knee) and Spencer Ware (Rib).