The Pittsburgh Steelers capitalised on four turnovers from Tyler Palko to edge a derfensive tussle with Kansas City 13-9.
Steelers win defence battle by beating up Chiefs quarterback
The Pittsburgh Steelers kept pace with Baltimore in the AFC North with a tough 13-9 defensive battle with the Kansas City Chiefs.
The struggling Chiefs turned up their performance on defence to restrict Pittsburgh to just one touchdown, but that proved to be enough as the Steelers defence forced four turnovers to keep the hosts out of the end zone all night.
Ben Roethlisberger, not seemingly hampered by his thumb injury, hit Weslye Saunders for the game's only touchdown in the first half, and indeed Pittsburgh failed to score in the second, with Ryan Succop's field goal the only points of the half.
Tyler Palko struggled under centre for the Chiefs and the newly-signed Kyle Orton looks to have every chance of claiming the starting spot once he is up to speed.
Palko threw three interceptions and fumbled a snap as he threw for just 167 yards and ended up with a lowly passer rating of just 40.9.
Defence
Pittsburgh need to beat Baltimore's record to win the division with the Ravens having swept their fierce rivals, and Roethlisberger did not seem to have a problem playing with a splint on the broken thumb on his throwing hand.
The Steelers lost safety and defensive playmaker Troy Polamalu with a head injury in the first quarter but the unit still had enough to keep Palko and the 4-7 Chiefs on their heels all night.
A tough but uninspiring offensive game saw neither team go over 300 yards as defence ruled at Arrowhead Stadium but, with an anaemic offence that has failed to find the end zone since the end of October, the Chiefs rarely threatened.
"They're a good football team, good defence," Roethlisberger said. "It's tough because it's a mixed feeling type of thing: You're happy to get the win, but you're disappointed the way the offence played. I think that's what team's all about. The defence stepped up huge today."
Errors
Kansas City are not unlikely to make the play-offs and Orton could get an immediate chance after Palko's display, which included back-to-back interceptions on consecutive passes to Ike Taylor and Ryan Mundy in the first half.
That second pick was returned to the Kansas City 24-yard line and, despite a sack on Roethlisberger, the Pittsburgh QB eventually found Saunders in the back of the end zone for the all-important score.
"He was kind of one of the last options," Roethlisberger said. "I saw Wes coming in the back of the end zone, he's kind of a big target, so I just kind of threw it up to him."
The Chiefs still had a chance and made a valiant effort on their last possession as they made it to the Pittsburgh 37, but Palko's pass to Dwayne Bowe was high and off target enabling Keenan Lewis the interception which capped the win.
"I just read the quarterback. I knew I had help underneath, so I could stay back and protect deep," Lewis said. "When the ball came out of the quarterback's hand, I saw that Bowe had already made his move. That's when I knew I could make a play."
