Kovacevic: Steelers flex mental muscles, bury Philly flop

Oct 3, 2016 • 4:29 am

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Maurkice Pouncey swore he didn't know the score.

As Le'Veon Bell sprinted down the left sideline, stringing along Kansas City defenders like an ice cream truck doing 15 mph by the neighborhood playground, the Steelers led the Chiefs by four touchdowns and change. And it was the fourth quarter. And it was raining and slippery and miserable all else that comes with October football in our corner of the world.

So hey, enjoy following the center on this play:

Yeah, for anyone who might have dozed off early in the Steelers' shot-from-a-cannon 43-14 rout of the Chiefs on this Sunday night at Heinz Field, that's Pouncey pulling to the left, then oh-for-real pulling ahead of Bell to offer the lead block 44 yards downfield from the line of scrimmage.

That Bell was shoved out at the Kansas City 2 didn't matter.

That it barely registered a blip of impact on the outcome didn't matter.

That it didn't even impress Pouncey's teammates much didn't matter.

"That's Pounce," David DeCastro told me at the next stall. "That's what he does. That's what he brings. That's why he's our leader."

I turned to Pouncey and asked if he'd ever allowed the game situation, hollow as it was at that stage, to cross his mind:

https://vimeo.com/185273148

DeCastro laughed at this, shook his head, then impishly chimed in, "Yeah, and then we had to go slow to the huddle to give him a chance to recover."

"Man, that's the truth," Pouncey came back, "I was looking around for the oxygen."

No, of course, he wasn't. And no, there was nothing new about Pouncey's effort on that play, any more than there was anything new about the Steelers' tremendous triple-pronged performance as a whole: They dominated on offense, defense, special teams, coaching, intangibles and probably served up better soup at their practice facility's cafeteria.

They had a terrible week in Philadelphia. They responded with a terrific week.

That's what good teams do.