The Kansas City Chiefs don’t have time to smart from their 34-3 loss on the road to the New England Patriots. Arrowhead Stadium welcomes the Pittsburgh Steelers Nov. 27 for a critical game for the Chiefs. A win will keep them in the hunt for an AFC West crown. A loss may make the playoffs virtually unattainable in 2011.

The Steelers are 7-3 and tied for first in the brutal AFC North with the Baltimore Ravens. The Chiefs are 4-6, tied for last in the AFC West with the San Diego Chargers. Kansas City is two games behind the Oakland Raiders in first place.

Tyler Palko’s(notes) debut against the Patriots was decent when he wasn’t scrambling or his receivers weren’t dropping the ball. He had 236 yards passing on a 25-for-38 completion rate. Palko was intercepted three times which was the key to the outcome of the game in the second half.

The Steelers are a stingy bunch. They only give up 18 points per game and 97 yards rushing. Their defense allows 280 yards passing per game.

Ben Roethlisberger(notes) is recovering from a broken thumb and is expected to play against the Chiefs. That’s good news for the Steelers, bad news for the Chiefs. Big Ben throws around 288 yards per game, around 60 more than the Chiefs give up.

It’s gut check time for Kansas City. The team needs to win here and now or the season may possibly be over. The rest of the AFC West teams don’t have schedules that are any easier so the time to catch up to the rest of the division will be in this next stretch of games.

Pittsburgh will have an extra day of rest as the Chiefs come off a tough game in New England. How the young and inexperienced players perform will determine how well Kansas City does against the more experienced Steelers.

Palko’s first game was against a defense that normally gives up a lot of yards passing. His second game is against a much better defending team. The Chiefs need to do a better job of protecting the passer if Kansas City is going to get anywhere. Palko can’t be flushed out of the pocket nor can he be rushed very much or the Steelers will have more than three picks.

By the same token, the Chiefs had to get to Roethlisberger. He’s already injured. Making him hurry his throws or start running out of the pocket will be an advantage to Kansas City. Tamba Hali(notes) needs to get into the backfield early and often.

It’s do-or-die time for the Chiefs. A loss may further deepen their woes. A win against the vaunted Steelers will give fans hope for a division title.

William Browning is a fan of the Kansas City Chiefs after latching on to the team during the lean years of St. Louis football. Born in the gateway city, he is also a lifelong St. Louis Cardinals fan. He currently resides in Branson, Mo.

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Associated Press

PITTSBURGH

Ben Roethlisberger’s fractured right thumb didn’t put him on the sidelines the day it happened — the Steelers’ Nov. 13 win at Cincinnati. Pittsburgh coach Mike Tomlin says it won’t keep him out this Sunday, either.

Tomlin said Tuesday that Roethlisberger will start at quarterback against the Kansas City Chiefs.

And while Tomlin can’t tell how much the thumb will affect him, he expects Roethlisberger to be effective.

“Those of us who know Ben understand that he’s going to show and show for his teammates,” Tomlin said.

Roethlisberger fractured the thumb during the second half against the Bengals, but didn’t miss a snap.

He threw for 245 yards and a touchdown, though 175 of those yards and the score came in the first half.

The open week allowed the thumb to start healing, and Roethlisberger has practiced this week.

Roethlisberger wore a splint under his glove and didn’t take a snap from under center Monday, working out of shotgun and pistol formations. Yet Tomlin doesn’t think direct snaps from center Maurkice Pouncey will be a problem Sunday.

“There’s a pain tolerance issue,” Tomlin said. “There’s a comfortability issue. All of those things will be sorted out throughout the course of the week.

“To be honest with you, I’m not overly concerned about [Roethlisberger’s] ability to be effective in the midst of this.”

Even if Roethlisberger were lost to injury, Tomlin said he’s fortunate with his quarterback depth. Charlie Batch is Roethlisberger’s backup, with Dennis Dixon behind Batch.

“We’re comfortable with the men we have at that position, in that we’re capable of playing winning football regardless of who’s under center,” he said.

Tomlin also expects safety Troy Polamalu, slowed during the off week with rib discomfort, to play Sunday.

Linebacker LaMarr Woodley (hamstring) and receivers Arnaz Battle (hamstring) and Emmanuel Sanders (knee) all practiced in a limited capacity, and Tomlin said coaches will monitor their status day by day.

Chiefs

Todd Haley believes there were a few bright spots in Kansas City’s 34-3 loss to New England on Monday night, even if they were hard to find.

Offensive lineman Rodney Hudson, the Chiefs’ second-round draft pick, performed well in about 20 snaps that he played, and Tyler Palko going 25 of 38 for 236 yards in his first NFL start at quarterback.

By Jason Garrison

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Nov 11, 2011 – Last week I went two for three on picking upsets. I picked the Bengals to beat the Titans, which they did. I picked the Giants to beat the Patriots, which they did. And I picked the 49ers to lose to the Redskins, which they didn’t.

Here are the three teams I feel should be on upset alert in Week 10 of the 2011 NFL season.

Cincinnati Bengals over Pittsburgh Steelers

Where: Cincinnati, Ohio

Spread: Steelers by three

Why:

This is a huge game for both of these teams. The Steelers’ backs are up against the wall after being swept by the Ravens and the Bengals are looking to stay in the No. 1 spot in the AFC. History would say that this game belongs to the Steelers but this isn’t the same Bengals team that is in all the history books. Their defense is for real and Andy Dalton and A.J. Green look like the real deal.

This will be a brawl of a game and the winner will be the team that makes the least amount of mistakes. That team could be the Bengals.

Buffalo Bills over Dallas Cowboys

Where: Dallas, Texas

Spread: Cowboys by 5.5

Why:

After losing a division game to the New York Jets, the Bills have fallen back to third place in the AFC East, however, with a 5-3 record, which still ties them with the Patriots and Jets, the Bills are very much in the hunt for a division championship and a playoff berth. The Bills have a high-powered offense and the Cowboys are so unpredictable that you never really know when they’re going to play good or not.

Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo has a nasty little habit of turning the ball over when the game is on the line and Ryan Fitzpatrick and company can take advantage in Dallas.

Seattle Seahawks over Baltimore Ravens

Where: Seattle, Washington

Spread: Ravens by seven

Why:

Sounds crazy, right? Well, not that crazy. We’ve seen teams come off close, emotional games that they’ve won just to turn around and lose to a far inferior team the very next week. After the Chiefs beat the Chargers on Monday night, they turned around and let the Dolphins beat them in front of their home crowd. Granted, the Ravens aren’t the Chiefs but the Seahawks aren’t the Dolphins either.

Seattle is an incredibly tough place to play and the Ravens have a really long way to travel. This is the kind of games that teams lose every season and I wouldn’t necessarily be surprised to see it happen to the Ravens in Week 10.

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We find out starting today whether the Pittsburgh Steelers’ defense really is getting old and creaky.

The statistics say Pittsburgh’s defense is rock solid. The Steelers rank third in both yards and points allowed and second against the pass. But the Steelers have benefited from a soft schedule. Their five wins are against teams with a combined record of 8-24. Their two losses were to Baltimore and Houston.

Tom Brady and the New England Patriots roll into Heinz Field today in what looks like a bad matchup for the Steelers. Brady is 6-1 in his career against Pittsburgh with 14 touchdown passes, three interceptions and a 104.8 passer rating.

The Pats don’t worry about balance in the least against Dick LeBeau’s Pittsburgh defense. In Brady’s last six games against Pittsburgh, the Pats have passed on 67 percent of their plays. New England is around 55 percent passing overall in the Brady era.

The Pats simply refuse to bang their heads against a brick wall — Pittsburgh’s stout run defense. Pittsburgh always has won without superstar cornerbacks. Pressure on the QB and zone coverage is their style. The Pats will take their chances matching up their receivers with Pittsburgh’s unspectacular corners — Ike Taylor, Bryant McFadden and Randall Gay (a Pats castoff).

Steelers sackman James Harrison is hurt. LeBeau likes to sit back and play coverage against Brady. He may be forced to attack more, but that will expose the corners to more one-on-one coverage. It’s a problem for Pittsburgh, which has a bunch of key defenders getting well into their 30s (James Farrior, Aaron Smith, Casey Hampton, Brad Keisel, Chris Hoke, Larry Foote and Taylor).

After this week, Pittsburgh has a grudge rematch at home against Baltimore and then plays at Cincinnati. (Baltimore beat Pittsburgh in the opener, 35-7.) We’ll know if the Steelers are slipping significantly by then.

Regardless of whether the Steelers are fraudulent title contenders, they stand a fair chance to make the playoffs, even if they lose the next three straight. The AFC North benefits from the “soft crossovers” on the schedule — facing the AFC South and NFC West. Pittsburgh probably can get to 10 wins even if it loses to the Pats, Ravens and Bengals.

Chiefs rebound

The Chiefs have won three straight after a miserable start. After opening with lopsided losses to Buffalo (41-7) and Detroit (48-3), and then losing their third game, Chiefs coach Todd Haley gave his team some inspiration from the 1989 Pittsburgh Steelers. He showed them that team’s NFL Films highlight video. The Steelers that season lost their opener, 51-0, to Cleveland and then dropped their second game, 41-10, at Cincinnati.

But in one of Chuck Noll’s finest coaching jobs, they rebounded to finish 9-7 and win a playoff game. Haley’s father, Dick, was director of player personnel for that Pittsburgh team.

“I thought it was such a great picture of how low and as much despair as you could feel, and you could see it on the tape,” said Todd Haley.

“You were hearing some of the same things that we had heard. And to see how it ends, with the pure joy of guys — grown men jumping up and down who were able to turn a really bad, bad start into a great season.”

Now for a dose of reality. The Chiefs have rebounded by beating Minnesota, Indianapolis and Oakland. The Vikes and Colts are a combined 1-13. Oakland was in disarray last week due to injuries.

Monday night’s home game against San Diego (4-2) is huge for the Chiefs, because it starts a three-game home stretch (Miami and Denver are next up). San Diego should cruise to the AFC West title if it beats the Chiefs because it would be hard for the Chargers not to get to 10 wins. But if the Chargers don’t win, the West may be a horse race to the end.

The great AP

Minnesota back Adrian Peterson leads the league in rushing yards (712) and rushing touchdowns (eight) this season. Peterson, who has made the Pro Bowl the last three years, needs 38 rushing yards today at Carolina to get his fifth consecutive season with at least 750 rush yards and eight touchdowns. Only Hall of Famers Jim Brown and Emmitt Smith and Jet LaDainian Tomlinson have done that.

Onside kicks

- With a victory today, Buffalo would become the eighth team in NFL history to win its first four home games after starting the previous season 0-4 at home. It has been done four times since 2000.

- Dallas’ offense is producing, but the Cowboys need to be worried about their “middle three” against the strong defenses. Dallas is shaky at center (Phil Costa) and guard (Bill Nagy and Kyle Kosier). Costa and Nagy had a rough time with the big Pats defenders a couple weeks ago.

- NFL teams are averaging 44.9 points per game. That’s the most through seven weeks since 1970. Nine teams are averaging at least 25 points per game, on pace to tie 2008 for the highest number of teams at that level.

- Rex Ryan gave his Jets six straight days off on the team’s bye this week. Coaches are required to give their players four straight days off. New York will be rested for the Bills next Sunday.

- Baltimore’s Lee Evans was expected to miss his sixth straight game today due to a badly sprained ankle. The Ravens visit Pittsburgh next week and would love to have the ex-Bill back for that rivalry.

- The Patriots are allowing 8.47 yards per pass attempt this season. That’s worst in the league and the worst since the 0-16 Lions in 2008 (8.82).

mgaughan@buffnews.comnull

Landover, Md. • Rex Grossman completed 19 of 26 passes for 207 yards and a touchdown to help the Washington Redskins beat the Pittsburgh Steelers 16-7 on Friday night in the preseason opener for both teams.

Hoping to gain over early edge over an injured John Beck for the starting job, Grossman hit Santana Moss for an 8-yard score in the second quarter — although the drive came against Pittsburgh’s second-string defense.

Beck did not play. He sat out after tweaking his groin in practice last week.

While the Redskins’ starters played the entire first half, Pittsburgh’s first-stringers were done for the game by the end of the first quarter. Backup Isaac Redman had a 22-yard touchdown run for the Steelers.

Lions 34, Bengals 3 • At Detroit, Matthew Stafford threw touchdown passes on his two drives, backup quarterback Shaun Hill ran for a score and Jason Hanson kicked a field goal to give Detroit a 24-3 lead at halftime.

Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton was hit by Ndamukong Sung after taking his first NFL snap and Chris Houston intercepted the underthrown pass. Dalton, a second-round pick, finished 11 of 15 for 69 yards. He put Cincinnati in a position to attempt two field goals and Mike Nugent made one to make it 14-3.

Stafford was 6 of 7 for 71 yards. He threw a 26-yard TD pass to Calvin Johnson, who didn’t return to the field, and a 7-yarder to Nate Burleson for another score on an overturned play.

Saints 24, 49ers 3 • At New Orleans, Mark Ingram had a spinning, tackle-breaking touchdown run in his NFL debut, and New Orleans beat San Francisco.

Story continues below

Ingram’s 14-yard scoring run highlighted a performance in which the 2009 Heisman Trophy winner out of Alabama carried six times for 23 yards. Saints undrafted rookie Joseph Morgan, a little known prospect out of Walsh University, added a spectacular 78-yard punt return for a score.

David Akers hit a 59-yard field goal for San Francisco, a kick set up by rookie quarterback Colin Kaepernick’s 28-yard scramble late in the first half.

Dolphins 28, Falcons 23 • At Atlanta, Phillip Livas scored on a 75-yard punt return in the third quarter to help Miami overcome a difficult start by quarterback Chad Henne in the Dolphins’ victory over Atlanta,

Atlanta rookie receiver Julio Jones, quarterback Matt Ryan and running back Michael Turner contributed on first-quarter scoring drives that gave the Falcons a 17-0 lead.

Henne threw interceptions on two of Miami’s first three possessions before connecting with Brian Hartline for a 44-yard touchdown pass that made it 17-7 early in the second quarter. Henne, who completed 4 of 8 passes for 77 yards, did his best work against Atlanta’s defensive reserves.

But the same could be said, too, of Ryan, who completed just one of his first passes against Miami’s defensive starters. The difference, however, was that the Atlanta QB threw one TD pass and didn’t have an interceptions. Ryan finished 6 of 10 for 90 yards.

Buccaneers 25, Chiefs 0 • At Kansas City, Mo., Josh Freeman was smooth and efficient while leading Tampa Bay to points on three of the four series he played, and the third-year quarterback helped the Buccaneers take advantage of every bobble and blunder that the Chiefs made.

Freeman was 9 of 13 for 73 yards while playing for the first time at Arrowhead Stadium, just a few miles from where he grew into a high school star. He also ran 5 yards for a score.

Landover, Md. • Rex Grossman completed 19 of 26 passes for 207 yards and a touchdown to help the Washington Redskins beat the Pittsburgh Steelers 16-7 on Friday night in the preseason opener for both teams.

Hoping to gain over early edge over an injured John Beck for the starting job, Grossman hit Santana Moss for an 8-yard score in the second quarter — although the drive came against Pittsburgh’s second-string defense.

Beck did not play. He sat out after tweaking his groin in practice last week.

While the Redskins’ starters played the entire first half, Pittsburgh’s first-stringers were done for the game by the end of the first quarter. Backup Isaac Redman had a 22-yard touchdown run for the Steelers.

Lions 34, Bengals 3 • At Detroit, Matthew Stafford threw touchdown passes on his two drives, backup quarterback Shaun Hill ran for a score and Jason Hanson kicked a field goal to give Detroit a 24-3 lead at halftime.

Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton was hit by Ndamukong Sung after taking his first NFL snap and Chris Houston intercepted the underthrown pass. Dalton, a second-round pick, finished 11 of 15 for 69 yards. He put Cincinnati in a position to attempt two field goals and Mike Nugent made one to make it 14-3.

Stafford was 6 of 7 for 71 yards. He threw a 26-yard TD pass to Calvin Johnson, who didn’t return to the field, and a 7-yarder to Nate Burleson for another score on an overturned play.

Saints 24, 49ers 3 • At New Orleans, Mark Ingram had a spinning, tackle-breaking touchdown run in his NFL debut, and New Orleans beat San Francisco.

Story continues below

Ingram’s 14-yard scoring run highlighted a performance in which the 2009 Heisman Trophy winner out of Alabama carried six times for 23 yards. Saints undrafted rookie Joseph Morgan, a little known prospect out of Walsh University, added a spectacular 78-yard punt return for a score.

David Akers hit a 59-yard field goal for San Francisco, a kick set up by rookie quarterback Colin Kaepernick’s 28-yard scramble late in the first half.

Dolphins 28, Falcons 23 • At Atlanta, Phillip Livas scored on a 75-yard punt return in the third quarter to help Miami overcome a difficult start by quarterback Chad Henne in the Dolphins’ victory over Atlanta,

Atlanta rookie receiver Julio Jones, quarterback Matt Ryan and running back Michael Turner contributed on first-quarter scoring drives that gave the Falcons a 17-0 lead.

Henne threw interceptions on two of Miami’s first three possessions before connecting with Brian Hartline for a 44-yard touchdown pass that made it 17-7 early in the second quarter. Henne, who completed 4 of 8 passes for 77 yards, did his best work against Atlanta’s defensive reserves.

But the same could be said, too, of Ryan, who completed just one of his first passes against Miami’s defensive starters. The difference, however, was that the Atlanta QB threw one TD pass and didn’t have an interceptions. Ryan finished 6 of 10 for 90 yards.

Buccaneers 25, Chiefs 0 • At Kansas City, Mo., Josh Freeman was smooth and efficient while leading Tampa Bay to points on three of the four series he played, and the third-year quarterback helped the Buccaneers take advantage of every bobble and blunder that the Chiefs made.

Freeman was 9 of 13 for 73 yards while playing for the first time at Arrowhead Stadium, just a few miles from where he grew into a high school star. He also ran 5 yards for a score.