Alex Smith has been inconsistent so far this year putting up point totals of 27 v SD, 3 v Houston, and 13 v Jets. Seems like a grab bag type of guy. All teams are pretty solid against the pass but Smith had completely different games against each one.

One thing to note is that his best performance by far, SD, had the definite worst DLine. Now he is going to play PIT who has a pretty good front 7 but very weak secondary.

Another point is that the Chiefs run a similar offense to what the Eagles run (Eagles HC Pederson was Chiefs OC last year) and the Eagles dismantled Pitt last week. The thing that the Chiefs do best is screen plays, and the Steelers just got creamed by the screen game last week.

Although the Steelers did get shut down last week they are still a high powered offense who should put up big points even against a good Chiefs D. A scenario where the Chiefs are playing from behind is very possible and that means Smith would need to pass to stay in the game, catch up, or garbage time so I would imagine Smith could get some quality points not to mention his running threat.

Another thought I had is how the Jamal Charles return will impact the passing game. His first week back will likely be a 60/40 split with him and Ware and that equals a lot of running opportunities and if Charles comes back in full form then I would imagine Reid would ride the hot hand and keep feeding the running game which would hurt Smiths opportunity but also open up the Play action. Also I would imagine Charles would get goal line looks considering it's his first week back you'd wanna let him sniff the endzone.

All in all I'd say Charles return slightly hurts Smith because their are two premiere backs to get the ball into their hands, although if they work screens and dump offs that is a big plus for Smith. And finally it's a primetime game so it gives you a little extra to cheer for