In Jeremy Maclin’s absence, Chris Conley, Albert Wilson step up

Ten minutes before the Chiefs hit the Arrowhead Stadium turf for warm-ups, Chris Conley and fellow wide receivers learned Jeremy Maclin wouldn’t be available for Sunday’s game against the Steelers.

That meant the Chiefs would be without their go-to receiver. Maclin entered the game with a team-best 39 receptions. He left last week’s loss at Minnesota because of concussion symptoms, and his status for this week was uncertain until late Sunday morning.

Time for others to step up, and Conley and Albert Wilson answered the call in the Chiefs’ 23-13 triumph.

Conley, the rookie from Georgia, was making his third start, and he grabbed his first regular-season NFL touchdown pass.

Wilson turned in one of the biggest plays, taking a short pass from Alex Smith, breaking a couple of tackles and turning it into the game’s longest play, a 40-yard reception that set up the third of Cairo Santos’ three first-half field goals.

The uncertainty of Maclin’s availability for Sunday emphasized the need for versatility among the wide receivers in practice this week.

“This week in practice was interesting because a lot of things were up in the air,” Conley said. “We practiced some plays with different people in different spots.”

As valued as Maclin is, the Chiefs didn’t appear to lose a step in the passing game. Conley’s team-best six receptions went for 63 yards, none bigger than his touchdown.

The Chiefs had seen a 13-point lead shrink to 16-13 early in the fourth quarter.

Conservative play-calling might have expected here, but quarterback Alex Smith hit tight end Travis Kelce with a beautiful 26-yard floater over the middle on third and 5 to keep alive the drive, and a few plays later, Conley slid off into the flat and hauled in Smith’s 6-yard scoring pass.

Conley had scored in the preseason. His first NFL touchdown came in the Chiefs’ seventh game and a week after he got down on himself for dropped passes against the Vikings.

“Sometimes you have to take a step back to take a step forward,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid said. “I think (Conley) did that today.”

Conley, on his 23rd birthday, was determined to deliver a solid game.

“Shaky week for me,” Conley said. “For the team to come out, and for Alex to still believe in me and give me those opportunities today speaks volumes about trust. And Andy Reid’s play-calling was on-point today.”

Wilson, the second-year pro who scored his first NFL touchdown last week, averaged 23.7 yards on his three receptions.

“After getting in the end zone for the first time in your career, you definitely want more and more of that feeling,” Wilson said. “It keeps you pushing harder every day.”

Both players spoke of the productive week in practice, knowing perhaps the Chiefs would need to lean on them more than in previous weeks.

“A lot of the plays we ran today, we just ran them out of different sets, different people in the same spots,” Conley said. “You have to know the concepts because you can be in anywhere, in any situation, especially in hurry-up when you have to run every route.

“I think the offense is getting to the point where we can move around and play fast like we like to.”

This story was originally published October 25, 2015 at 6:17 PM with the headline "In Jeremy Maclin’s absence, Chris Conley, Albert Wilson step up."