Mounting injuries, a predictable offense and some missed shots spelled doom for the Steelers today.
It was another three-and-out for the Steelers to open the game, although first down featured a successful running play to RB Najee Harris. Fortunately, the Bengals followed suit and punted the ball right back.
The Steelers second drive also featured a couple nice plays to Najee; you won’t find them in the box score though because they were negated by penalties. Officially it goes down as another three-and-out. P Presley Harvin’s second punt reads 50 yards gross, 57 yard net in the box score, but it was a severely short punt the returner let bounce a couples times before picking it up. Not nearly as pretty as it sounds.
The fans at Heinz had reason to celebrate when Bengals QB Joe Burrow threw his fourth interception in the last two games. He overthrew WR Tyler Boyd and FS Minkah Fitzpatrick wasn’t able to bring it in but he tipped it to SS Terrell Edmunds for an easy INT. Unfortunately, after an unsuccessful run to Harris and a drop by TE Eric Ebron, Ben took a hit from DE Sam Hubbard while throwing on third down and a lame duck fell into the arms of LB Logan Wilson.
FB Arthur Maulett had a TFL in run support and CB Cam Sutton had a strong, physical tackle on the sideline against Boyd, but the next play Boyd absorbed a shoulder tackled from OLB Melvin Ingram, changed direction and was able to dive across the goal line for the game’s first points. 7-0 CIN
Cincinnati’s defense kept the heat on the Steelers on their next drive. They got to QB Ben Roethlisberger on first down for a sack, and had heavy penetration in the backfield on a pitch out for Harris on second down, but Najee was able to machete through the rough for a 4-yard gain. Ben drew Bengals CB Mike Hilton offsides trying to get a jump on the snap count, and on third down on the scramble Ben freezed the rush with a pump fake long enough to get around him for the first down. The drive stalled there on a third down pass to WR Chase Claypool that he never saw coming, and Harvin was called on to punt again.
Cincinnati RB Joe Mixon ripped off 27 yards on first down, but then the defense stiffened. DE Cam Heyward and MLB Devin Bush held the edge on a run play, then Edmunds and Maulett got the credit for a TFL for being the first two of four guys to get to the ball carrier. Burrow tried to escape the pocket on third down, but MLB Joe Schobert tripped him up at the line of scrimmage to force a punt.
Finally the Steelers offense was able to click and Ben pieced together a 15-play, 86-yard drive. Najee used the stiff arm to break screens for 7 and 18 yards, and sandwiched in there he found a crack for a 20-yard run. Claypool took a screen for 12 yards, WR Juju Smith-Schuster had a nice RAC for 16, and FB Derek Watt had a three-yard catch on an awkward shovel pass over the middle. Three plays later, Ben busted out that shovel pass again to TE Pat Freiermuth who took it into the end zone from four yards out to tie the score, 7-7.
The Bengals’ next drive was helped out by a ticky-tacky roughing the passer call on Ingram. Take a look and judge for yourself:
By the letter of the law, Ingram probably shouldn’t have gone high on Burrow. But it wasn’t a forcible blow, and he let up at the end to cushion Burrow’s fall, and even caught the QB to prevent undue injury. After the penalty, WR Mike Thomas flattened his post route and Burrow split the zones with his throw; both guys made a great adjustment and the play went for 19 yards. The next snap, Wr Ja’Marr Chase was running with CB James Pierre in single coverage. Pierre was able to angle the speedster to the sideline, but Chase got around the edge with a late burst and reeled in a finger-tip catch for a TD. 14-7 CIN
Ben threw two incompletions – the second of which could have easily went the other way – and Najee ran it on third down for 2 yards. Cincinnati called a timeout with :21 left in the half and the Steelers punted it back. Burrow tried to take a shot, but after Heyward was held on first down they decided to take a knee and take it to the locker room. HALFTIME SCORE: 14-7 CIN
The Bengals got the ball to start the second half, and each of their first three plays went for over 10 yards. After that the defense settled down a bit: newest Steeler OLB Derek Tuszka had a nice shoestring tackle on Mixon , and a couple plays later drew a holding penalty to help his team’s cause. That set up a second-and-long pass to Boyd, which Minkah broke strongly and tackled strongly for a short gain. After a third down drop, Cincinnati settled for a 43-yard FG. 17-7 CIN
The Steelers next drive featured McCloud on offense, which can only be bad news for other Steelers WR’s. Ben threw short for Harris on first down and couldn’t find him on a screen on second down. On third down he was looking over the middle for Juju, thought he was splitting double coverage, but he didn’t see the third defender underneath. That third guy was Logan Wilson, and he pulled in his second INT of the contest (this may have been Juju’s last snap of the day, as he left with a rib injury).
On first down, Ingram and Heyward were stout in run defense. On second down Burrow got free on a designed run to move the chains, but as it turns out they didn’t need the extra downs. The next play Chase beat Haden coming across the end zone for his second TD of the day. 24-7 CIN
The Steelers knew they needed to get something going, and they got off to a promising start finding Freiermuth for 15. Then Najee took a check down, broke a tackle at the LOS and rumbled for 21 yards, and 15 more were tacked on to the end due to a roughing the passer penalty on Cincinnati’s Trey Hendrickson for dealing Ben a blow to the back of the helmet. After three incomplete passes (Harris was looking upfield before securing the catch, good coverage corralled Freiermuth on second down, and Claypool beat his guy with a double move on third down but Ben threw to the wrong shoulder) Chris Boswell came out for a 42-yard FG. The kick had plenty of distance but Boswell pulled it just right and the Steelers came away with nothing to show for the effort.
Pittsburgh‘s defense did their job when they were up against the wall: the Bengals last three offensive drives totaled 21 yards and zero first downs. On the offensive side, the Steelers strung together 18 plays for 88 yards – including a nice chunk catch to McCloud down the left sideline for 24 – but they stalled in the red zone and settle for a 26-yard FG. 24-10 CIN
After the Bengals three-and-out, the Steelers stitched together 12 more plays and moved 73 yards, including gashes of 17 and 29 yards to Claypool and an 11-yard catch by Cody White on third and 10. Ebron dropped two passes on the drive (the first play, and a third down pass at the goal line), and on fourth down the Bengals bluffed a blitz before dropping everybody to swarm on Harris for a one yard loss and a turnover-on-downs.
The defense forced another three-and-out, but it was too little, too late for the Steelers. After a first down completion to Najee, three straight passes were dropped (Harris, Claypool, and Harris again) for another turnover-on downs. Burrow came back out for the victory formation. FINAL: 24-10 CIN
In the postgame press conference, Mike Tomlin noted three more starters were lost during this game. RT Chuks Okorafor was concussed in the game and will have to pass protocol before being cleared to participate in team activities. Juju had an aforementioned rib injury; I believe he played one snap in the second half and did not return. C Kendrick Green was lost in the penultimate drive to a knee injury and was replaced by C J.C. Hassenauer who saw starting time there last year in Maurkice Pouncey’s suspension.
Steely Cam 