Steelers vs. Bengals: Full Report Card Grades for Pittsburgh
The Pittsburgh Steelers are a step closer to winning the AFC North after Sunday's 42-21 win at Cincinnati.
If the Steelers (8-5) win their three remaining games, they'll win the division and remain above the fray of the dog-eat-dog AFC wild-card race.
The Steelers have removed themselves from the dreaded "In the Hunt" column on the right-hand side of the AFC playoff picture, and according to Mark Kaboly of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, they'll head to Atlanta next week occupying one of the wild-card playoff positions:
"Regardless of outcome of rest of week, Steelers currently own a wild card spot.
— Mark Kaboly (@MarkKaboly_Trib) December 7, 2014"
This was the most impressive road win of the season for the Steelers, who ended the Bengals' three-game winning streak, dropping them to 8-4-1 and pulliing to within a half-game of the division lead. Previously, the best team the Steelers beat on the road was the Carolina Panthers (4-8-1).
The Steelers still have too many holes on defense to make a deep playoff run if they make it that far, but offense isn't as much of a worry. They scored 42 points Sunday despite not scoring in the first quarter. They scored 25 of those points in the fourth quarter.
This is the first time in franchise history the Steelers have scored more than 40 points in three regular-season games, according to Pro-Football-Reference.com.
In 1995, the Steelers did it twice in the regular season and scored 40 in a playoff game. Ben Roethlisberger forged another connection with 1995 by becoming the first Steelers quarterback since that year to throw for more than 300 yards at Cincinnati, according to Pro-Football-Reference.com.
The Steelers went to the Super Bowl that year. They have a long way to go this year before they become Super Bowl-worthy, but one of the reasons that 1995 team reached the Super Bowl is that it could put points on the board. The 2014 Steelers can, too.
Quarterback
1 of 10
Roethlisberger was off on a few of his throws early in the game. Trailing 14-7, the Steelers had a 1st-and-goal at the Bengals' 4-yard line with 30 seconds left in the first half. But Roethlisberger threw three incomplete passes, and the Steelers had to settle for a field goal.
Roethlisberger recovered to throw for 207 yards in the second half. He had 350 in the game and completed 25 of 39 passes with three touchdowns. One of them went for 94 yards to Martavis Bryant, giving the Steelers a more comfortable 35-21 lead in the fourth qurater.
Roethlisberger threw no interceptions and wasn't sacked.
Grade: A-
Running Backs
2 of 10
Le'Veon Bell's star brightens more and more every week, and now he's in the company of Walter Payton as Dale Lolley of the Observer-Reporter in Washington, Pennsylvania, points out:
"Bell and Walter Payton are only two players in #NFL history to have three consecutive games with 200-plus total yards #Steelers
— Dale Lolley (@dlolleyor) December 7, 2014"
Bell reached those numbers Sunday by averaging 7.1 yards per carry and running for 185 yards and two touchdowns. Bell again was second on the team in receptions behind Antonio Brown with six catches for 50 yards and a touchdown.
The Steelers fell behind 21-17 on A.J. Green's 81-yard touchdown catch at the end of the third quarter. But Bell ran for 53 yards immediately after that to help spark a 25-point final quarter.
Josh Harris ran the ball four times for nine yards in his NFL debut.
Grade: A+
Wide Receivers and Tight Ends
3 of 10
Antonio Brown continues to lead the NFL with 105 receptions after nine more Sunday for 117 yards.
There are numerous ways to crunch the numbers when it comes to Brown's assault on the record books. He's caught at least five passes for 50 yards in 29 straight games, an NFL record. He's tied Demaryius Thomas' record with eight straight games of at least seven catches and 70 yards.
Mark Kaboly of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review puts it another way:
"Antonio Brown just set the NFL record for most consecutive games with 5 catches and 70 yards with 15. He passes Marvin Harrison. No lie.
— Mark Kaboly (@MarkKaboly_Trib) December 7, 2014"
Martavis Bryant had the best road game of his young career. He caught a 94-yard touchdown pass in the fourth quarter to give the Steelers a two-touchdown cushion. Bryant also made NFL history with Sunday's performance, according to Jon Zimmer, NFL Director of AFC Football Communications:
". @Steelers' Martavis Bryant is 4th player in @NFL history with 7+ TD catches in 1st 7 career games
— Jon Zimmer (@NFLhistory) December 7, 2014"
Bryant also caught a third-down pass for a first down on a Steelers touchdown drive in the third quarter. He had four receptions for 109 yards in the game.
Heath Miller hauled in a one-yard touchdown pass in the second quarter to give the Steelers their first 7-0 lead of the season. He also caught a two-point conversion to give the Steelers a 28-21 lead in the fourth quarter.
Even backup tight end Matt Spaeth caught two passes. It was his first multiple-catch game since he was with the Chicago Bears in 2012.
Both Miller and Spaeth were instrumental in the success of the Steelers' running game with their blocking.
Grade: A-
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Offensive Line
4 of 10
For just the second time this season, Roethlisberger wasn't sacked. The Bengals would have had a sack, but it was negated by a penalty.
The Bengals are 30th in the NFL with just 15 sacks, and the Steelers' offensive line didn't allow them to have a breakout game in that category.
Mike Adams played in place of injured Marcus Gilbert at right tackle for the second game in a row. He also played right tackle in Week 8 against Indianapolis, the only other game in which Roethlisberger wasn't sacked.
The Steelers averaged 6.2 yards per carry on the ground. Right guard David DeCastro had an especially strong game as a run-blocker. The Steelers frequently ran to the left side with DeCastro pulling.
Grade: A
Defensive Line
5 of 10
It's been feast or famine on the ground for Steelers opponents this season. In the first 12 games the Steelers had allowed 63 rushing yards or less six times and 132 or more six times.
On Sunday, they finally found some middle ground. The Bengals ran for 86 yards on 21 carries, an average of 4.1 yards per carry. Jeremy Hill was the Bengals' leading rusher with 46 yards on eight carries.
Cameron Heyward had a sack, a tackle for loss and a quarterback hit. Rookie Stephon Tuitt, in his first NFL start, knocked Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton out of the game for a play when he knocked him down in the fourth quarter. The Steelers led 35-21 at the time, and Tuitt's pressure forced an incompletion on a deep pass.
Grade: B-
Linebackers
6 of 10
No James Harrison, no problem for the Steelers.
The turning point of the game came when outside linebacker Arthur Moats stripped Dalton and recovered the fumble at the Bengals' 24, early in the fourth quarter, with the Bengals leading 21-20.
It was the first turnover the Steelers forced since the first quarter of their Week 11 game at Tennessee. Four plays after Dalton's fumble, the Steelers took the lead on Bell's 13-yard touchdown run.
Moats also had two sacks, although one came against backup quarterback Jason Campbell in garbage time.
Jason Worilds led Steelers linebackers with six tackles, but he was among the Steelers defenders who looked silly when he bit on Dalton's fake handoff and allowed the quarterback to run 20 yards for a touchdown and a 14-7 Bengals lead.
Lawrence Timmons made five tackles and broke up a third-down pass to Giovani Bernard in the third quarter after the Steelers had taken a 17-14 lead.
Grade: B+
Defensive Backs
7 of 10
A.J. Green made Ike Taylor look old enough to need a walker.
Green caught 11 passes for 224 yards and an 81-yard touchdown against Taylor that gave the Bengals a 21-17 lead in the third quarter. Mike Mitchell broke the wrong way on the play and couldn't help Taylor.
Per Mark Kaboly of the Pittsburgh Tribune Review, Mitchell took full responsibility for the mix-up:
"Mike Mitchell takes full blame for TD pass to AJ green.
— Mark Kaboly (@MarkKaboly_Trib) December 7, 2014"
Per ESPN's Scott Brown, following the Green TD, not confident in his mobility, due to a "knee contusion," Tomlin removed Taylor from the game:
"Tomlin says he took Ike Taylor out of game after A.J. Green long TD because he didn't think he could run well enough with knee contusion.
— Scott Brown (@ScottBrown_ESPN) December 7, 2014"
Mitchell also failed to help out William Gay on tight end Jermaine Gresham's 10-yard touchdown reception that tied the game 7-7.
Troy Polamalu wasn't much better than Mitchell. Like Worilds, he went for Dalton's fake and took himself out of position to make a play on Dalton's 20-yard touchdown run in the second quarter.
Once given the lead, however, the defensive backs rose to the occasion to protect it. With the Steelers up 28-21 in the fourth quarter, Antwon Blake broke up a third-down pass intended for Green. The Bengals punted, and Roethlisberger immediately threw his 94-yard touchdown pass to Bryant to make it 35-21.
Grade: C-
Special Teams
8 of 10
It's time for the Steelers to find another punt returner.
Antonio Brown returned three punts for a total of 14 yards. If Brown's not going to make an impact as a returner, the Steelers might as well relieve him of those duties and not risk injury to arguably the NFL's best receiver.
Shaun Suisham made both of his field-goal attempts, and Brad Wing averaged 47.5 yards on six punts, but that number is skewed by a 74-yard punt that rolled into the end zone for a touchback.
Grade: C
Coaching
9 of 10
The Steelers led 28-21 and forced the Bengals to punt in the fourth quarter. They had the ball at their own 6-yard line with 8:43 left in the game. They could have tried to do what they did at Tennessee three weeks ago and see if they could keep giving the ball to Bell until the clock ran out.
But instead of nursing their seven-point lead, the Steelers called for a deep pass to Bryant. The rookie caught it and went 94 yards for his seventh touchdown of the season and a 35-21 Steelers lead.
It was a risky call considering how Bryant's production had tailed off over the last three games, but Roethlisberger and Todd Haley weren't afraid to go for the knockout punch.
There were a couple of hiccups with timeout management. The Steelers had a 1st-and-goal at the Bengals' 4-yard line after a 14-yard pass to Brown with 30 seconds left in the first half. Instead of spiking the ball, they used their last timeout, which eliminated the possibility of running for a touchdown. They ended up settling for a field goal and went into the locker room down 14-10 at halftime.
Timeouts are more valuable in the second half, but the Steelers had to use one early in the fourth quarter and again kicked a field goal to pull to within 21-20.
The Steelers played a disciplined game, committing just three penalties for 20 yards. That tied their lowest total of the season.
Most importantly, the Steelers showed a mental toughness that was missing last week. They scored first in this game but fell behind in the second quarter, just like they did at Cleveland in Week 6 and against New Orleans last week. This time, however, they didn't buckle. They took the lead back in the third quarter before their 25-point explosion in the fourth quarter.
Grade: A-
Final Grades
10 of 10
| Positional Unit | Grade |
| QB | A- |
| RB | A+ |
| WR/TE | A- |
| OL | A |
| DL | B- |
| LB | B+ |
| DB | C- |
| Special Teams | C |
| Coaching | A- |
| Cumulative Grade | B+ |
The Steelers convincingly beat the leaders of their division on the road and have their best record after 13 games since 2011, the last year they made the playoffs.
An offense led by the trinity of Ben Roethlisberger, Antonio Brown and Le'Veon Bell needed to carry the Steelers this season with a defense in transition. It hasn't always happened, but it's happened enough to give the Steelers a clear path to their first AFC North title since 2010.
All the Steelers have to do is win their last three games, and they're division champs. But because of their defensive deficiencies, that will be no easy task. They go to Atlanta next week to face the NFL's fifth-ranked passing offense.
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