Bengals vs. Steelers: Full Report Card Grades for Pittsburgh
The Pittsburgh Steelers entered Sunday night's game concerned about Ben Roethlisberger's stomach.
They came out of the game even more concerned about Le'Veon Bell's knee.
The Steelers defeated the Cincinnati Bengals 27-17 at Heinz Field to win the AFC North and earn the No. 3 seed in the conference.
But it's unclear if they'll have Bell when they host the sixth-seeded Baltimore Ravens in the Wild Card Round Saturday night at Heinz Field (8:15 p.m. ET, NBC).
With the Steelers leading 20-10 in the third quarter, Bell caught a 19-yard pass from Roethlisberger and suffered a hyper-extended knee on a hit from Bengals safety Reggie Nelson, according to Bob Labriola of Steelers.com:
"Tomlin says Bell's knee injury is a hyper-extension, but there is no structural damage.
— Bob Labriola (@BobLabriola) December 29, 2014"
Nelson and Steelers coach Mike Tomlin had an exchange after the game, which is clarified here by Josh Katzowitz of CBS Sports:
"Tomlin says Nelson hit on Bell was legal. That wasn't the issue. Tomlin said Nelson apparently heard Tomlin was trash-talking. Wasn't true.
— Josh Katzowitz (@joshkatzowitz) December 29, 2014"
Roethlisberger had a stomach ailment before the game, and Bruce Gradkowski warmed up with the first team, according to Darin Gantt of Pro Football Talk. But Roethlisberger started the game and felt well enough to throw touchdown passes to Antonio Brown and Martavis Bryant. Roethlisberger threw for 317 yards and tied Drew Brees atop the league with 4,952 passing yards this season. That's a career high for Roethlisberger.
His 21-yard touchdown pass to Bryant gave the Steelers (11-5) a 17-10 lead in the second quarter. There were some tense moments, but the Steelers never lost the lead. Brown's 63-yard touchdown with 2:50 left in the game made it 27-17 and pretty much secured the win for the Steelers.
The Bengals (10-5-1) get the No. 5 seed and play at Indianapolis on Sunday.
The Steelers won the AFC North for the first time since 2010 and earned the No. 3 seed in the playoffs for the first time since 2002.
They'll face the Ravens (10-6) in the playoffs for the fourth time. The Steelers won the three previous postseason meetings.
Quarterback
1 of 10
Ben Roethlisberger overcame his stomach bug, even if he had to take frequent trips to the locker room during the game, and completed 24 of 38 passes for 317 yards with two touchdowns and one interception.
Roethlisberger's longest completion was 22 yards—Brown provided the additional 40 on his touchdown reception. He couldn't connect on several deep balls, and a couple of his passes were batted at the line of scrimmage. Maurkice Pouncey caught one of the tipped balls and was credited with a reception.
A bad snap in the first quarter caused a fumble, and the Bengals converted the takeaway into a field goal and a 10-7 lead early in the second quarter.
Even if the errant snap was on Pouncey, a healthier Roethlisberger might have been able to snag it.
Still, Roethlisberger further proved his durability by fighting through the illness with a winning performance.
Grade: B
Running Backs
2 of 10
Before his injury, Le'Veon Bell gained only 20 yards on eight carries, but he was the Steelers' second-leading receiver with six catches for 80 yards.
One of those receptions was a 26-yarder in the second quarter that led to Shaun Suisham's 29-yard field goal to tie the game at 10-10.
Bell caught a 19-yard pass from Roethlisberger before going down in the third quarter, but he was walking under his own power after the game, according to Scott Brown of ESPN.com:
"Le'Veon Bell just walked out of Steelers' locker room. Right knee packed in ice and walking slowly but no crutches or brace.
— Scott Brown (@ScottBrown_ESPN) December 29, 2014"
Bell finished the regular season second in the league with 1,361 rushing yards. His 83 receptions are a franchise record for a running back.
Josh Harris replaced Bell after the injury and had a 59-yard run called back by a holding penalty.
Rookie Dri Archer also saw increased playing time and caught two passes for 19 yards.
As a team, the Steelers ran the ball 18 times for 29 yards, an average of 1.6 yards per carry.
Grade: C+
Wide Receivers and Tight Ends
3 of 10
Antonio Brown caught seven passes for 128 yards and a touchdown. His 129 catches this season lead the league and are second-most of all time. Marvin Harrison holds the record with 143 in 2002.
Brown also finished with a league-high 1,698 receiving yards, sixth-most all time in a single season. Sixty-three of those yards came on a catch-and-run touchdown on third down with 2:50 left in the game. Brown burned reigning AFC Defensive Player of the Week Dre Kirkpatrick, increased the Steelers' lead to 27-17 and put the Bengals in desperation mode.
Markus Wheaton caught three passes for 17 yards and Heath Miller caught three for 41 yards. Miller also was a blocking stud in pass protection.
Martavis Bryant's only reception was a big one. He took a screen from Ben Roethlisberger and made the play for a 21-yard score to give the Steelers the lead for good at 17-10 in the second quarter. Miller threw a key block on the play.
It was the rookie's eighth touchdown of the season. He closed out the regular season second on the team in receiving touchdowns behind Brown's 13.
The overall performance of the receivers was marred by several drops early in the game. Even Brown dropped two passes in the first quarter.
Grade: B+
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Offensive Line
4 of 10
Ben Roethlisberger wasn't sacked. Granted, the Bengals finished last in the league with 20 sacks, but the line has protected Roethlisberger against other teams, too.
Roethlisberger was sacked just three times in the final five games after the bye. He was sacked 33 times this season, the fewest sacks he's absorbed in any of the seven seasons in which he's played at least 15 games. He had plenty of time to throw pretty much the whole night against the Bengals.
The line couldn't open many holes for the running backs. The Steelers gained only 29 yards on 18 carries. They would have had more, but Ramon Foster was the guilty party on the holding penalty that negated Josh Harris' 59-yard gain. It was the Steelers' only penalty of the game.
Grade: B
Defensive Line
5 of 10
The Bengals ran for 116 yards on 29 carries, averaging four yards per carry. It was the first time the Steelers allowed a team to gain more than 100 yards on them since they lost to the Saints in Week 13.
Jeremy Hill led the way with 100 yards on 23 carries, but he gained 51 of those yards in the game's first six minutes. The Steelers bottled him up after that, and he gained just 49 yards on 20 carries the rest of the way.
Cameron Heyward led the unit with seven total tackles, a sack and a pass defended. Heyward's sack put the Bengals in a 3rd-and-16 situation early in the second quarter, and they had to settle for a field goal and a 10-7 lead.
Grade: B-
Linebackers
6 of 10
The linebackers posted two of the Steelers' three sacks, bringing the team's season total to 33.
Although the Steelers have struggled to get to the quarterback this season, they avoided a single-season franchise low with nine sacks in the final two games. Since the league went to a 16-game schedule in 1978, the Steelers have never had fewer than 31 sacks in a season, according to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
Jason Worilds and Sean Spence had the sacks. It was Worilds' third sack in the last two games. He and Cameron Heyward share the team lead with 7.5 apiece.
Spence's sack was the first of his career. This is his first season of action after sitting out his first two seasons rehabbing from a severe knee injury.
Lawrence Timmons didn't let his first career Pro Bowl honor go to his head. He again led the Steelers with 11 total tackles.
Rookie Ryan Shazier saw increased action after a rough outing against the Chiefs and posted six tackles, including a tackle for loss.
The Bengals tied the game 7-7 when Andy Dalton found running back Giovani Bernard on a shovel pass in the first quarter. Worilds was no match in coverage for the shifty running back.
Grade: B
Defensive Backs
7 of 10
The secondary forced all three Bengals turnovers.
Tenacious cornerback Antwon Blake, all 5'9" of him, saved the day for the Steelers by ripping the ball from A.J. Green after he caught a 17-yard pass with four minutes left in the game.
The Steelers had lost Le'Veon Bell and clung to a 20-17 lead at the time, and Green's reception moved the Bengals to the Steelers' 31-yard line. But the ballhawking Blake forced the turnover, and a minute later the Steelers breathed easier when Ben Roethlisberger threw his 63-yard touchdown pass to Antonio Brown.
Cornerback Brice McCain intercepted two passes in the first half. The first one came at the Steelers' 5-yard line with the Steelers leading 7-0. He returned the second one 31 yards to the Bengals' 28, and two plays later Roethlisberger threw the go-ahead touchdown pass to Martavis Bryant.
The Steelers forced 21 turnovers in the regular season, their most since they forced 35 in 2010. They forced 20 in both 2012 and 2013.
Green caught eight passes for 82 yards, but compared to his 11-reception, 224-yard showing against the Steelers three weeks ago at Cincinnati, the Steelers held him in check.
Running back Giovani Bernard and tight end Jermaine Gresham caught touchdown passes, but Andy Dalton didn't complete a pass longer than 20 yards.
Grade: A
Special Teams
8 of 10
Antonio Brown scored his third career punt return touchdown, and all three have come against the Bengals. He returned Kevin Huber's punt 71 yards to give the Steelers a 7-0 lead less than four minutes into the game.
There also was a special teams flub that could have cost the Steelers the game. With less than six minutes left in the game and the Steelers leading 20-17, Brad Wing faked a punt and tried to throw for the first down. Dane Sanzenbacher intercepted Wing, and the Bengals were in business at their own 41.
Antwon Blake then bailed out the Steelers by forcing Green's fumble.
Wing punted three times for an average of 39.7 yards per punt. His 35-yard punt in the first quarter gave the Bengals the ball in Steelers territory, and they tied the game 7-7.
Shaun Suisham made both of his field-goal attempts, one from 29 yards and one from 25 yards. He's made 91 percent of his field-goal attempts this season.
Grade: B
Coaching
9 of 10
The coaching staff had a little bit more than usual to deal with before the game because of Ben Roethlisberger's illness. Somehow, Roethlisberger was ready at kickoff.
The Steelers secondary is becoming less and less of a liability every week. Dick LeBeau and defensive backs coach Carnell Lake deserve credit for that. Not only did the secondary force three turnovers, but at times Andy Dalton had nowhere to throw the ball because his receivers were covered so well.
The team's brain trust has also helped clean up the penalties. The Steelers committed just one Sunday, a season low. They were flagged at least nine times in each of their first four games, according to NFLPenalties.com.
It wasn't a flawless performance by the coaching staff. The Steelers had only nine men on the field when the Bengals missed a field goal.
Overall, the Steelers didn't seem to relax just because they had a playoff spot wrapped up. They did what they had to do to earn a home playoff game.
Grade: A-
Final Grades
10 of 10
| Positional Unit | Grade |
| QB | B |
| RB | C+ |
| WR/TE | B+ |
| OL | B |
| DL | B- |
| LB | B |
| DB | A |
| Special Teams | B |
| Coaching | A- |
| Cumulative Grade | A- |
The Steelers swept the Bengals in their season series for the first time since 2011, the last year they made the playoffs.
They fell behind for the first time since their game at Cincinnati three weeks ago but quickly rebounded to tie the game about five minutes later. They weren't always that mentally tough earlier in the season.
Mental toughness also was needed to overcome the emotional blow of Le'Veon Bell's injury. The Bengals had the momentum and were poised to either tie the game with a field goal or go ahead in the final minutes until Antwon Blake took the ball away.
The Steelers won their final four games for the first time since 2005, when they became the first team to win the Super Bowl as a No. 6 seed. This team doesn't have the defense the 2005 team did, but the 2005 team never had a home playoff game.
If the Steelers beat the Ravens next weekend, they'll go to Denver for the divisional round.
Follow @Steel_Tweets
ESPN.com was used for game statistics.
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