Bengals vs. Steelers: Pittsburgh Grades, Notes and Quotes
What was supposed to be an offensive shootout turned into a complete dud of a game for both offenses as the Cincinnati Bengals held off the Pittsburgh Steelers 16-10 to improve to 7-0 on the season. The Steelers fall to 4-4.
Making his return to the starting lineup, Ben Roethlisberger didn't look healthy at all in this game, turning in his worst performance in quite some time.
In the loss, he threw three picks—two late in the fourth quarter—that really did in the Steelers offense.
But the big news out of this game is the potential loss of running back Le'Veon Bell, who suffered a gruesome knee injury midway through the second quarter. Without Bell, the offense looked completely lost, especially with a less-than-100-percent Roethlisberger barking out the signals all day long.
The Steelers outgained the Bengals 356 yards to 296, but the offense couldn't come up with points often enough to beat the undefeated Bengals at Heinz Field.
Luckily for the Steelers, the young defense stepped up in a big way once again as the offense sputtered, holding the third-best offense in football—in terms of yards per game (410.0)—well below its season average and forced two turnovers.
Andy Dalton had his worst game of the season, throwing two interceptions, including one in the end zone to Antwon Blake that could have doomed the Bengals.
The two teams were nearly equal in time of possession and penalties, but the three turnovers did in the Steelers, as Cincinnati scored 10 points off Roethlisberger's final two interceptions. The Steelers, meanwhile, didn't score a single point off Dalton's two picks.
After a 14-play, 80-yard scoring drive to open the game, the Steelers offense simply couldn't get anything going against Cincinnati until the final drive when it made it to the Bengals' 16-yard line, whereupon Roethlisberger threw incomplete to Antonio Brown three yards out of the back of the end zone.
The Steelers defense deserved to be rewarded with a win in this one based on the way it played against the high-powered Bengals offense, but once again the Pittsburgh offense couldn't get it done.
Position Grades for Pittsburgh
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| Position | Grade |
| QB | C- |
| RB | B |
| WR | B- |
| TE | A |
| OL | D+ |
| DL | B+ |
| LB | B |
| DB | B+ |
| Special Teams | C- |
| Coaching | C- |
It's hard to fathom just how poorly Ben Roethlisberger played, but a lot of that had to do with the loss of Le'Veon Bell, which forced the Steelers to air it out despite holding a lead.
When Bell was in the game, he had 12 touches through a quarter-and-a-half, which put him on pace for more than 30 touches and would have eased Roethlisberger back into action.
Once Bell went down with a knee injury midway through the second quarter, it was almost as if Pittsburgh threw the game plan out the window, and the offense had to rely solely on No. 7.
He's clearly not 100 percent and showed it Sunday.
Bell was terrific before getting hurt, racking up 58 total yards on 12 touches, but then the knee injury happened.
De'Angelo Williams did a good job of coming in and replacing Bell, rushing for 71 yards on nine carries—55 yards of which came on one carry in the third quarter. The veteran running back added 39 yards through the air on four catches.
At receiver, Antonio Brown found the end zone for the first time in weeks on the first drive of the game. After that, he was largely absent from the game plan, hauling in just six passes for 47 yards and the score.
Martavis Bryant wasn't much of a factor either, hauling in four catches for 49 yards, but the second-year receiver did drop a touchdown pass in the end zone that likely would have given the Steelers a huge lead that the Bengals wouldn't have been able to rebound from.
However, it was tight end Heath Miller who really stole the show. Targeted 13 times against Cincinnati, he hauled in 10 passes for 105 yards. It was easily his best game in a long time.
Having Roethlisberger back certainly helped his cause.
Along the offensive line, Pittsburgh had a horrendous day protecting Roethlisberger. The Bengals were terrific at designing stunts and shooting gaps, giving the Steelers' banged-up offensive line more than it could handle.
Roethlisberger rarely had a clean pocket to work with and took tons of shots. He was sacked three times and hit another six times.
Defensively, the Steelers turned in one hell of a performance across the board.
With no Stephon Tuitt at defensive end, the Steelers changed up their base defense, putting Steve McLendon in Tuitt's place and promoting Daniel McCullers into the starting lineup.
McLendon was a force, recording two tackles, one sack, one tackle for loss and one quarterback hit on Andy Dalton.
Cam Heyward was Cam Heyward once again as well, adding a blocked field goal to his resume.
At linebacker, Lawrence Timmons and Ryan Shazier were terrific in the middle, combining for 12 tackles, half a sack and two quarterback hits.
Jarvis Jones recorded half a sack along with Shazier, while Bud Dupree added another sack, and James Harrison knocked down a Dalton pass in the first half.
The Steelers front seven was strong all day long against a Bengals offense that had seemed to get the running game going coming into this one. Pittsburgh held Cincinnati to just 78 yards on the ground on 23 carries (3.4 yards per carry).
But it was the Steelers secondary that came up big in this one, picking Dalton off twice and seemingly taking away Tyler Eifert for the most part.
Mike Mitchell played very well and seems to be rounding into form as a good football player. He picked off Dalton in the second half.
Antwon Blake came up with the biggest play defensively for the Steelers, intercepting Dalton in the end zone and returning it 42 yards to put the Steelers in good field position.
However, Ross Cockrell allowed A.J. Green to get a free release inside on his nine-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter to give the Bengals the lead.
Chris Boswell hit his ninth straight field goal since joining the Steelers, but punter Jordan Berry wasn't good at all against Cincinnati, averaging just 35.3 yards per punt on six attempts.
Unfortunately for Pittsburgh, the coaching wasn't good at all; the biggest blemish was Mike Tomlin's poor clock management in the fourth quarter. Week after week he struggles with clock management. When will he fix it?
Steelers Lose Bell to Knee Injury
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Just when the Steelers were starting to get healthy on offense, star running back Le'Veon Bell suffered a gruesome knee injury in the second quarter that could keep him out for quite a while.
Bell has been the best running back in the NFL since he returned from his two-game suspension to start the year.
Now, he'll miss some time again for the knee injury suffered against—of all teams—Cincinnati.
DeAngelo Williams will be able to fill in for Bell like he did in the first two weeks of the season, but there's no question Pittsburgh has lost a dynamic offensive weapon for some time.
Miller Has Career Day for Pittsburgh
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Last week, Kansas City held Heath Miller without a catch for the first time in 110 games, including playoffs, but with the return of Ben Roethlisberger, the tight end had a monster game, matching a career high with 10 catches against the Bengals.
Although he didn't find the end zone in this one, Miller was nearly unstoppable in the middle of the field all game long, which allowed the Steelers to spread the field against Cincinnati.
If Miller can continue to produce like this down the stretch, the Steelers offense could really take off once Roethlisberger shakes off the rust.
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Defense Comes Up Big Again
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The Steelers defense continues to prove people wrong.
In what was expected to be a shootout, the Steelers defense put the clamps on the Bengals' high-powered offense, holding Cincinnati to just 296 total yards.
Pittsburgh forced two turnovers—interceptions by Antwon Blake and Mike Mitchell in the second half—and sacked Dalton twice, but the Steelers just weren't able to stop the Bengals offense one more time, allowing a nine-yard TD to A.J. Green and a 44-yard field goal to Mike Nugent in the fourth quarter.
If the Steelers offense can stay healthy for more than a week at a time and establishes some chemistry while the defense continues to play like this? Look out, AFC.
Tomlin on Tough Loss
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Sitting at 4-4 and pretty banged up across the board, the Steelers know they let this one slip away.
Outside of turnovers, poor protection and the loss of Le'Veon Bell, the clock management of Mike Tomlin late in the fourth quarter wasn't good.
After the game, he was very upfront with what the Steelers are at this point.
"Tomlin: "We are what we are right now. Right now, we're 4-4. We embrace that and we'll get back to work tomorrow."
— Missi Matthews (@missi_matthews) November 1, 2015"
It's time to get back to work for the Steelers—players and coaches alike. There is no reason that they should be at .500, especially with the way the defense played Sunday.
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