Jordan DeFigio, @fidgenewton
The Pittsburgh Steelers are back home and back in the AFC North this week as they're preparing to take on the Cincinnati Bengals Sunday, November 15th at 4:25pm ET on CBS.
MATCHUPS AT A GLANCE
The Steelers sure made things more difficult than they needed to be against the now 2-7 Dallas Cowboys last weekend, affirming the sentiment that they play down to their competition. If they do the same with the 2-5-1 Bengals, they may not get as lucky in the end. Their record is not indicative of their play, seeing that all but one of their losses were by 5 points or less. And, unlike Dallas, Cincinnati is not playing with a quarterback promoted from the practice squad. They're playing with number one overall pick, Joe Burrow, who despite his circumstances, has made the most of his situation. He's completed 221 passes on 330 attempts for 2,272 yards, 11 touchdowns, and only 5 interceptions. Not too bad for a rookie playing for the Bengals.
It helps that he has targets like wide receivers A.J. Green and Tyler Boyd. Against the Steelers hot and cold secondary (and with Mike Hilton still out), they might just have themselves a day.
But, they're still the Bengals.
And running back Joe Mixon has officially been downgraded to out for the game, meaning Giovani Bernard will get the nod as starter. Couple that with the return of Tyson Alualu from injury, and it's likely the Steelers may rediscover their groove against the ground attack and force the Bengals to throw. It's never a bad thing when you only have to account for one threat instead of two.
Steelers quarterback, Ben Roethlisberger was activated from the Covid/Reserve list and doesn't seem at all concerned about any potential knee injury from the scary hit he took in last week's game. They may be without Vance McDonald due to Covid, but Eric Ebron has been a rock solid target for the Steelers.
James Conner had a quiet game against Dallas, and running up against Geno Atkins will be a tough task. He'll have to rely on the offensive line to create holes and follow through confidently. And as we've seen, when the run game clicks, the pass game follows suit.
JORDAN'S PREDICTIONS
I was wrong again last week, so I'm back to going with my gut. Because the Bengals flaunted the footage of T.J. Houshmandzadeh wiping his cleats with a Terrible Towel leading people to call for a Steelers blowout, I'm guessing that it will be another close call game. I don't think it will come down to the final minutes, because I think the Bengals will win it. By a hair. But they'll win. 24-21. And it won't be pretty.
But it may just be the wake up call the Steelers need to stop just saying the right things about having room to grow, and actually believing it and working on their weak links.
FINAL MUSINGS
The Steelers have a whopping 24-7 record against the Bengals with Roethlisberger under center, and they rarely lose to them at Heinz Field. In fact, their first ever win in the stadium came against the Bengals. We'll see if they can continue their winning ways against Cincinnati tomorrow.
What are your predictions for the game? Let us know in the comments below.
#SteelerNation
