The Pittsburgh Steelers will be packing up and traveling to Cincinnati to play the Bengals in a prime time Monday night match up on December 4th at 8:30 ET.
The first game between the two teams this season took place in week 7, with the Steelers winning handily 29-14. However, just because the first game went well for the Steelers does not mean that this will be a walk in the park.
The Bengals rookie running back Joe Mixon seems to be coming into his own and making himself a big play maker on the team, so one of the Steelers keys to victory will be containing the Bengals slowly improving run game. Also, the offense will need to be able to get passed dominant linebacker Vontaze Burfict, who has continued to be a nightmare on the other side of the ball for any team he has gone against.
The bad blood between the 9-2 Steelers and the 5-6 Bengals is very evident. Many Steelers fans can recall the wild finish that took place in the 2015 Wild Card game between the two teams. All the Bengals had to do was run the clock out after an interception thrown by replacement quarterback Landry Jones, who stepped in the game for injured Ben Roethlisberger. Ryan Shazier force a fumble from Bengals running back Jeremy Hill shortly after, and gave the Steelers a chance to win. Roethlisberger came back in, and threw a pass acrossed the middle intended for Antonio Brown. Burfict then flagrantly hit Brown, and paired with another penalty, put the Steelers right in chip shot field goal range and stole the victory right out from the Bengals grip.
Even this season there has been a lot of trash talk, including Steelers running back Le’Veon Bell calling out Joe Mixon, saying that he is copying his play style. These comments were in response to when Joe Mixon claimed that he could do more than Bell if given the same opportunity, following the Steelers first defeat of them this season.
The Steelers biggest problem is playing sloppy football against under .500 teams this season. As long as they can play good football, there is no doubt that they can get out of the game with this win, and improve to 10-2.
It will be an exciting, hard fought battle, and will certainly be entertaining for any viewers watching at home.
