The Steelers defeated the Joe Burrow-less, declawed Cincinnati Bengals Sunday 16-10. Steelers Nation finally breathed a sigh of relief as the offense for the first time in nearly two years showed signs of life and cracked the elusive 400-yard total offense mark.
The Steelers outgained their opponent for the first time this season, led by Kenny Pickett throwing for 278 yards. He was 24-33 and looked significantly better than he has in previous weeks. The running game which has improved steadily over the last few weeks cranked out 153 yards on 33 carries, led by Najee Harris, who finished with 99 yards and the only touchdown for the Steelers.
Eight different receivers caught passes, led by the triumphant return of Pat Freiermuth who had NINE catches for 120 yards. He opened up the offense in the middle. George Pickens and Diontae Johnson combined for seven catches and 108 yards. It was a good showing for the passing game, just one week after Johnson’s meltdown on the sideline. Johnson was deprived of a touchdown on a lousy call by the referees.
The defense has started to find its’ identity and the hammered the Bengals up front all day. Cincinnati could only muster 25 yards on the ground and the Steelers sacked Jake Browning four times. Two by T.J. Watt, one by Cam Heyward and one by Nick Herbig.
Browning finished with 227 yards, but those numbers are deceiving because he had a few lucky bounces go his way to Ja’Marr Chase. Trenton Thompson deserves a lot of credit for his play in Minkah Fitzpatrick’s absence, he just missed a pick last week and grabbed one against the Bengals. It was a red zone turnover and the Steelers capitalized and led to the go ahead score!
As the offense has begun to get better, the special teams have begun to regress. So as per usual, Chris Boswell kicked three field goals and has had a tremendous season so far, however he had a gaffe on the kickoff that led to the only Bengals touchdown. Pressley Harvin III was uneven again with four punts, two resulting in touchbacks. The punt return team is just awful, they couldn’t get out of their own way and a Mark Robinson holding call diminished a solid defensive effort.
It would have been easy to put the “work in progress” sign up and make excuses. The Steelers didn’t do that, and the coaching staff deserves a tremendous amount of credit for the effort put forth Sunday. It as if a weight has been lifted.
BEER WE GO STEELERS, BEER WE GO!
My “GAME BEER” goes to: MUUUUUTH, the numbers tell the story. He had a monster day and opened up the offense. Also Considered: Trenton Thompson, whose interception turned the game around. Mike Sullivan for calling a heck of a game and getting Kenny Pickett back on track.
Beer of the Game: NO BEER, yup that is right, we had to attend a wake for a family member. We watched the first quarter at home, we listened to the second quarter in the car, (KGB found the Steelers broadcast and we got to hear Bill Hillgrove and Wolf) watched the end on the CBS app in the Funeral Parlor.
“Steel the Snacks”: We had planned on Coney’s hot dog with skyline chili. Of course, that was thwarted.
My Stat of the week: The Steelers banged out 421 total yards, it was the first time since September 20, 2020, against the Denver Broncos. The Steelers never cracked 400 yards in Matt Canada’s entire tenure. It was the first in season coaching dismissal since 1941! Also consider this stat too; over seven games, despite missing some combination of two of their best players (Fitzpatrick, Heyward) and one very good contributor (Adams) in some capacity or another the Steelers have held their opponents to less than 20 points.
My Thoughts on next week: The Steelers are of course in the classic trap game again, this time it is the 2-10, Arizona Cardinals. James Conner comes home to Pittsburgh and will give the Steelers trouble, even though the Patriots are on their last legs, they still are the Steelers boogeyman, and it is a Thursday Night Football game so both these games scare me!
Jersey of the Week: Heath Miller #83, Black Out Jersey, one of my favorites, and representing the TE outburst by Pat Freiermuth Sunday!