LINE: Steelers -2.5. O/U: 46.5ABOUT THE STEELERS (10-6): While Pittsburgh’s vaunted aerial attack is raring to go, its rushing game could be a sore spot as veteran DeAngelo Williams’ ankle injury may play a major role on Saturday.
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McCarron has acquitted himself well in his three starts in Dalton’s stead.
In four games with McCarron, the Bengals averaged 22 points per game and have never scored more than 24 points in a single game. In the other 33 games, the team with the better record was 18-15, winning just barely more than half of the games with a 55 percent success rate. The fact that the game is on Saturday made that even more certain. They have also scored at least 30 points in seven of those 11 contests. “Obviously he’s done a really good job of not turning the ball over”. What is clear from all of this is that the inactive lists for both teams could play a major role in this game.
Seahawks at Vikings. Arguably the best D/ST matchup of the weekend against a one-dimensional Vikings offense. That sounds simple enough right?
He has not thrown an interception in three career starts. The thumb, which is on his throwing hand, was broken when Dalton attempted a unsafe tackle of a defender who had intercepted him. The Steelers beat the Browns 28-12.
Hoyer missed two of the last three games for the Texans due to a concussion, returning in the season finale against the Jacksonville Jaguars. The Bengals got 21 interceptions and allowed just 18 touchdowns.
While McCarron and Ben Roethlisberger are separated in age by eight years, it appears the two share a brief bit of personal history.
“The last game there was a lot of he-said, she-said that was going on back and forth”.
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“Gotta be one of the MVP candidates in the National Football League, as well as he’s played this season”, Lewis said. Fitzgerald Toussaint will once again become a key player on the ground, as well as Antonio Brown and Darrius Heyward-Bey. Particularly susceptible through the air, Pittsburgh can take some comfort in facing A.J. McCarron instead of Dalton. “There’s going to be different stuff that goes on”. “I think his presence in the pass game whether it’s blocking or receiving out of the backfield has been huge for us”. Save for a botched snap which led the Bengals losing in overtime against the Denver Broncos in Week 16, McCarron hasn’t turned the ball over and has posted an impressive 100.1 passer rating. “When I came to the sideline after two possessions or something, I asked my offensive coordinator: Did they have more than 11 people on the field?'” Three games is less than 20% of the entire season. This year against the Bengals, he has 20 receptions for 171 yards. Their 17 turnovers are tied for the fourth fewest in the league. Defensively, the Pittsburgh Steelers yield 271.9 yards in passing and 91.2 yards in rushing. While Pittsburgh and Cincinnati have won four of five to enter the playoffs, the Bengals are making their fifth consecutive postseason appearance with a question under center. Anything worse and the Steelers are in trouble.
