For the third time this season, the AFC North powers of the Cincinnati Bengals and Pittsburgh Steelers will collide. That said, I do believe the Bengals have known all week about their plan at quarterback. If the secondary underperforms, this game could end up in a shootout.
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The Steelers’ most recent game in Cincinnati on December 13 broke into a series of ugly moments beginning when the two teams mixed it up in pregame warmups and it did not end until the Steelers walked off with a 33-20 victory. Granted, the huge games came against the Titans and Jags, but the Texans have the talent (i.e. J.J. Watt) to make more big plays against the Chiefs.
Jan 3, 2016; Cleveland, OH, USA; Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin argues a call during the second quarter against the Cleveland Browns at FirstEnergy Stadium. We have to go in there with the fight to win.
“If DeAngelo Williams can’t go, the focus of the Bengals secondary will have to be on taking away the big plays and forcing the Steelers to get yards a little at a time”. Only New England, Denver, and Green Bay have done that. A few things we won’t tolerate: personal attacks, obscenity, vulgarity, profanity (including expletives and letters followed by dashes), commercial promotion, impersonations, incoherence, proselytizing and SHOUTING.
“It’s a new slate, it’s the playoffs, everybody has zero wins”, receiver Marvin Jones said.
The 6th seed Pittsburgh Steelers are a dark horse team that everyone needs to look out for.
Carson Palmer tore ligaments in his left knee and dislocated his kneecap when he was hit by Kimo von Oelhoffen on his first throw of the game, the only time the Ohio River rivals have met in the playoffs. He has thrown nine total interceptions in the last six games.
“Many wanted the Steelers out of the top 10 following the Week 16 hiccup in Baltimore”.
“I think it starts with anybody who possesses the football”.
“There’s not a correlation”, Lewis said. “AJ’s going to do a good job when things happen”. He also returned a punt for a touchdown.
Who’s Hot: The Antonio Brown machine moved along on Sunday with another huge game in the Steelers’ win over the Browns. “We want to return the ball, get what we can get, and let’s go”.
If the Steelers are going to be a team to be reckon with in the playoffs, the pass rush has to be a factor because the pass coverage in the secondary continues to be problematic.
“We feel good about his decision-making those three games”. We will give him an opportunity to do that if he is capable.
The offense repeated its mistakes against the Browns, but the defense bailed them out with four second-half turnovers.
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McCarron does think he’s progressed since his first outing against the Steelers, though, particularly with his field vision. McCarron has played the last three games and gone 2-1 in that span. Andy Dalton, if he is totally healthy, he will need at least a week of work to prepare to play again after missing weeks. The fifth-year starter was leading the National Football League in passing at the time of his injury. San Diego’s Dan Fouts threw five interceptions in that game; he’ll be part of the national radio broadcast on Saturday. I anticipate McCarron starting and playing this week.
