Pittsburgh T Marcus Gilbert originally tweeted on December 13 that he “would love to see (the Bengals) in the playoffs where they choke”.
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Call it one for the thumb. The offense is already used to working with him, so less practice would be needed.
– Pittsburgh Steelers RB DeAngelo Williams remained a spectator at practice and continues to wear a walking boot on his injured ankle, per NFL Network. It’s clear that he wants to be as ready as possible to play without Dalton, and then, if they get good news and he can play, it won’t be too hard to slip him back into the lineup.
It was an unlikely situation, all of it. “I think if you take care of the ball and play the way we have, you have a chance to have great things happen”. McCarron went 2-1 as a starter in the past three games. By this time next week, however, the two will have much more recent history to dwell on.
After the Steelers’ December win, McCarron actually recounted the story with Roethlisberger during their postgame handshake.
“The mentality of us against the world, we kind of thrived off that”, said Ward. “Hue and the offensive coaches have done an outstanding job in that from the start; impressing upon the group that that was going to be a key to becoming a champion”. The Bengals have a more talented overall roster and will be a tough out even with AJ McCarron making his first postseason start, but I’m going with two-time Super Bowl victor Ben Roethlisberger in this one.
The Bengals haven’t won a playoff game in 25 years, the sixth-longest postseason drought in National Football League history. With 208 games, only Jim Mora (231) has coached more regular-season games than Lewis without a play-off win. Dalton did get his cast off on Monday, but it is yet unclear whether or not he’ll be ready to go for Saturday evening’s game in Cincinnati. First off, as noted above, Dalton broke his hand while playing the same Steelers team. If he throws one or two interceptions and the defense fails to force any turnovers, the Steelers will be attempting to overcome considerable odds to win the game. Although those sound like fighting words, players on the Bengals defense say they are bringing a different mindset into Saturday’s game. 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.
In the past three games, Roethlisberger has attempted a total of 125 passes and has thrown six interceptions. He didn’t throw an interception, although he fumbled a snap that ended a 20-17 overtime loss in Denver. They have one of the top defenses in the league and an offense that does enough to win.
And he’s grown a lot since that last game against the Steelers. “And when you have opportunity, take it away”, said Lewis, when asked what it will take to beat a division rival that has lost just three times in PBS since it opened in 2000.
“I fell like I’m playing well, but more importantly, I feel like our offense is playing well…We come out this week, we should have scored 30, I missed AB on a late touchdown pass that was just silly on my part”.
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Notes: The Bengals have sold all of their single-game tickets for Saturday…. I’m going to watch the film I need to watch and prepare the way I need to prepare.
