Pittsburgh collected three sacks in each of its three meetings with the Bengals a year ago, doing it thanks to a variety of exotic blitz schemes designed by defensive coordinator Keith Butler. The Bengals fell 20-17 in overtime at Denver last December with backup quarterback AJ McCarron filling in for Dalton.
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Pittsburgh disguised a lot of its coverages, but the primary responsibility for covering Green at the line of scrimmage fell to Cockrell, who spent most of last season as a backup after getting cut by Buffalo at the end of training camp. The running game was nearly non-existent (only 57 rushing yards for the team). The Jets were facing a third-and-10 from their own 25, and Shaw jumped the route and picked off Ryan Fitzpatrick’s attempt. Green did it all as he made plays deep down the field, hurt the Jets underneath, and made spectacular grabs. “And that’s what you’ll get Sunday”.
This was a gut check for the Bengals and they passed with flying colors. He was 23-of-30 for 366 yards with one TD and one interception. You know you’re going to get the very best from both teams. Late in the game, it usually meant the game was over.
“Everybody knows the fines that are associated with this game”, Steelers running back DeAngelo Williams said.
The Ravens travel to Cleveland in another AFC North game Sunday, with the Patriots playing at home against the Dolphins in the AFC East. One of the teams the Bengals will likely be fighting for a wildcard bid? After last January’s debacle, the franchise remains winless in the playoffs since the 1990 season.
Your Pittsburgh Steelers take on division rival Cincinnati to kick off the 2016 home season.
To say that these two teams do NOT like each other is a huge understatement, as witnessed in last year’s 18-16 Steelers win in the AFC Wild Card game in a driving rain storm in the Queen City, in which star linebacker Vontaze Burfict would be ejected for his helmet-to-helmet hit on Steeler wideout Antonio Brown. In fact, Williams chose words much stronger than “rivalry” to describe how the teams feel about one another. Very odd and low scoring game ended with Bengals’ mistake and 15-yard penalty that cost them their season.
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The Bengals will be without defensive tackle Pat Sims (ankle), offensive tackle Andrew Whitworth (NIR), wide receiver James Wright (knee), defensive end Carlos Dunlap (shoulder/toe) and tight end Tyler Eifert (ankle). Center Russell Bodine had a bad game and Cedric Ogbuehi is making his second career start.
