On a day where Pittsburgh should have been looking to only the most sure-handed skill players on the team, QB Ben Roethlisberger chose to go to his tight ends.
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A controversial ruling on a fumble by Bengals wide receiver Tyler Boyd when Cincinnati was attempting to drive for a tying score late in the game would seal a sometimes sloppy, albeit impressive, 24-16 Steelers victory yesterday on a rain-soaked Heinz Field.
Later, on the Steelers’ second drive of the third quarter, Roethlisberger found Coates on the long ball again, this time on first down, but he totally flipped the field, making a 53-yard grab from the Steelers’ 38-yard line and bringing it to the nine to make it first and goal. Running back Melvin Gordon enjoyed his first 100-yard game, gaining 102 yards on 24 carries.
Still no pass rush for the Steelers: Two games in, the Steelers have one sack (generously credited to Arthur Moats on a tackle for loss), and the lack of pressure could eventually be a major problem as the season progresses.
Green, guarded nearly exclusively by Pittsburgh cornerback Ross Cockrell at the line, struggled to find much room to move.
“First of all, I thought it was a [expletive] call”, Jones said via Yahoo!
“I felt real bad”, Boyd said.
“You look at the field conditions, you look at what we were able to do during the course of the game”, Williams said.
One of these days, he’ll actually get an opportunity to get on the field for more than 20 plays. It is even so popular amongst National Hockey League fans that they band performed at the 2012 National Hockey League awards ceremony, so maybe we can’t give Williams too hard of a time after all, but then again maybe we can. “We played zone, man, blitz”.
“Obviously, they were trying to take away A.B.as much as they could”, James said. Cockrell used his large frame to his advantage in coverage and is proving to be a reliable starter at a position where the Steelers are desperate for production.
“I’ve got to throw a better ball there”, Dalton said.
The Steelers are 2-0, and if neither of those wins were pretty, both could be described as attractive because they advance the theory that this 2016 edition will be a resilient one. Bengals coach Marvin Lewis didn’t challenge, saying he was told Uzomah was out.
On Sunday night, NFL VP of Officiating Dean Blandino explained why the game’s officials ruled that Boyd had fumbled after being hit by Steelers’ linebacker James Harrison. The call stood upon review even though it seemed Boyd’s right knee was down before he lost control. “When we see them again, we will see”.
He’s also just 10 yards short of 8,000 on the ground in his career.
The star receiver was blanketed by at least two Cincinatti defenders all afternoon to the result of a below-average stat line – four receptions for 39 yards – that would typically spell trouble for the Steelers offense in years past.
Boyd proudly played in high school for the small-school powerhouse Clairton Bears, but those from the Western Pennsylvania region understand Pittsburgh’s reach does not end at the city’s borders.
Sunday’s game, by all accounts, was pretty clean said several players afterward. He converted two of the four third downs. James on the contributions of the reserve tight ends following the retirement of Heath Miller and a lingering injury to free-agent signee Ladarius Green. It’s not a work in progress because these are the guys we have and the guys that we’re going to try to win games with. “They’re capable, and we have a great deal of confidence in them, and they delivered today”. However, if you’ll recall the 2008 season (the last one that ended in Super Bowl victory), Pittsburgh jumped out of the gate 2-0, after whipping the Texans by three touchdowns in Week 1 and then outlasting the division rival Browns by a score of 10-6 during an evening-long rainstorm in Cleveland. The Bengals fell 20-17 in overtime at Denver last December with backup quarterback AJ McCarron filling in for Dalton.
Last week, Pittsburgh looked like a well-oiled machine, as it beat up on an inferior Redskins team by 22 points.
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It’s two weeks into this regular season, and probably the only people the Steelers haven’t disappointed are the ones only interested in them getting off to a fast start.
