“We’re going to have to do a good job of forcing him into third-and-long situations to have him pick apart our defence”.
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Roethlisberger said he recalled the chance encounter.
The Washington Redskins won their last four games to finish 9-7 while the Green Bay Packers lost their last two to finish 10-6. The Pittsburgh Steelers are going to try to stop him with a defense that might be best described as, well, weird. You don’t want to change things up now just for one guy.
McCarron will make his first playoff start against the Steelers because of what occurred December 13, when the Steelers beat the Bengals, 33-20.
“I’m taking it one day at a time”, said McCarron, who threw two interceptions against the Steelers in relief of Dalton but none since. Despite his ability to get Cincinnati to the post-season, another setback on Saturday night will have many calling for his head. The Bengals last won a playoff game in the 1990 playoffs with Boomer Esiason at quarterback, defeating a Houston Oilers team that had to go with the immortal Cody Carlson at QB subbing for Warren Moon.
According to Frank Schwab of Yahoo Sports, McCarron would be the key player the Bengals have, with his slow and steady-type of offense.
The Cincinnati Enquirer’s Paul Dehner Jr. came up with a scary stat for the Bengals and their fans this week: Cincinnati has been outscored 57-6 in the second halves of its last four playoff losses.
“All that stuff’s over when you get into the playoffs”, Bengals left tackle Andrew Whitworth said. Keep in mind that the home team usually gets three points just for hosting the game. The league handed out five fines to players following that game, but the NFL – in yet another questionable decision – has assigned the very same crew to officiate this game. But they’re not concerned about being the No. 6 seed.
They also take advantage of the occasional turnover that the Steelers are known to have.
On another hand, Cincinnati Bengals is set to make their fifth-straight postseason appearance. Cincinnati hasn’t won a playoff game since the 1990 season.
As for Dalton, he did not practice again on Thursday, further dousing the conspiracy theorists thoughts that coach Marvin Lewis was sending out a smoke screen earlier this week about Dalton. “I don’t think into the future or live in the past”.
One area that has been addressed for the Bengals heading into the Wild Card game on Saturday is defensive tackle Brandon Thompson, who had already been declared out of the contest with a knee injury.
Both teams head into the game in less than ideal conditions.
Steelers running back DeAngelo Williams was officially ruled out against the Bengals because of an injury to his right foot. With starting running back DeAngelo Williams’ right foot… He did, however, get a handful of carries for Baltimore in the playoffs as a rookie previous year. Toussaint and Todman have combined for 64 rushing yards with no touchdowns this season, and expect Tomlin to prepare a strong short passing game with star wide receiver Antonio Brown, as that can open running lanes for the two young running backs.
The same could be said of McCarron.
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Much has been made over the past five seasons about the Steelers lack of a playoff victories since their win against the New York Jets in the 2011 AFC Championship game.
