The dominant Bengals’ defense that helped the Bengals come away with a 16-10 road victory in Pittsburgh needs to be the Bengals’ defense that shows up in the Wild Card game on Saturday night. They know how to create pressure and how to create turnovers, making them one of the most unsafe units in the NFL.
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As Dalton told the press last Friday, he had an appointment with with doctor scheduled for Monday, and he was optimistic that he might get the cast removed. But the streak of consecutive postseason losses has reached seven straight.
“We have to go into the week, obviously, regardless of Andy’s status, we’re going to go at least in the early part of the week preparing with AJ”. “It’s hard to get to the playoffs, period, in this league”.
The Steelers barely made it to this point, seeing themselves pushed to the limit by the Cleveland Browns in their regular season finale. There’s not a reason to live in the past. Given the way he has played this year, I’d take those numbers if I was an opposing defense.
After the Steelers beat the Bengals in Week 14 – in a game that was marred by trash talking and personal fouls – Pittsburgh right tackle Marcus Gilbert had one simple request for Santa. The Bengals are tied with the Ravens for the second most division title after 2005 with three.
“I hope everybody keeps more money in their pockets this week”, Moats said.
After starting the season at 6-0, the Packers have not played like a good football team. The players have earned the opportunity to be in this spot. “After this week it goes down to eight”.
If Dalton can’t play, the Bengals will have to rely on second-year pro A.J.
“I’m ready; I can only speak for myself”, cornerback Dre Kirkpatrick said.
The Texans have come up short in their last two meetings with Kansas City but have never lost a playoff game at home, picking up a pair of Wild Card victories over Cincinnati in 2012 and 2013, easily covering in each of those contests. And when you consider the source of these maladies, you can understand why this feud is fueled beyond the already ornery cadence between two teams in the same division. There’s no doubt that the Vikings would give him the ball over and over, but the lack of a pass game may negatively effect their chances in the game. McCarron to be the starter. Their 10-6 record could be 15-1 had they held the fourth quarter leads they relinquished in five of their six losses.
But it’s the Steelers, of course.
Getting into mid-January – and beyond – is the standard at a place where the players pass a half-dozen shimmering Super Bowl trophies each day.
The Bengals aim to turn the page.
When involved, he adds critical depth to the matchup problems created by the electric Antonio Brown. “The past is the past”.
BC: “I do think so”. “Hopefully, it’ll be the first of many”.
Andy Dalton of the Bengals warming up before the start of a game against the Steelers in 2013. While this strategy may cause the Bengals offense to have setbacks from time to time since the Steelers defense only allow 3.8 per carry.
Something that – when Pittsburgh can get out of its own way – makes the Steelers as risky as any team in the AFC. With so much at stake, look for the teams to temper the trash talk.
On the other hand, the Steelers defense has been suspect at times, ranking in the bottom half of the league in yards allowed. It will take a herculean effort by McCarron to break the Bengals’ playoff curse, but it’s not impossible. Jeremy Hill led in rushing with 96 yards and one touchdown in 16 carries.
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Steelers running back Fitzgerald Toussaint vs. the Bengals defensive line.
