The Raiders (1-1) appeared to have tied the game on the next drive when Amari Cooper caught a 51-yard touchdown pass from Derek Carr.
Advertisement
But his last catch is one he’ll wish he could have back. A week after leaving a game early because of a knee injury, he had 11 tackles (five solo) and the Steelers’ lone tackle for loss. He said it was “hard to piece together” when the ball started to slip from Boyd’s hands.
You may recall that last week after the victory over Washington, I wondered why the Pittsburgh Steelers had chosen to use an inexperienced third tight end over a tackle-eligible option, which seemed to be their preferred method of getting an extra blocker on the field over the course of the past three seasons.
A native of Clairton, Pennsylvania, Boyd spent the past seven years as one of western Pennsylvania’s brightest football stars. Giovani Bernard has 42 yards on 10 carries. His Clairton Bears captured the PIAA Class A state championship all four years in high school en route to a state-record 66-game winning streak. Not the best day for the wide receivers.
Despite the offensive prowess of both teams, one had to figure this Week 2 match-up between bitter AFC North foes would unfold like so many have in recent memory, with the defenses on both sides playing rather prominent roles. In the receiving end, Antonio Brown posted 126 yards and two touchdowns in eight receptions while Eli Rogers added 59 yards and a touchdown in six catches.
The Steelers defensive plan, boiled down to the basics, was to prevent A.J. Green from detonating.
Bengals coach Marvin Lewis said after the game that he was told by officials that Boyd was down before the call was reviewed and upheld. “[And] make sure I compete because I don’t want a guy to punch me in the mouth”.
HEADING HOME: Cincinnati missed a chance to open with two road victories and will try to regroup next week against Super Bowl champion Denver. On the first pick, the rainy weather certainly played a role, but that one was on Roethlisberger. Dalton hit him with the pass but safety Rob Golden shoved Uzomah out of bounds before he could get two feet down.
CARDINALS 40, BUCCANEERS 7 Carson Palmer threw for 308 yards and three touchdowns and host Arizona (1-1) intercepted Jameis Winston four times.
The veteran running back continued his march up the National Football League record books, taking his total yards over 10,000 for his career and is the oldest back to have as many as 32 carries in a game since Marcus Allen in 1994. To two catches for 38 yards, to be precise. But Harrison was ready and waiting to lower the boom and dash any hopes of a magical comeback for Boyd and the Bengals. The second part we’re looking at is to see whether that right knee is down before the ball comes loose. Managing less than 50 yards on the ground is never going to help settle a tough divisional battle, and the Bengals still don’t have a bell-cow back they can trust.
Boyd said he felt he let his team down, but his veteran teammates weren’t about to blame him.
Advertisement
I didn’t think there would be a lot of ugliness when the Steelers and Bengals teed the ball up today. Either way, the Steelers will face the Eagles next week in Philadelphia, and we will have an opportunity to watch Williams fulfill his dreams of being on an episode of Cribs, with a bathroom I can play baseball in, and a king size tub big enough for ten plus me. “The better we play and the more efficient we are”. Despite missing a host of key skill players, Roethlisberger still found ways to move the ball and reach the end zone.
