The Pittsburgh Steelers are making it look like the 1970s with a dominating defensive performance in the first half of their AFC Wild-Card Playoff game against the Cincinnati Bengals at Paul Brown Stadium tonight. Burfict had no explanation for his penalty, repeatedly saying, “I don’t know”.
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Ben Roethlisberger couldn’t throw. His late, and high, hit to the head of Antonio Brown was just the way Bell described it – reckless.
And in the end, it didn’t matter.
After being carted off the field with a right shoulder injury, Roethlisberger – nearly miraculously – returned for the Steelers’ final series, and pulled off a magical finish that led the Steelers to an 18-16 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals.
The Bengals (12-5) appeared to be in position for their first postseason win in 25 years before Jeremy Hill’s fumble gave Pittsburgh one last shot. They hadn’t won a playoff game at all since January 6, 1991, when they defeated the Houston Oilers 10-7.
The Pittsburgh Steelers and the Cincinnati Bengals played nice this time. Jones posted an angry, expletive-filled video on Instagram cussing out the referees before deleting it.
The Steelers settled for a field goal to take a 9-0 lead with 10:09 remaining in the third quarter.
Then the Bengals turned into… the Bengals. But Burfict and the Bengals, who clawed back with emotion, got clobbered by those same emotions through needless penalties.
While the Steelers (11-6) are moving forward, they may be without Brown.
“It’s hard to put into words”, said Hill. “Words don’t do anything at this point”.
On the ensuing drive Burfict intercepted Jones’ pass, intended for Markus Wheaton, giving the Bengals the ball back. Burfict was called for a personal foul on the play. Cincinnati was flagged only eight times for 79 yards, but 30 of those penalty yards came on the final drive that allowed the Steelers to get into field goal range. “I went over to the sidelines and said, ‘Coach, you can’t do that anymore – I can’t throw it that far.’ So we had to work our way down the field”.
Roethlisberger finished 18 of 31 for 229 yards and a touchdown in rainy conditions. Fitzgerald Toussaint, Jordan Todman and even Martavis Bryant contributed to 167 rushing yards for the Steelers. Brown was later diagnosed with a concussion, meaning he might be out for Pittsburgh’s divisional round game at Denver. They have won 11 straight games.
Still, that production didn’t look like it would be enough. They missed the 2-point conversion.
Bengals coach Marvin Lewis set a dubious mark Saturday night, becoming the first coach in National Football League history to lose all seven of his playoff appearances as a head coach.
The game’s first score was set up by a McCarron turnover.
The team says Roethlisberger has a shoulder injury and his return in questionable.
Another long winter looms in Cincinnati. That led to the second straight flag on the self-destructing Bengals.
The Steelers had 19 yards on 12 plays with Landry Jones at quarterback, and the Bengals strung together three consecutive scoring drives to surge ahead 16-15.
Both teams are 1 of 7 on third down. Safety Reggie Nelson came out with a broken left ankle and corner Dre Kirkpatrick suffered a left quad injury.
McCarron, so effective while replacing Dalton, could do little.
For the Broncos, quarterback Brock Osweiler got the start, completing 21 passes for 296 yards, three touchdowns and an interception.
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The game officially ended on a Hail-Mary pass by quarterback AJ MCCARRON (23 of 41 for 212 yards, 1 touchdown pass and 1 interception) into the end zone that was knocked down by Shazier. And it cost the Bengals dearly.
