The story of the game is no doubt the loss of Le’Veon Bell in the third quarter. A hyper-extended knee is the early diagnosis and with the Steelers playing Saturday night, his status will clearly be less than 100%.
Anyway, here are my thoughts on as the Steelers and Bengals unfolded.
-NBC opening had a number of players NOT in the playoffs. Interesting…
-Ben Roethlisberger reportedly has a stomach bug. Calling it right now; he’ll play well. (Jordan Effect)
-158th start for Big Ben. Ties Terry Bradshaw for team lead.
-Heath drop leads to a punt. That’s two drops in two weeks for him.
-Good start for Steelers defense. Will Allen with good tackle to prevent a first down.
-AB with a terrific punt return for touchdown. He had been long overdue in my opinion. 7-0
-Bengals having success with the edge. Better shut that down.
-Great coverage by Brice McCain on the interception. Had the stop and go route covered all the way.
-Two drops by AB. Both result in punts. Offense very stagnant.
-Aggressive call by Bengals who get the first on a 4th and 3. Nice play by Dalton getting the ball to Bernard on the TD. 7-7
-Pouncey with a complete mental error.
-Defense holds to a field goal thanks to Heyward sack. 7-10
-Heath Miller takes a shot in the end zone. That gets called as “targeting a defenseless player” about seven out of ten times but not there.
-Very dubious call on third and 7. Steelers went with a draw rather than attacking Bengals with pass. Settle for field goal. 10-10
-Tip drill!! Brice McCain with his second pick. Have to get seven here.
-Excellent play execution by the Steelers Offense on the Martavis Bryant TD. 17-10
-More red zone field goals. 20-10
SECOND HALF
-Three B’s all closing in on some interesting records. Curious to see playing time if they get a big lead.
-Bend don’t break defense prevails again as Nugent misses 50-yarder. Steelers had nine guys on the field too. WTF?
-Really good opportunity to put Bengals away with a nice drive but two poor throws by Roethlisberger and they punt it away.
-Defense forces another punt. Good field position here.
-Steeler Nation holding it’s breath as Bell takes a shot in the knee. Limping but running off field.
-With Bell on sidelines, Dri Archer sees action and immediately whiffs on blitz pickup. Forces early throw and bad throw by Ben. Results in pick.
-Bell now listed as doubtful. How will Steelers proceed at RB?
-Solid drive by the Bengals who get right back in it. 20-17. Again, this is why you have to score TDs in the red zone.
-Josh Harris makes first appearance, rips off long run and holding on Ramon Foster. Very weak call. Didn’t impact the play one bit.
-Absolutely no reason for the fake punt with six minutes to go and a three-point lead. It was beyond obvious that it was coming and was horribly executed. Just a poor decision all the way around.
-Mike Mitchell picked a great time to finally have some impact as he levels A.J. Green forcing the fumble. Correction, ball was coming out as Antwon Blake stripped it.
-Brown makes another amazing catch and run to likely seal the game. I like the aggressiveness of the call. Win the game rather than play to “not lose it.” 27-17
-Fantastic hustle by Jason Worilds to track down Dalton for the sack.
-Interesting little verbal spar between Tomlin and Reggie Nelson after the game.
-Steelers will host Baltimore next Saturday night.
Marc Uhlmann writes for and co-owns www.steelcityblitz.com. Follow him on Twitter @SteelDad and the website @SCBlitz. Check us out on Facebook at facebook.com/steelcityblitz and on Fancred.com. You can hear him weekly during the season on game day on the Trib-Live Radio Steelers Pre-Game
2 comments
Hey you are not the only person who is concerned about Bell Marc. From the point of the injury to the end of the game I was texting back and forth with my friend and she is just as worried about the injury as well all are. The D played well again and did not let AJ Green get loose, yeah Hill had some big runs early but honestly he didn’t affect the game that much. 2 INT’s by McCain in which all he had to do was go towards the ball and pick it simple as that. This Offense has pieces that allow this team to score 3-4 TD’s per week. Now I’m psyched for Round 3 of Steelers vs Ravens but the big story this whole week will undoubtedly 100% be on Le’Von Bell’s knee injury so it’s a good win and now it’s on to Wildcard Saturday.
Everything I’m hearing is that there is no structural damage to Bell’s knee. That said, I’m not sure how effective he will be on Saturday. Have to credit LeBeau and Tomlin for putting together this rag-tag secondary because they are getting it done!