Monday, December 05, 2005
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
On an afternoon when Ben Roethlisberger delivered three interceptions, when Willie Parker fumbled twice and Hines Ward and Duce Staley once, when the running game was held to less than 100 yards and when Cincinnati Bengals return specialist Tab Perry brought back a kickoff 94 yards, it was neither the offensive unit nor special teams that were the downfall of the Steelers.
It was the defense, once the rock of the franchise, that was the undoing of the Steelers in a 38-31 defeat at Heinz Field that dropped them to 7-5 and all but ruled them out as champion of the AFC North and made their playoff hopes unlikely but not impossible.
On a day when the Steelers produced enough offense to win most games, the once-proud defense was no match for Carson Palmer, who had a three-touchdown/no-interception performance, and bruising running back Rudi Johnson, who constantly overpowered Steelers' tacklers in rumbling for 98 yards on 21 carries.
What made the performance so disappointing was that it was in stark contrast to the last time the teams met, Oct. 23 in Cincinnati in a 27-13 Steelers victory that was far more decisive than the final score indicated. On that afternoon, the Steelers' defense overwhelmed the Bengals and indicated to one and all that they were still the dominant team in the AFC North.
After that game, Palmer seemed like a jerk when he said the best team hadn't won. He looked like a prophet yesterday.
A lot has changed since that game. The Bengals have improved appreciably, and the Steelers, who have lost three games in a row, have regressed. The Bengals still are defensively deficient, but Palmer has clearly come of age as a quarterback and has excellent receivers. It's the Bengals who have the look of not only the best team in the AFC North this season but also for seasons to come.
In that first game, Palmer threw for no touchdowns and two interceptions and had the look of a junior-varsity quarterback. In that game, the Bengals could convert only three of 11 third-down plays. They made good on six of 14 yesterday. On that day, the Bengals got into the red zone three times and scored but once. They converted four of six red-zone entries yesterday.
"It wasn't what they did, it's what we didn't do,'' said linebacker Joey Porter. "We didn't get it done. That was obvious. You never let a team put up 38 points on you. There is no excuse."
Linebacker James Farrior was a bit more respectful of the Bengals, who opened a two-game lead in the AFC North.
"They're a good team, a playoff-bound team,'' he said, "and we didn't play well enough."
The 38 points were the most the Steelers had allowed since the second game of the 2003 season at Kansas City, when they gave up 41, and the most at home since Nov. 1, 1998, when the Tennessee Titans scored 41 points at Three Rivers Stadium.
The Bengals showed their offensive dominance right from the start. They moved 52 yards on their first possession, 79 on their second, 53 on their third and 22 on their fourth. On the first drive, they gave the ball up on downs at the Steelers' 32. The next three ended in touchdowns.
The Bengals' first touchdown came on a 43-yard pass from Palmer to T.J. Houshmandzadeh, who was covered closely by Ricardo Colclough. The two jumped, and Houshmandzadeh came down with the ball.
"Ricardo is sitting there,'' Steelers coach Bill Cowher said. "He has to make a play on the ball."
On the Bengals' next two touchdowns, they scored from the 1 and the 6.
"I think the biggest disappointment we had defensively is that we couldn't hold them to field goals when they got the ball close," Cowher said.
Equally disappointing was the Steelers' inability to come up with a turnover. As they often are, turnovers were the difference in this game.
"It comes down to making plays," said linebacker Clark Haggans, "and we didn't make plays. We didn't get the turnovers we wanted to get. We had opportunities and didn't take advantage of them."
An obvious example came with less than three minutes remaining when safety Troy Polamalu had his hands on a Palmer pass with no one between him and the end zone but dropped the ball.
It doesn't get much easier for the Steelers, who play the Chicago Bears, winners of eight consecutive games, Sunday and the Minnesota Vikings, who have won six in a row, a week later.
Porter, who uncharacteristically ended his interview session abruptly, said, "We're a much better defense than we showed."
That's a point that remains to be seen and will have to be proven if the Steelers hope to make the playoffs.
(Post-Gazette sports columnist Bob Smizik can be reached at bsmizik@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1468.)
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