By John Harris
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Sunday, October 28, 2007
CINCINNATI: Cincinnati Bengals Pro Bowl receiver Chad Johnson was held scoreless and silent by the Steelers' secondary. That's some daily double.
The Steelers not only kept Johnson out of the end zone for the fifth consecutive game, they left him so frustrated that he departed the Bengals' locker room without speaking to reporters.
Who could blame Johnson following the Steelers' 24-13 win on Sunday? After all, a day without the self-proclaimed Ocho Cinco preening for the cameras occurs about as often as the Steelers losing to the Bengals in Cincinnati.
As for the the Steelers' current winning streak at Paul Brown Stadium, it's seven games -- and counting.
Give major props to the Steelers' defense. Despite playing without injured end Aaron Smith, free safety Ryan Clark and nickel cornerback Bryant McFadden, Cincinnati's explosive offense -- led by quarterback Carson Palmer, Johnson and fellow receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh -- posted relatively pedestrian numbers.
Palmer was 23 of 31 for 205 yards and a 9-yard touchdown pass to Houshmandzadeh in the fourth quarter. Houshmandzadeh caught seven balls for 81 yards and a score. Johnson had five catches for 51 yards.
Palmer targeted Johnson and Houshmandzadeh a combined 19 times. Palmer missed the target seven times, including four long passes that fell incomplete. Palmer's longest completion was a 28-yarder to Houshmandzadeh in the fourth quarter.
"We kept a good offense out of the end zone. We held them to 13 points, and we were able to get a win," coach Mike Tomlin said. "When somebody like that has firepower, they are going to get a play or two. They are going to drop back and throw the football, and they are going to make some plays.
"You can't get down on yourself, and you can't blink. Regardless of what happened, I felt like our guys did that."
Cornerbacks Ike Taylor and Deshea Townsend and safeties Troy Polamalu and Anthony Smith followed defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau's game plan to perfection. The Steelers kept Cincinnati's receivers in front of them and didn't give up big plays leading to points.
So when Johnson caught a 9-yard pass on Cincinnati's opening drive and began yapping, Townsend shrugged it off.
"It wasn't a big play," said Townsend, who had five tackles and defended one pass. "We want to cover everything, but you want to be there each time he catches it. It was their first (pass) of the game. You have to expect talking. We're going to be talking back."
"I'm a talker. That's what I do," said Taylor, who also finished with five tackles and defended one pass while maintaining his streak of not allowing a touchdown catch to Johnson since becoming a starter in 2005. "If I'm talking, I'm talking to myself or my teammates. You start woofing at me, I'm going to woof back at you. I take woofing to another level."
Houshmandzadeh said before the game that Taylor is one of the Steelers' biggest talkers and that he and Taylor had a running dialogue last season.
Yesterday, Houshmandzadeh gave the Steelers' secondary grudging respect.
"They're all right, nothing special," Houshmandzadeh said. "I'm not going to take credit away from them, but I'm not going to give them all the credit in the world, either. They play well within their defense. They don't make mental errors. They don't give up a lot of big plays. That's why they're successful."
Smith, who stood tall as the Steelers' last line of defense, recorded a team-high eight tackles and sounded like anything but a second-year safety making his second start of the season.
"It was a huge game for us. They've got the best of the best," Smith said. "To come out and contain them, we're even better."
John Harris is a sports writer for the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. He can be reached at jharris@tribweb.com
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