By Joe Reedy
September 16, 2013
Bengals receiver A. J. Green, who had 10 catches in last year's 13-10 win at Heinz Field, being hit by Steelers safety Troy Polamalu. (AP)
For nearly nine months the Bengals have heard about how their win over the Steelers might have started a shift in the balance of power in the AFC North.
As they’ve learned over the years though, victories in this series are only temporary. If the Bengals are going to want staying power in the rivalry and division though, that will have to be earned over the long haul. The next step towards that is tonight at Paul Brown Stadium on Monday Night Football.
Leave it to a former Steeler now on the Bengals to put his new team’s perspective in the proper frame of mind. As James Harrison said on Friday – “You can’t believe everything you hear. You start believing your own hype and you will get your face kicked in.”
Added Marvin Lewis: “For us it is a great step in our process of growing up and handling and playing against a good team. We’re going to be playing good teams throughout the season particularly from teams that played well last year. We have to be ready to go and it is going to be a great gauge and measuring stick for us.”
The 2006 and ’10 teams believed their own hype. The Bengals won division titles in ’05 and ’09 with many seeing them as an up and coming team. In ’06, they got off to a 3-0 start which included a win in Week 3 at Heinz Field before they lost their final three games, including in overtime to the Steelers in the finale.
In 2010, the Bengals had swept the division the year before but needed a win over the Steelers in Week 9 to prevent their season from going off the rails. A fourth-quarter rally fell short as Pittsburgh prevailed. The Bengals, who fell to 2-6 after that game, would lose 10 straight that year including twice to the Steelers. That started a Pittsburgh winning streak of five straight in the series until last year.
A lot has happened since Josh Brown’s 43-yard field goal at Heinz Field last Dec. 23 gave the Bengals a 13-10 win. Cincinnati wrapped up a playoff spot with the victory but lost at Houston for the second straight year.
Besides getting into the playoffs, it was Andy Dalton’s first victory against either Pittsburgh or Baltimore. Bring up any mention of that game and there’s the same message – it was a nice win but it means nothing now.
“Now, it’s a new slate and we have to do it all again this year,” defensive end Michael Johnson said. “That's our focus, last year was cool but we have to do it all again this year.”
During the offseason, the Steelers continued to be a team in transition. Harrison, DT Casey Hampton, OT Willie Colon and RB Rashard Mendenhall were released while WR Mike Wallace (Dolphins) and CB Keenan Lewis (Saints) signed elsewhere. Even with the changes, Pittsburgh has a league-high 12 players age 30 or over.
The Bengals added Harrison along with selecting TE Tyler Eifert and RB Giovani Bernard in the draft. They had one of the lowest roster turnovers in the league with 11 new players while Pittsburgh has 19.
Despite being listed as 7-point favorites, it has been an uneasy week in Bengaldom. For the fifth time in six years they go into Week 2 with an 0-1 record after basically handing the Bears a 24-21 victory due to three turnovers and costly penalties. They’ve also lost three straight and four of their last five on Monday Night Football.
Against the Steelers, the numbers aren’t much better. They’ve lost four straight in Prime Time to Pittsburgh and are 2-12 against the Steelers in Paul Brown Stadium. Marvin Lewis is 44-37-1 in home games but 1-10 against Pittsburgh.
Lewis’ teams are 13 games under .500 on the road, but they have won four times in 10 trips to Heinz Field.
“I don’t know why it’s that way,” said Lewis about the disparity with the Steelers. “We’ve lost some games where we have been very close and had some leads in games where we came back. It’s important where we win this one.”
In other words, if the Bengals want to prove they are not the same old Bengals and want to have staying power on the national stage, a win tonight would go a long way.
There’s also this – teams that have started 0-2 have made the playoffs only 11 percent of the time.
After last December’s game, which was one of the more physical encounters that either team could remember, you can expect more of the same tonight. Pittsburgh’s offensive line is reeling after center Maurkice Pouncey’s season-ending knee injury while the run game was held to 32 yards in a 16-9 loss to Tennessee.
Ben Roethlisberger was sacked five times in the December game, including twice by Geno Atkins. Last October though the Steelers didn’t have Pouncey and Jonathan Dwyer ran for 122 yards as they won 24-17 at Paul Brown Stadium.
The Bengals are also keenly aware that just when you think you have Roethlisberger contained, he is good for one or two plus-40 completions a game. The only Steelers touchdown in last December’s game was a 60-yard bomb up the left sideline to Antonio Brown.
“Everyone talks about Steelers-Ravens and how physical that is but this game in the last couple of years has really started to get a lot more physical and a very good game,” Roethlisberger said. “It’s kind of a battle of wits, of defenses and offenses, who can possess the ball. It’s become a very good rivalry, I think, in these last (years).”
Dalton had his highest completion percentage of his three-year career last week against Chicago, but in two of the last three games against the Steelers he has completed half or less than half of his passes.
In the Week 16 game though Dalton threw for 278 yards while A.J. Green had 10 receptions for 116 yards. The Steelers though were without cornerback Ike Taylor in that game. Taylor held Green to only one catch in the game here last season.
“It’s a big game for us not only because we’re playing the Steelers but Monday night adds more hype to the game,” Dalton said. “We want to get to 1-1 and the Steelers are the team we’re playing in the second game of the year. So I think all that makes it a big game, but you can’t do anything different. We felt if we don’t turn the ball over last week, it could be completely different.”
From the locker room to the front office, I report and analyze the Bengals and the NFL. Ask me a question on Twitter or atjreedy@enquirer.com
No comments:
Post a Comment