Paul Daugherty
http://www.cincinnati.com/sports/bengals/
October 22, 2017
Pittsburgh Steelers strong safety Sean Davis (28) breaks up a pass intended for Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Josh Malone (80) that is intercepted by Pittsburgh Steelers free safety William Gay (22) in the fourth quarter. (Sam Greene)
PITTSBURGH – On fourth down-and-2 with 3:27 left in a game the Bengals trailed 29-14, Andy Dalton took a shotgun snap, was flushed from the pocket and ... threw an uncatchable pass 20 yards out of bounds. If you’re looking for a metaphor to explain this latest Bengals disappointment, that’ll do.
Need we mention that it was fourth down? That throwing a ball into the front row in that situation is essentially a turnover? A.J. Green was the intended target. Maybe Dalton thought A.J. Who Catches Everything was more than a nickname.
The Steelers Week! rhetoric indicated it could be some sort of turning point game. Not just for Cincinnati’s season, but for the future of the team’s core players and the coaches who lead them.
I don’t know about that. Things tend to get overcooked around here when the subject is Pittsburgh. It could be a good time to see your shrink and remember there are 10 games left in the regular season, including one at home against Pittsburgh. Here’s what I know:
The Bengals have lost five in a row and eight of nine to the team they most need to beat. They fall apart physically and mentally. On Sunday, Green and Joe Mixon combined to touch the ball exactly zero times in the second half. That’s inexplicable and inexcusable.
After Cincinnati tied the game at 14 in the second quarter, Pittsburgh’s offense outgained Cincinnati’s offense, 266-19. “They have our numbers," Green said afterward. Which was one shocking thing for the team’s best player to admit, even if it is true.
“Sadly, that’s one thing that’s been a trend," said Carlos Dunlap, who did not agree with Green. “We can fix it."
The Steelers lay open the Bengals' wounds like no other team. They expose Cincinnati’s weaknesses, they prey on Cincinnati’s Little Brother insecurities. On Sunday, they remembered to play the second half the way they played the first. The Bengals did not.
Maybe that’s why Pittsburgh is Pittsburgh and Cincinnati is not.
Where do the Bengals go from this?
If the stated goal is to win a championship, what else does the current roster/regime have to offer?
When someone asked Marvin Lewis why Mixon didn’t get the ball in the second half, the head coach said, “Whatever plays are called are called."
Green said he didn’t get the ball after intermission because the Bengals had no running game to keep the Steelers' safeties honest. “We couldn’t run the ball in the second half. If you can’t run the ball, you really can’t do anything," he said.
They couldn’t run because the line wasn’t making room. They couldn’t pass because the line wasn’t stopping the Steelers' rush. Somewhere, Andrew Whitworth wasn’t laughing, because he isn’t that kind of guy. He could have been laughing, though. The offensive line he used to call home was exposed Sunday.
The Steelers overburdened the Bengals' offensive line in the second half. At one point in the fourth quarter, Pittsburgh sacked Dalton four times in five plays. A pressured Dalton is a skittish Dalton. When he wasn’t being hassled, he was throwing interceptions. Or throwing into the stands on fourth down in the fourth quarter.
Dalton is now 3-10 versus Pittsburgh. He’s 0-4 in the last four, in which he has contributed four interceptions and one touchdown pass.
Meantime, the Steelers – who don’t treat their Bengals games as the be-all, end-all – calmly went about their business. On Sunday, they resembled the old-school, Jerome Bettis hammers, not the swift, pass-catching counter-punchers of recent vintage.
Le’Veon Bell did his best Bus impression. Bell played like this was 1975 and he took orders from Woody Hayes: Thirty-five carries, 134 yards. He didn’t decimate the Bengals. He just drip-drip-dripped them to death. He was rust on a bumper. With Bell, Pittsburgh controlled the clock and the game.
The Steelers punted once in the first quarter, and not again until the fourth. It wasn’t that the Bengals defense was especially vulnerable. Bell averaged just 3.8 yards a carry and Antonio Brown caught just four passes even as he was targeted 10 times.
It was that the Steelers were going to do things their way, and Cincinnati couldn’t stop them. Sound familiar?
We’ve employed the insanity definition here many, many times. You know: Doing the same things again and again, expecting different results.
The little picture shows the Bengals at home, whomping Indy next Sunday. The schedule after that isn’t ferocious. The playoffs are possible. But on the big screen, if you can’t beat Pittsburgh, almost ever, you’re never going to get where you and your fans want to go.
Assuming, of course, you really want to go there. After 14-29, that’s an issue everyone at PBS needs to re-visit.
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