Obviously we've been pretty abysmal vs the Steelers for over a decade now, but there are a few reasons for optimism.

1. The Steelers offense isn't nearly as explosive vs our defense. They averaged 20.3 points and 360 yards against the Bengals, 27.1 and 401 vs everyone else. This is including a game where our defense played like they knew they just lost their franchise QB.

2. Miller and Bryant combined for 38 catches in 3 games last year. Obviously they won't be around for this one. Miller in particular is going to be a huge loss. He had 10 catches in each of the regular season games. Brown was covered and Ben kept dumping it to Heath.

3. Speaking of Ben, he's been pretty mediocre against the Bengals over the last 4 seasons (9 games). He has a 85.4 rating with more turnovers (12) than TDs (11). This continued last year, when he had only 2 TDs to 4 INTs.

4. The Bengals are 3-4 in the last 7 full games Dalton has played.

5. From 2013-15 (5 starts), Dalton has a 85.1 rating against the Steelers. Completing 62.3% with 8 TDs and only 5 INTs. Considering that the Steelers have shut down our passing game dating back to the Palmer days, the numbers are encouraging. Dalton has actually had a better passer rating then Ben in 3 of their last 4 matchups, with the Bengals going 2-1 when that happens.

6. AJ Green dominated them last year for 321 yards. Plus he had a TD in each game.

7. DeAngelo Williams was mostly held in check in his only start against us last year. 76 yards on 23 carries. He did punch it in twice, but managed only 3.3 ypc and 2 catches for 15 yards.

and finally...

8. The Steelers are 8-7 without Bell (including playoffs) since he was drafted. One of those losses happened to be a week 2 game @Bengals. One of the very rare wins for the Bengals in Cincinnati.

_____________________________


With no Bell, Heath or Bryant, I think we have a good shot to win in Pittsburgh. We've been much more competitive against those guys recently (when our QB is healthy and our receivers aren't decimated). So do you guys have any reasons why you're feeling good going into this game? Or is there a particular stat you find interesting?

I'm not feeling too bad about this game. Our roster is certainly no worse than theirs, they are just much better at turning up to big games than we are. Andy played fantastic in Week 1 despite the O-Line's woes... they surely can't be as bad in this one, so im expecting the offence to be fine.

Defence, as you've stated the Steelers don't light us up. There's been a couple of games where they've put up a big score, but those were largely due to 4th quarter games that got away from us. Even in games where they have beaten us, we've hung around, this isn't the one-sided series it used to be where they would just trample us.

I tried saying this in another thread, but I feel the fact it's Week 2 is a plus. it isn't as tense or big a game as a Week 15 game would be. We're both 1-0, obviously a great game to win, but nobody will be losing sleep on either side if they drop to 1-1. Playing this early in the season imo takes some pressure off, and I think that favours the Bengals personally.

(09-14-2016, 06:26 PM)Shake n Blake Wrote: Obviously we've been pretty abysmal vs the Steelers for over a decade now, but there are a few reasons for optimism.

1. The Steelers offense isn't nearly as explosive vs our defense. They averaged 20.3 points and 360 yards against the Bengals, 27.1 and 401 vs everyone else. This is including a game where our defense played like they knew they just lost their franchise QB.

2. Miller and Bryant combined for 38 catches in 3 games last year. Obviously they won't be around for this one. Miller in particular is going to be a huge loss. He had 10 catches in each of the regular season games. Brown was covered and Ben kept dumping it to Heath.

3. Speaking of Ben, he's been pretty mediocre against the Bengals over the last 4 seasons (9 games). He has a 85.4 rating with more turnovers (12) than TDs (11). This continued last year, when he had only 2 TDs to 4 INTs.

4. The Bengals are 3-4 in the last 7 full games Dalton has played.

5. From 2013-15 (5 starts), Dalton has a 85.1 rating against the Steelers. Completing 62.3% with 8 TDs and only 5 INTs. Considering that the Steelers have shut down our passing game dating back to the Palmer days, the numbers are encouraging. Dalton has actually had a better passer rating then Ben in 3 of their last 4 matchups, with the Bengals going 2-1 when that happens.

6. AJ Green dominated them last year for 321 yards. Plus he had a TD in each game.

7. DeAngelo Williams was mostly held in check in his only start against us last year. 76 yards on 23 carries. He did punch it in twice, but managed only 3.3 ypc and 2 catches for 15 yards.

and finally...

8. The Steelers are 8-7 without Bell (including playoffs) since he was drafted. One of those losses happened to be a week 2 game @Bengals. One of the very rare wins for the Bengals in Cincinnati.

_____________________________


With no Bell, Heath or Bryant, I think we have a good shot to win in Pittsburgh. We've been much more competitive against those guys recently (when our QB is healthy and our receivers aren't decimated). So do you guys have any reasons why you're feeling good going into this game? Or is there a particular stat you find interesting?

To make it sound even better, we're 3-3 in Andy's last 6 full games .



But yes, I hate this team, I hate these games and I hate this week, but I always have hope that the tough men of 2009 will manifest in each Stooler game (the hard fought week 3 comeback and the shut down domination, with a bit of BScott thrown in).


Those two games proved to me that no matter what our past is, they won't always crush us.

An interesting stat/trend in Bengals-Steelers regular season games during the Lewis era:

When they hold the Steelers to 20 points or less, they are 7-2 (winning the last 6).
When they allow the Steelers 21 or more points, they are 1-16 (losing the last 14).

No Heath Miller will be HUGE. Lots of people are turning a blind eye to Roethlisburgers career security blanket now missing. He was the guy on the Steelers that consistently picked up 3rd downs and made me want to pull my hair out. HoF TE IMO. Keep them in 3rd and medium/long and I think they will struggle. They got a lot of 3rd and 1, 4th and 1 sort of deals against the Redskins.

After taking account of Antonio Brown, the next guy in passing downs will be Eli Rogers. He fits the Brown/Sanders mold, so I wouldn't take him lightly. If we can cover him, I think we will be in real good shape. I don't think this is a tall order for our secondary.

I think we are in pretty good shape, we match up well with their offense. I'm not too worried.

They them play better at Ketchup than they do at PBS.  That's a thing, isn't it?

Time to paint some bitches.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94bNyh6BBB0

The only thing that makes me not feel good is the absence of both Burfict and Nelson.

Nelson's play will be missed this season. Especially against them.

Not only did he have Ben's number he was a field enforcer as well.

(09-14-2016, 07:25 PM)BengalsRocker Wrote: The only thing that makes me not feel good is the absence of both Burfict and Nelson.

Nelson's play will be missed this season. Especially against them.

Not only did he have Ben's number he was a field enforcer as well.

x2

With both of them = we win all day long. 

I feel our D took a step back this year.

I think our O is comparable but not having Eifert for this game = bad news.

(09-14-2016, 07:15 PM)GreenCornBengal Wrote: No Heath Miller will be HUGE. Lots of people are turning a blind eye to Roethlisburgers career security blanket now missing. He was the guy on the Steelers that consistently picked up 3rd downs and made me want to pull my hair out. HoF TE IMO. Keep them in 3rd and medium/long and I think they will struggle. They got a lot of 3rd and 1, 4th and 1 sort of deals against the Redskins.

After taking account of Antonio Brown, the next guy in passing downs will be Eli Rogers. He fits the Brown/Sanders mold, so I wouldn't take him lightly. If we can cover him, I think we will be in real good shape. I don't think this is a tall order for our secondary.

I think we are in pretty good shape, we match up well with their offense. I'm not too worried.

No doubt. Eli Rogers is the guy I'll be watching as well. With no TE, he's going to be a guy they target heavily on short throws out of the slot.

(09-14-2016, 07:47 PM)Whacked Wrote: I think our O is comparable but not having Eifert for this game = bad news.

Not saying Eifert isn't a big loss, but he wasn't much of a factor in our Steelers games last year. Less than 50 yards per game, no TDs. 

The Steelers have got their goat, and pushed the Bengals buttons for years now. Here's to hoping the Bengals have finally learned their lesson. And will limit the stupid penalties.

I feel good that they're gonna hold it together.

(09-14-2016, 07:15 PM)GreenCornBengal Wrote: No Heath Miller will be HUGE. Lots of people are turning a blind eye to Roethlisburgers career security blanket now missing. He was the guy on the Steelers that consistently picked up 3rd downs and made me want to pull my hair out. HoF TE IMO. Keep them in 3rd and medium/long and I think they will struggle. They got a lot of 3rd and 1, 4th and 1 sort of deals against the Redskins.

After taking account of Antonio Brown, the next guy in passing downs will be Eli Rogers. He fits the Brown/Sanders mold, so I wouldn't take him lightly. If we can cover him, I think we will be in real good shape. I don't think this is a tall order for our secondary.

I think we are in pretty good shape, we match up well with their offense. I'm not too worried.

I agree. My big fear is that a Stooler will be told to go after AJ or Andy even if he gets thrown out of the game for doing so. I don't trust the Stoolers any more than I trust Obama.

(09-14-2016, 06:26 PM)Shake n Blake Wrote: Obviously we've been pretty abysmal vs the Steelers for over a decade now, but there are a few reasons for optimism.

1. The Steelers offense isn't nearly as explosive vs our defense. They averaged 20.3 points and 360 yards against the Bengals, 27.1 and 401 vs everyone else. This is including a game where our defense played like they knew they just lost their franchise QB.

2. Miller and Bryant combined for 38 catches in 3 games last year. Obviously they won't be around for this one. Miller in particular is going to be a huge loss. He had 10 catches in each of the regular season games. Brown was covered and Ben kept dumping it to Heath.

3. Speaking of Ben, he's been pretty mediocre against the Bengals over the last 4 seasons (9 games). He has a 85.4 rating with more turnovers (12) than TDs (11). This continued last year, when he had only 2 TDs to 4 INTs.

4. The Bengals are 3-4 in the last 7 full games Dalton has played.

5. From 2013-15 (5 starts), Dalton has a 85.1 rating against the Steelers. Completing 62.3% with 8 TDs and only 5 INTs. Considering that the Steelers have shut down our passing game dating back to the Palmer days, the numbers are encouraging. Dalton has actually had a better passer rating then Ben in 3 of their last 4 matchups, with the Bengals going 2-1 when that happens.

6. AJ Green dominated them last year for 321 yards. Plus he had a TD in each game.

7. DeAngelo Williams was mostly held in check in his only start against us last year. 76 yards on 23 carries. He did punch it in twice, but managed only 3.3 ypc and 2 catches for 15 yards.

and finally...

8. The Steelers are 8-7 without Bell (including playoffs) since he was drafted. One of those losses happened to be a week 2 game @Bengals. One of the very rare wins for the Bengals in Cincinnati.

_____________________________


With no Bell, Heath or Bryant, I think we have a good shot to win in Pittsburgh. We've been much more competitive against those guys recently (when our QB is healthy and our receivers aren't decimated). So do you guys have any reasons why you're feeling good going into this game? Or is there a particular stat you find interesting?

Honestly, I feel like this game could go either way. The only outcome I can't picture happening is a Bengals win in a blowout. Still, I could see us winning handily like 27-17 or something.

At this point, I expect the team to pull out tough wins. The veterans on this team know how to win games like last years Seattle game and this years Jets game. I mean think about it; we were two drives (in the Arizona and Houston games) from being 14-2 last year. Include the Denver game and the only game we handily lost was the one where Dalton got knocked out and Mccarron threw a pic-six that made the final score look lopsided.

I think Pittsburgh knows this, too. Watching Tomlin's press conference, I felt odd hearing him seemingly respect the team. But we've earned that. Pittsburgh knows they can't dismiss us like we all do with the Browns anymore. It'd be too risky.

And thus, as long as we show fight in this game I can't really be too angry with the outcome, even if (God forbid) we were to lose. I really do (personally) see Pitt as a top 7-8 team in the league (with potential to be top 3). If we can hang with them, we should be good against anybody this year. The key will be getting the playoff monkey off of our backs and then it's open fields ahead. But at least there is a solid pathway laid out to the Lombardi trophy this year: Knowing that this team can beat anybody and win in almost any situation. It's exciting stuff man.

(09-14-2016, 06:51 PM)Truck_1_0_1_ Wrote: To make it sound even better, we're 3-3 in Andy's last 6 full games .



But yes, I hate this team, I hate these games and I hate this week, but I always have hope that the tough men of 2009 will manifest in each Stooler game (the hard fought week 3 comeback and the shut down domination, with a bit of BScott thrown in).


Those two games proved to me that no matter what our past is, they won't always crush us.

Don't forget 2012 when we knocked them out of playoff contention.

This is Rare for me, however, this year we look like half the team we were last year. I hope that changes when Vontaze, Eifert, and some help on the D comes back. The stoolers look really good and they have some major key players out.. My enthusiasm at this point is flying a bit low.. but Hope this game changes that for me personally.

(09-14-2016, 09:58 PM)Marlon23 Wrote: This is Rare for me, however, this year we look like half the team we were last year. I hope that changes when Vontaze, Eifert, and some help on the D comes back. The stoolers look really good and they have some major key players out.. My enthusiasm at this point is flying a bit low.. but Hope this game changes that for me personally.

How did one game; a win on the road vs. a 10 win team make you feel that way? I agree that they looked shaky at times, but that W still counts. The Redskins are a very mediocre team. Pittsburgh put a whoopin on them as they should. Do you think the Steelers would have looked any better than the Bengals did if they opened in New York 15 years after 9/11? I don't ... I doubted the narrative that the energy of the crowd would propel the Jets the way it did, but I was wrong. The Bengals took their best punch, and beat them. The Steelers played a meh team, and won. We'll see how this week plays out.

(09-14-2016, 08:57 PM)bengalfan74 Wrote: The Steelers have got their goat, and pushed the Bengals buttons for years now. Here's to hoping the Bengals have finally learned their lesson. And will limit the stupid penalties.

I feel good that they're gonna hold it together.

I've been to three of the away games of the past 4 years and all the home games past 4 years, I have not seen any button pushing as you say it.. sure playoff was a mess but many variables there. as for regular season I have gotten the sense that we have been pushing their buttons some.. for example the injury to Bell last year, you could really see how it affected their play the rest of the game... 
i already heard on the radio Williams talking the professional hate for the Bengals etc.. we have gotten under their skin... 

(09-14-2016, 09:37 PM)PlayerFormerlyKnownAsMousecop Wrote: Don't forget 2012 when we knocked them out of playoff contention.

Lovely game, but we didn't dominate them that season, like we did in the second game of '09 and the second half of the comeback in '09.

Though I thoroughly enjoyed Whalen's sticky hands that first game in '12; the only guy getting any separation, but it was all short/intermediate routes that went nowhere

(09-14-2016, 06:26 PM)Shake n Blake Wrote: Obviously we've been pretty abysmal vs the Steelers for over a decade now, but there are a few reasons for optimism.

1. The Steelers offense isn't nearly as explosive vs our defense. They averaged 20.3 points and 360 yards against the Bengals, 27.1 and 401 vs everyone else. This is including a game where our defense played like they knew they just lost their franchise QB.

2. Miller and Bryant combined for 38 catches in 3 games last year. Obviously they won't be around for this one. Miller in particular is going to be a huge loss. He had 10 catches in each of the regular season games. Brown was covered and Ben kept dumping it to Heath.

3. Speaking of Ben, he's been pretty mediocre against the Bengals over the last 4 seasons (9 games). He has a 85.4 rating with more turnovers (12) than TDs (11). This continued last year, when he had only 2 TDs to 4 INTs.

4. The Bengals are 3-4 in the last 7 full games Dalton has played.

5. From 2013-15 (5 starts), Dalton has a 85.1 rating against the Steelers. Completing 62.3% with 8 TDs and only 5 INTs. Considering that the Steelers have shut down our passing game dating back to the Palmer days, the numbers are encouraging. Dalton has actually had a better passer rating then Ben in 3 of their last 4 matchups, with the Bengals going 2-1 when that happens.

6. AJ Green dominated them last year for 321 yards. Plus he had a TD in each game.

7. DeAngelo Williams was mostly held in check in his only start against us last year. 76 yards on 23 carries. He did punch it in twice, but managed only 3.3 ypc and 2 catches for 15 yards.

and finally...

8. The Steelers are 8-7 without Bell (including playoffs) since he was drafted. One of those losses happened to be a week 2 game @Bengals. One of the very rare wins for the Bengals in Cincinnati.

_____________________________


With no Bell, Heath or Bryant, I think we have a good shot to win in Pittsburgh. We've been much more competitive against those guys recently (when our QB is healthy and our receivers aren't decimated). So do you guys have any reasons why you're feeling good going into this game? Or is there a particular stat you find interesting?

Great stuff +REP

My personal feeling is that in the recent past against putzburgh, the Bengals have focused on limiting the big pass plays down the field.  They might get hit in the run game without Burfict, but that field gets tighter in the red zone.  We witnessed this against the jets.  Pig Ben wants big plays.  He wants to take shots.  This is why Reggie Nelson was his nemesis (that, and peanut M&Ms).  I put a lot on the safeties.  They aren't going to be crowding the line as much, so they HAVE to make plays on the ball.  Don't bother with a big hit, it will simply be helmet contact and a free 15 yards, even if they leave a helmet stripe on the receivers cleat...it will be flagged for going for the head.  We know this.  Make plays on the ball in the air.

Pig Ben was also whining up a storm in his interview "of course the NFL gives us the Bengals on a short week"...I called 1530 and asked them to dub a baby crying in the background of that sound byte. I don't know if they ever did, but the stuff they used to edit in to Dick LeBeau's press conferences used to make me laugh so hard I spit coffee on my dashboard.  Back to the point:  it IS a short week, and you are most sore between week 1 and 2... I hope it is a factor.  I know Shazier will play, but he tweaked his knee against the skins. 

Lastly, I want Marvin to say:  "OK, Jeremy Hill, here is your chance to redeem yourself".  Give him more carries.  Let's see what the line can do against them.  It not only protects Dalton, but nothing fires up a team like pounding you opponent in to submission with the run game.  They said "pound the rock" all training camp (I know it was a metaphor)...so let's see them do that in this game.  I want Kroft, Fisher, AND Hewitt on the field.  With AJ split out wide.  You know he will have two guys on him (at least) and it STILL won't be enough.  Go heavy on the offensive line, and pound them, but keep them honest with some passes where our RB (You must do this will Hill, also, not just Gio), TE, and AJ get some targets.  But for me, to keep this game tight and minimize hits to our QB, pound the damn rock. 

(09-14-2016, 09:58 PM)Marlon23 Wrote: This is Rare for me, however, this year we look like half the team we were last year.  I hope that changes when Vontaze, Eifert, and some help on the D comes back.  The stoolers look really good and they have some major key players out.. My enthusiasm at this point is flying a bit low..  but Hope this game changes that for me personally.

Appreciate your honesty.  Let me try to give you some enthusiasm to get you a bit higher in the air (following your flight analogy).

The biggest improvement you will see in any team is typically between weeks 1 and 2.  Zamp has been around for over a decade of battles against the team to our east.  He knows what will work against their defense.  The offensive line saw some very exotic stunts and twists that they had some lapses in communication on and a couple sacks were simply Dalton getting the rust off and holding the ball too long.  Look how he finished!  Something like 20 of 23 for over 250 yards and a TD?  The defense was dead set on not giving up big plays and keeping Decker and Marshall in check...mission accomplished.  I didn't like seeing Forte go off, but I would take giving up 22 points on the road to a loaded team in week 1. 

Oh, and wearing the black jerseys in that 90+ degree heat couldn't have helped matters in week 1. 

The steelers looked like world beaters...against a team that would contend with the Browns for last in our division. The NFC East sucks rhinoceros balls. They are awful on defense (great use of a $15 million per year CB, put him on one side and don't move him with Brown...how'd that work out for ya, Jay?  Pinhead) and Cousins was bouncing passes on 8 yard patterns with no defender nearby.  Skins beat themselves as much as steelers beat them.  Even former steeler Jim Miller was saying that almost any team could have beat that redskins team. 

I'm also hopeful that Dennard becomes the second player to finally make an impact after a long injury history with little to no playing time (Margus was first).  He went full go yesterday.  Wouldn't it be amazing to see him get a pick?

The Bengals know one was stolen from them last year.  The refs, the fumble, the fact the (&%&$ rain stopped RIGHT WHEN HE FUMBLED AND pITT GOT THE BALL BACK (still have issues).  Not this time.  Not this year.  Not any longer...the Bengals flip the script Sunday and it will be the beginning of the end of Pig Ben.