09-14-2016, 09:31 PM
(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.
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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.
