Week 13 ends in Cincinnati: The Bengals (5-6) receive their personal arch-rival Pittsburgh. The Steelers can continue their march towards divisional victory – and at the same time look to the patriots in the race for the top seed of the AFC. Cincinnati meanwhile fights for his playoff chance, so it’s either the last chance or a trap game. In the coin toss, mySPOX-User Lattenknaller discusses the Monday night duel with SPOX editor Adrian Franke. DAZN broadcasts the firecracker live from 2.30 a. m. on Tuesday night!
Cincinnati Bengals (5-6) – Pittsburgh Steelers (9-2) (Tue, 2:30 a. m. live on DAZN)
mySPOX-User Battenknaller: The 50. Season of the Bengals is not running as hoped for: After a 0-3 start with a frighteningly bad offensive performance, one had to dismiss a coordinator in the current season for the first time in the history of the franchise. Since Lazor announced the Plays, five victories in three defeats and even hopes for the playoffs! And now, with the Steelers not only a division rival, but also the enemy image comes to the Paul Brown Stadium – and that at prime time.
The Bengals and the Steelers have one thing in common this season: after a few of their victories, both teams had to ask themselves: How did we manage to swing it home? Cincy wins his games with less offensive yards than his opponent and the Steelers make life difficult with turnovers.
If you look at the encounter on paper, you could say that it’s a clear thing – Pittsburgh has virtually certainty about the division and is well ahead of Cincinnati in most of the stats. However, encounters between the two of them are always fiercely contested battles in which the Refs also struggle to contain their emotions.
If the Bengals want to win this game, they have to do one thing above all: keep the offense on the field. Their defense stands on average 33:06 minutes per game on the field (only the 49ers outbid this still by one minute) and so it comes that in the last minutes the blow goes out and one gives the games still from the hand. So you have to take the lead as soon as possible and control the clock.
Last week we proved that you can run the ball, this week you have to confirm that – which won’t be easy for the offense with the fewest Plays from Scrimmage and yards per game against the strong Steelers-Defense. Dalton could expand his INT-free series to six games; his last two picks were against Pittsburgh, but he is now much more solid under pressure (69 percent Adjusted Completion).
However, the line also has to repeat its performance against Cleveland and create space for Mixon. He had four broken tackles against the Browns and now Shazier the linebacker with most Missed Tackles of the NFL is waiting for him – a matchup that could pay off. On the other side of the ball everything has to be right. The front four must put pressure on Big Ben to force him to make mistakes – against pressure he has only had a register rating of 73.9 over the last six weeks.
Antonio Brown is normally well guarded by Jones and Jackson, but he’s always good for big play. Of course, you’ll have to watch out for Bell as well: Cincys Run Defense has a hard time and you won’t be able to afford that against an RB of its class, you should keep your touches as low as possible. Ideally, by keeping the watch under control.
Adrian Franke (SPOX): The Bengal’s offensive line may have recently shown upward tendencies, but now a completely different calibre is waiting. Pittsburgh’s front is not fully on the level of the Jaguars and the Eagles, but too much distance to the two is not on the defensive line. Fire hazard in the pass rush, absolutely stable against the run, extremely athletic and explosive: Here we may already see the factor that determines this game far away from the receiver or running back superstars.
The secondary behind it is better than in previous years, Pittsburgh is extremely strong in the passport defense as a whole – but it has to save itself the missteps that were often seen against the packers. Otherwise, Cincinnati is capable of Big Plays, partly because Andy Dalton – and I agree with you – has stabilized noticeably.
With more discipline in coverage, the Steelers should then focus on A. J. Green focus – and bring Joe Mixon under control in the front. He had a good game against the stable Browns front of all people, but the gaps against the Steelers front in their current constitution are not getting any bigger.
On the other side of the ball the Bengals have improved against the pass, but I don’t see much more as a solid mediocrity there. And solid mediocrity will not suffice against Antonio Brown and the recovered Smith shoemaker.
Smith-Schuster was supposed to cause a lot of problems for the Bengal out of the slot, Brown and Martavis Bryant have their share of the Steelers having the seventh-most Passing-Plays in the league of at least 20 yards (47) and underneath most of at least 40 yards (11).
By way of comparison, the Bengals are only 25 or seven such placements. Pittsburgh’s intensively operated screen game (tenth most yards over screen passes at only 4.8 yards per screen play) will also pose problems for the Bengals Defense.
Remains the Run Game, and here too Cincinnati is stable with its good front. Despite the line and Le’ Veon Bell, Pittsburgh is still far from being on the same level as last year, and 3.7 yards per run is actually a really bad value. But the Steelers are still coming up to a rhythm in the Run Game because they are stubborn – 28.4 runs per game meant rank 11 before the start in Week 13, ahead of teams like Chicago, Tennessee, Kansas City or Cleveland.
So the Bengals will have to defend all areas for over 60 minutes – and that will be a Herculean task.