Steelers 33, Bungels 20: Bad Blood/Dalton Out

By: Joe Smeltzer
Would it be crazy to think that the Cincinnati Bengals are slowly replacing the Baltimore Ravens as the Steelers #1 rival? After watching today's game, particularly the first half of it, I don't think that it's a crazy thought at all. If the fortunes of both the Bengals and Ravens continue going at the rate that they are at right now, I think it's only a matter of time before Cincy is the team that us Steelers fans love to hate. Ever since Mike Tomlin had this interesting post-game exchange with Bengals free safety Reggie Nelson after Nelson's hit on Le'Veon Bell in last year's regular season finalehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KebQaqLZKSw, this rivalry has been getting more heated by the game. We all remember the first meeting these two teams had this season. The Bengals hurt Bell again (on a clean hit), and Cincinnati's Vontaz Burfict (more on him later) allegedly celebrated Bell's injury on the sideline http://www.sbnation.com/nfl/2015/11/1/9656216/leveon-bell-injury-steelers-vontaze-burfict-bengals. In the same game, Pittsburgh's Mike Mitchell was rather pleased after he destroyed https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2t2X-K5z0c Bengals receiver Marvin Jones.

Every game between these two teams seems to be more intense than the last, and now that both teams appear to be long term contenders for the first time in forever, it will be interesting to see how this rivalry progresses over time. 

Sunday was the latest edition of this AFC North matchup, and there were fireworks before kickoff. It all started when Vontaze Burfict (told you there would be more on him) got into a heated face-off with Steelers special teams grinder Vince Williams, the same man who had the most beef with Burfict over the Bell hit. This led to a melee between both teams at midfield, and you can see it all in the link above.

The bad blood did not stop when the game started. In the first half, it seemed like there was some extra-curricular activity after every other play. It was beginning to get ridiculous, and no scuffle was more absurd than that cat fight between Antonio Brown and Dre Kirkpatrick. On the one hand, I love when heat is added to a rivalry. But on the contrary, I wish teams could simply focus on winning the game instead of trying to be tough guys. My personal thoughts on Burfict is that he is a total punk. The guy is a dirty player, and damn near ended Ben Roethlisberger's season with this cheap shot that did not result in a penalty http://www.steelersdepot.com/2015/12/video-steelers-bengals-vontaze-burfict-ben-roethlisberger-cheap-shot/(last link I promise). That hit deserves a hefty fine, and the fact that it was not a penalty makes the NFL look awful (as if it needed any more examples).

Now that all of the rivalry talk is done let's talk about the Steelers winning this game. As is the case most times, Sunday had a mix of good news and bad news. Let's talk about the good news first.

There is obviously a lot of good news in Steeler nation this weekend. Pittsburgh beat the team with the best record in the AFC in their house, and did so in fairly convincing fashion, despite no real individual performances that stood out. Ben did what Ben does, DeAngelo Williams grinded out two touchdowns, and the Steelers looked like they were the ones who came into the game with a 10-2 record. William Gay and Robert Golden made big plays in the secondary, and the Steelers did a stellar job of shutting down the Bengals running attack, allowing just 64 yards on the ground. William Gay's pick six resulted in a long celebration that I highly recommend you look up if you have not seen it already, and Robert Golden iced the game with late INT in the red zone. The Steelers offensive line deserves a lot of credit and Marcus Gilbert is at the heart of it. The big offensive tackle allowed his first sack of the season yesterday, and it is impressive that it took him 13 games to do so. With the losses of Marcus Pouncy and Kelvin Beachum, guys like Gilbert and Alejandro Villanueva have played a huge role in keeping things together, and Gilbert is worthy of a Pro Bowl invitation. The Steelers got it done in crunch time, and the whole city should be loving their football team right now.

 Although the Steelers beat the Bengals, they did not get the chance to beat Andy Dalton. On the Bengals first offensive possession, Cincy drove to the Pittsburgh 4 yard line, and on 2nd and Goal, Dalton for whatever reason threw a shovel pass. The pass was picked off by Steelers defensive end Stephon Tuitt. Dalton tackled Tuit, and broke his thumb, thus being ruled out of the game and possibly the season. Although AJ McCarron came in and played pretty well considering the circumstances, there is no telling how Dalton's absence effected the outcome of the game. After getting his bell rung by Mike Mitchell, Cincy's star tight end, Tyler Eifert, was ruled out for the rest of the game due to concussion protocol. I'm not trying to take anything away from what the Steelers did on Sunday, but it's always better to beat a team when they have their best 11 out there.

As good as Chirs Boswell is, the Steelers need to get the ball into the end zone more. Pittsburgh was forced to settle for field goals four times, and although it did not do any damage in this game, you never know when being forced to settle for three is going to cost this team again the way it did in Seattle. Pittsburgh could not cover AJ Green, as Cincy's stud receiver finished the day with six receptions for 134 yards, including a 69 yard TD reception in which he burned Antwon Blake (and promptly punted AJ McCarron's first NFL TD ball into the crowd). The Steelers have to be able to limit a teams #1 receiver, and I think the best way to do that would be to have William Gay and Brandon Boykin as starting corners. Antwon Blake is awful, and although I like Ross Cockrell, the man cannot tackle to save his life. Boykin and Gay are not NFL superstars, but they can get the job done better than anything the Steelers have right now at their positions.

So, the fact that I wrote more words about what the Steelers did wrong as opposed to what they did right may make it seem like I am down on them, but that is not true. The Steelers got the job done at Paul Brown Stadium on Sunday, and next week's game against Denver at Heinz Field is crucial. If the Steelers win there, they are virtually in the playoffs. If they don't, things could get interesting, as the Jets and Chiefs refuse to lose. Sit back and enjoy, Steelers fans.