Season Finale - Bengals @ Steelers - Pregame Thoughts
It’s hard to get fired up after this recent 3-game-slide that we’re on…but I am choosing to believe that Mike Tomlin is not going to lose a 4th straight game to end the season…especially not to an 8-8 team.
The Cincinnati Bengals are coming to the city of Pittsburgh for a Saturday Night game against the Pittsburgh Steelers with plenty on the line for both teams. The Bengals can get into the playoffs if they beat the Steelers, but they will also need losses by the Miami Dolphins (@ NYJ) and the Denver Broncos (vs. KC). Our Steelers have already clinched a playoff spot, but there’s a lot that’s yet to be determined in terms of seeding in the AFC. A win today would mean that we would either be the 5th seed, and on the road in Houston or the 3rd seed and at home against the Chargers (if the Ravens lose today). A loss today would mean we would either be the 5th seed, and on the road in Houston, or the 6th seed and on the road in Baltimore depending on the result of the Chargers-Raiders game. All signs, to me, point to Houston, but we shall see.
Interestingly enough, the Steelers were coming off a long week the last time we met the Bengals, as we are this time as well. That game was as awesome a shootout as we had been in since 2017 or 2018. It was a ton of fun to watch. Russell Wilson went off for over 400 yards, and Najee was able to do whatever he wanted as a runner, for the most part. The biggest thing about that game was Russell Wilson’s ability to get the ball out quick to guys in space. Similar to the way the Chiefs decimated us up and down the field last week, we did to the Bengals in Cincinnati back in the beginning of December.
This time around the Bengals are in desperation mode. Their defense has looked a little better over the last month, albeit against subpar offenses. Our offense is going to have to give us something to be hopeful about going into the playoffs; specifically in the red zone. These last few weeks, the closer the offense gets to the end zone, the least confident I become in their ability to execute. Yinzers far and wide are calling for more involvement for Jaylen Warren, and I’m good with that. @ CIN, Najee Harris was able to take advantage on the outside toss plays (I know that’s shocking to read based on how poorly those plays have gone this year), so look out for a heavy dose of that, yet again. George Pickens’ screen time with Travis Kelce and Patrick Mahomes on Christmas Day led to tons of speculation that he was unhappy in Pittsburgh. So, how do you fix that? You feed that unhappy receiver the ball and let him show out a little bit. Let’s get him involved, and hopefully he goes into the playoffs engaged and focused on what this locker room is capable of.
The Steelers’ injury report for today’s game included some interesting names, including WR Roman Wilson and LB Cole Holcomb, although both were ultimately ruled out for this particular game. I think, ultimately, the Steelers wanted to see what they had with Roman Wilson by getting him involved in a few practices as we close in on the postseason, but if they haven’t seen enough to activate him throughout the regular season, I don’t know why they would suddenly do so going into the playoffs. As for Holcomb, I’m just happy to see him getting back into football shape after last year’s injury. He’s a damn good LB.
Donte Jackson is questionable going into this game, and even if he plays, I think we’re going to see a heavy dose of Cory Trice Jr., which I’m excited about. During the long week, I was watching some film of our (struggling) secondary, and stumbled upon this gem from earlier this season against the Broncos (above). The Steelers are in zone coverage here…Trice is in his zone, but he’s watching Bo Nix’s eyes, and as soon as Nix starts his throwing motion, Trice knows where he’s going and drops out of his zone for the pick. Nix never saw him coming. No disrespect to Donte Jackson, but he hasn’t made plays like that this season. His 5 INTs on the year have been ducks and gimmes. He has put a lot of bad tape out there this season. Trice, meanwhile, has put some awesome tape out there, but his health has continued to be his biggest hurdle. Whatever the case, he’s healthy now, and he has got to do better than Joey Porter Jr. and Donte Jackson did last time we played the Bengals.
Speaking of JPJ, he’s back in his starting spot, and surely looking forward to getting another shot at these Bengals receivers. He was flagged to oblivion the last time we played the Bengals, and it went down as probably the worst game of his career. He’s capable of bouncing back against Tee Higgins and Ja’Marr Chase, and he had better do just that, and it better look indicative of a guy that’s ready to win a playoff game next week. Last month @ CIN, the Steelers chose to utilize safety help to Ja’Marr Chase’s side of the field, and have JPJ follow Tee Higgins. I think this is a more reasonable gameplan with a more physical guy like Cory Trice Jr, than it was for Donte Jackson in our last meeting. Still, JPJ will have to be better than he was last time.
The Bengals have a litany of guys questionable for this game, including some big names like Tee Higgins, Chase Brown, and Cam Taylor-Britt. With that being said, they are playing for their metaphorical lives in this one, so I fully expect everyone that’s capable of playing to be out there.
Every guy they wind up ruling out will be welcome news to Steeler fans, but at the end of the day, we’re going against Joe Burrow with his back against the wall. I expect MVP-caliber play from him, and it’s going to be up to our guys to make the necessary tackles and not beat themselves. This was also the case a few weeks ago @ PHI, and last week vs. KC, and we saw how those went. Our defense has fallen off a cliff. They haven’t been tackling well, and there’s miscommunications happening far too often. As I said after the Chiefs game, it’s hard to know FOR SURE who was to blame for all of the busted coverages in that particular game, but all signs sure seem to point to Cam Sutton. The snap count for DBs, particularly in that Nickel spot, in today’s game will be very telling. With that being said, there have been communication issues sprinkled in our defense throughout the year; it has just become pretty blatantly bad over the last couple of weeks. But three games in 11 days just might do that to ya.
Lately, I have made the mistake of predicting games, and that’s not something I intend to do…it just kinda happens as I’m typing these things out and hyping myself up. I’m not going to predict this game. Obviously, this fanbases’ vibes are at a season low, and I am in that sad little boat floatin’ dahn the river with yinz. I tend to be a little less pessimistic than most of you, but I will say this: if the Steelers lose this game today, and have to go to Baltimore in the wild card round of the playoffs, where they likely lose, Mike Tomlin’s ass is going to be on fire his seat will be so hot. And I know I said earlier this week that the Steelers “could win” in Baltimore, but notice how carefully I phrased that? We are capable of winning there, versus say, @ Buffalo where we would likely get our asses handed to us and lose by 30. That doesn’t make Baltimore the ideal place to play in the wild card round. @ Houston is much more manageable. So, make no mistake about it, the Steelers should win this game, and kinda need to.
In terms of what I want to see today….I just want to come out of this game feeling good about both sides of the ball, because right now I’m pretty down on them both. Signs of life would be great.
Our regular season comes to a close today. Sad.
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