Steelers’ defense outscores Bengals
Troy Polamalu scored as many touchdowns as the Cincinnati Bengals’ entire offense did. So did LaMarr Woodley. Both intercepted Carson Palmer passes and returned them for touchdowns in the Steelers’ 23-7 win over the Cincinnati Bengals.
The Steelers defense put on a truly dominant performance against the Bengals. They held the Bengals to only 190 net yards total. Of those, only 34 came on the ground.
And as if his “pick 6″ weren’t enough, Troy added another interception in the 4th quarter just for good measures.
Unfortunately, Troy’s first interception also left him limping for the rest of the game. Hopefully, it is just a minor injury, and won’t effect him further.
Troy limps off the field
As effective as the defense was, the offense was equally impotent.
Once again, the Steelers’ offense was unable to score a touchdown. The Steelers have only scored 2 touchdowns in their last 30 offensive possessions.
It has become the norm to see the Steelers get into their opponents’ red-zone, only to have them settle for a field goal.
A good example of this happened in the end of the second quarter. The Steelers had the ball at the Bengals’ 5 yard line. They attempted consecutive pass plays, and both almost resulted in interceptions. Finally, they settled for a field goal.
Same thing happened in the third quarter. The Steelers had the ball on the Bengals’ 19 yard line. They attempted 3 consecutive (unsuccessful) pass plays, and then settled for a field goal.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m very happy with the performance that Shaun Suisham has turned in since replacing Jeff Reed. Suisham has been perfect since joining the Steelers. However, the Steelers seem to be on a collision course with the New England Patriots in the playoffs. They will not be able to beat the Patriots if they can only score field goals.
The Steelers have three games remaining, and two of them are at Heinz Field. Moreover, two of the Steelers’ remaining games are against teams with losing records (the Carolina Panthers and the Cleveland Browns). The only game they have remaining against a team with a winning record is next week’s game against the New York Jets.
The Steelers have a very real possibility of finishing the season at 13-3 or 12-4. They could potentially receive a first round bye in the playoffs. However, unless they can find a way to score touchdowns instead of field goals, the Steelers’ playoff run might not be very long.
Fortunately, we have 3 games remaining to fix the problem.
Here we go Steelers, here we go!!!!
Today’s featured item:
What could possibly be better than having your bedroom decked out in black and gold? Get your this Steelers bedroom set that includes bedding and drapes.
Please note that this set is a queen size bed. Sets are also available for full size or twin size beds. Make sure that you order the appropriate size for your bedroom set.
Don’t delay. Order now! There’s still time to get your set before the holidays.
(If you enjoyed this article, please consider leaving a comment by clicking on the square at the top right of this article. Also, please subscribe to our blog by pressing the orange button below. You can also follow us on Twitter by clicking the bird doohicky below. Also consider following us on Facebook. Thanks.)
3 games to fix the problem? we’ve had 13 games already! Don’t expect it to change my friend. BA is incapable and Tomlin is responsible for this because he had a chance to make a change last offseason. Mendenhall has rushed for over 100yds ONE time since Ben came back and that was against the 3-10 Buffalo Bills! Glad we got back to that Steeler football. Mendy is avg 3.9yds/carry. Worst in three years. I got blasted a few weeks ago by saying our run game was not any better. Well, I guess this is where I say “I told you so”. Certainly don’t see a running game emerging or an offensive touchdown coming against the Jets. However, we may get two more defensive scores against the only offense worse than us.
Suisham is a stud pick up!
Can Troy play o-line or rb? This guy will obviously get snubbed for MVP because he is not a QB with a story like Vick. But put this guy against Vick and see what happens. Is there a more valuable player in the league to a team than Troy? Hardly. Steeler record proves as much. What a stud!
That was a nice trick play that Pouncey and Ben had. No one saw that coming!
And last but certainly not least: Don’t you just love to see T.O. upset at his QB? I think he is just too soft.
1Tony,
I was trying to be optimistic. They could evolve into a smash-mouth team that can pound the ball in from the opponents’ red-zone. They have 3 weeks to pull it off. It could happen.
Okay, maybe it can’t happen, but I can still wish that it would happen. It is so frustrating watching them get the ball to the opponents’ 5 yard line and fail to punch it into the endzone on 3 consecutive downs. Arrrrgggghhhhh!!!!
As far as Swishy goes, he’s definitely been a stud so far. I don’t know how many he would have missed, but I’m certain that Jeff Reed would have missed a few of those kicks already.
And you’re right, Troy won’t even be mentioned for MVP. Tom Brady has already locked up that award. Besides, Troy doesn’t play QB or RB, so he’s not qualified to win the MVP anyway. The award should really be called the MVOP (most valuable offensive player).
2don’t be surprised if Vick doesn’t get it……it would be such a feel good comeback story and all that crap. And yes MVQB could be a new name as well.
3Guys: About the running game: We lost our starting tackles and the RG spot is a revolving door. Who is there now? Essex? Legursky? Plus, Adams seems to have a small injury every other game. Oh, and Heath was out, too. That WILL affect any running game. It effects the entire offense. Ben is taking too many hits right now and Mendenhall has no room to run. Is it their fault? No. It isn’t Tomlin’s or even Arains’ fault. An offense with a skeleton crew OL is easy to stop.The Bengals simply rushed through the OL, concentrating on containing Mendenhall and hitting Ben. (Which, if he was Brady or Manning, there would have been at least 8 roughing the passer penalties yesterday.)
The play calling hasn’t been the problem this year. The Steelers just don’t have the personnel for a power run game right now. Injuries happen. To go far in the playoffs, it’ll have to be done like it was in ’08: with Ben’s miracles and some epic defense.
4Also, is it just me or is David Johnson a better option than Spaeth at TE?
5Guys - well said. So Dan, you don’t buy the Tomlin adage that, “The standard doesn’t change. We expect the next man in line to step in and do the job.” ?? Cincy is ravaged by injuries on Defense as well. It should be very disturbing that we couldn’t run on them. I was sorry to see that Redman did not get more carries. I keep hearing that we will use him more and it doesn’t happen. Mewelde does a good job but he has definitely slowed down and Redman has earned the opportunity to spell Mendenhall. What is more alarming to me is our on-going red zone woes. I cringe when we get inside the 10. I was screaming for us to cut BA loose after last season’s diamal red zone conversion rate. As noted, in the play-offs we will not be around long if we are not scoring TD’s especially in the red zone. [PS - I hope we POUND the Jets! The Jets think they are the Ravens...but they are more like the Ravens' sister.]
6Tomlin’s adage is the ideal situation, but it doesn’t always happen. Like Spaeth replacing Miller, Adams replacing Colon, Scott replacing Starks, etc. Fortunately for the defense, the ideal is the reality, at least so far.
Yeah, every team has injuries. But the Steelers tend to have most of theirs in one spot: the OL. The Bengals were teeing off on Ben all day.
7Steelers-Jets will be another low scoring affair. The difference: We have Ben Roethlisberger. They have Mark Sanchez. Steelers should win.
8We fight and scratch. Big Ben is doing it the tough way. We have lots injuries but we are tough. We will do well in the playoffs because we are doing what we should be doing. Everyone has injuries but we are winning so thats all it matters. Our defense is getting better. We are closing games. Thats the key to winning. We do need to address certain needs next years draft. But i think we will go far this year.
9i love it! in-fighting… keep it up guys.
we are winning against bad teams Mark. Buffalo, Cincy, Cleveland, etc… will not be in the playoffs. And we did just beat Baltimore but if flacco wasn’t passing like an idiot we probably at best get the ball deep on our end with less than 2min to go and no chance of scoring.
We’ve lost to the Saints, Patriots, and Ravens. All playoff teams. Ok we did beat the falcons but I think we can all agree that the falcons in week one is much different than the falcons in week 14.
I knew john#21 would have my back on this one.
I agree with dan on one point….the jets don’t scare me anything like the bengals or browns do.
10Dan,
I agree with you…….sort of.
Yes, the offensive line has been decimated. And that does reduce our ability to run a smash-mouth offense. However, as others have mentioned, the Bengals have a TERRIBLE run defense, and their defense has even more injuries than our offensive line does. So that should have at least made it a fair fight, if not giving us an advantage. Yet, we couldn’t run it in from the 5 yard line.
11BTW, the Jets don’t scare me at all. I think they’re highly over-rated.
I’ll bet everybody (except for Tony) is going to pick the Steelers to win this one.
12No haiku contest this week? Aw man. But I just can’t seem to stop myself, so herewith two haikus about the Bengals game.
What happened, T.O.?
Carson Palmer wants to know
How Troy got that ball
D the high-scorers
13O not quite on top of things
W anyway
considering that my loss predictions are the only reason we won last two games I do figure to go against them again
I may even predict a blow out. stay tuned.
14Tony,
Yes, you are clearly the reason the Steelers won.
So this week, will you please predict that the Steelers will fail miserably in the running game, Mike Wallace won’t catch any long TD passes, and that the defense will rarely blitz Mark Sanchez?
15