October 17, 2025 • 27 mins
Ed Troup and Jacob Recht look at the stat sheet from Steelers vs Bengals and point out the biggest individual and team numbers.
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
Rogers gets a snap back pressure coming eludes, it fires
out field, cockat Timok crazy up the left sideline, the twenty.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
To ten, the five touchdown fireboat.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
Want to play sixty eight yards Rogers with the late
magic would have been the play of the game and
the play of the season if they would have went
on to win. But unfortunately, the Steelers going to lose
last night on Thursday Night Football to the Bengals thirty
three the thirty one. This is the Steelers standard with
Ed Troup and Jacob Brett here on Steelers Nation Radio,
(00:40):
part of the Steelers Audio Network. Jacob, It's time for
our standard report, key stats and notes in Bengals thirty
three Steelers thirty one. Last night, he just heard the
big play by Pat Friarmuth. He had disappeared the last
few games. He showed up last night in a big
way for the Pittsburgh Steelers, leading all receivers for the
Steelers at least with five catches on six targets for
(01:01):
our one hundred and eleven yards and two touchdowns, two
key touchdowns in the second half for the Black and Gold,
and that one was huge. The only problem with that
was for a defense that couldn't get a stop all night.
It ultimately gave Joe Flacco and the Bengals offense way
too much time left to work with with two twenty
one left in the game, and we know the ending
is Flacco easily moves the Bengals offense downfield on the
(01:23):
Steelers defense and the closing two minutes to settle for
the game winning field goal. But the youth played, make
no doubt about it, especially from sixty eight yards, was
very exciting.
Speaker 3 (01:32):
Absolutely. I mean we all had the same thought though.
You know, it was a great play, and I'm sure
all of us watching at home were six standing up
cheering saying go go, go, go go. But at the
same time we were thinking, oh no, there is way
too much time left on that clock. The same thing
happened to Ed when the Bengals punted the ball away
(01:53):
and the Steelers got the ball left with three minutes, saying,
there's more than enough time for the Steers to go
down the field.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
I kill the clock and get get into the end zone.
Speaker 3 (02:03):
And we know that Aaron Rodgers has done this his
whole career, lead these game winning touchdown drives, and so
you thought, great, now you're in the position, but the
fact that you were able to score on just a
two play drive. I'm not saying because you were down
by a touchdown at that point compared to when the
Bengals got the ball at the end of the game,
they were only down by a one point score. I'm
(02:28):
not saying that pat should have gone down because the
touchdown is obviously a lot harder to guarantee than a
field goal.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
But man, oh, you kind of want to back now,
don't you.
Speaker 3 (02:38):
You kind of want to say, Okay, that could have
gone for just like ten yards or so, and then
get tackled and then keep the drive going just to
see the clock go down.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
And then maybe you don't get into the end zone.
I don't know if you feel better about it.
Speaker 3 (02:52):
It was just it was a whirlwinner of emotions because
you were happy to have the lead, but you were
also nervous because you saw how much time was from
and the defense showed no signs of slowing down or
no shot, no no ability to slow down Joe Flacco,
and you thought, oh, Flacco's gonna all you gotta do
is get them in field goal, because again, they weren't
in and they didn't have to get into the end zone.
(03:14):
The Steelers did, so Flacco just had the march into
like the forty and that that would be it. But
they obviously got down to like the five yard line.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
Yeah. Again, it was two forty six left, the Steelers
at their own forty four yard line before the hold
happened on the Roman Wilson completion at midfield that set
them back to their own thirty two. But just to
back to your point, Jacob, when they had the with
two forty six left and you're at your own forty
four yard line, I'm thinking Rogers is gonna take him down.
We've seen him do this throughout the season so far.
It's it's what he does. But just eat the clock,
(03:43):
do not give them enough time left. So, in one ense,
you're exactly right. You described it perfectly. Steeler Nation was
a static on the Pat Friarmuth exciting sixty eight yard touchdown.
But then you looked at the clock and you know
how this game was going, and I thought to myself,
they're they're gonna lose, They're not gonna win. I I
immediately in my mind thought, as Bengal fans were thinking
(04:04):
Steelers thirty one, Bengals twenty What was it? What were
they up to that point? Twenty twenty four? Right, no
point or thirty one thirty thirty one thirty because it
was thirty to twenty.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
Four after the pad touchdown.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
Correct, Yeah, So they then the Steelers go up on
thirty one thirty. So when Bengal fans were thinking that, hey,
we're gonna lose this game thirty one thirty, the Steelers
will score and pull it out right at the end,
I was thinking at that point, we're gonna lose thirty
three to thirty one because the Bengals are going to
march downfield, kick a field goal and win the game.
And that's ultimately what happened. Okay, let's get into some
leftover notes from week seven. Last night on Thursday Night Football,
(04:40):
three straight winning streak for the Pittsburgh Steelers now ends.
They are now one in one in the AFC North.
Aaron Rodgers passed Ben Roethlisberger, yeah, last night, in the
first half for fifth all time in NFL passing yards.
Rogers needed one hundred and sixteen passing yards to surpass Roethlisberger,
who had sixty four thousand, eighty eight coming in. He
got in the second. He got it in the second
(05:01):
quarter when he hit Jalen Warren in a fifteen yard reception.
Brett Farve is now up next. He's fourth all time
at seventy one, eight hundred and thirty eight yards. Rogers
would probably need next season along with the rest of
this season, to try to get to seventy one thousand.
That's that's a number that he's gonna have to chase,
maybe even into another season after that. I'm not sure
he's gonna catch Farv at seventy one almost seventy two
(05:23):
thousand career passing yards, but he's certainly in play now
as the number five all time NFL leading passer. Very
rough second quarter last night, we just mentioned it. It
basically decided the game. The offense looked good early, but
turnovers and penalties just hurt the Steelers last night, especially
on offense, and that second quarter ultimately did them in.
The defense has to improve after this game, too, Jacob.
(05:44):
They got to start getting back to stopping the run.
They couldn't pressure Flaco last night. The time that he
had to pick them apart was a huge, huge difference.
They couldn't generate pressure all night. They couldn't stop Chaser Higgins.
The run defense was poor. I mean, this was probably
the worst defensive performance by the steel I've seen in
a long time. It reminded me of the last five
games of last season where they just couldn't stop the
(06:05):
run or pass, and that was that losing streak that
took him ultimately into the offseason.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
Yeah, it's just what can you say about the defense?
Speaker 3 (06:14):
I mean, we were talking, we were so high on
them right coming into this game, saying, look how well
you did against Minnesota, Look how well you did against
New England. Look how well you did against Cleveland last week?
And lo and behold Joe Flacco, of course, of all people,
is the guy to really burn you and expose you.
There were a lot of people at fault last night.
(06:36):
Cam Hayward said it was their fault. He said, don't
blame the secondary because the defensive line didn't get the pressure.
Jalen Ramseys said it's on him because he admitted that
he had a bad game going up against Jamar Chase.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
We know TJ.
Speaker 3 (06:50):
Want and Alex Highsmith were basically invisible for the whole
whole game. Nick Herbig we never I don't think I
heard Herbig's Herbig's name once called once all night long.
Patrick Queen was was ineffective. The rest of the inside
linebackers didn't do much.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
Yeah, I mean there.
Speaker 3 (07:05):
I don't think there's anyone that's on the defense that's
safe from criticism.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
They got to call everyone out. It was, like I said,
it was their worst defensive performance of this year. And
again the Jets game wasn't that great either, but they
made a play at the end when they had to.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
They they came up with two stops at the end
and they won the game.
Speaker 3 (07:22):
Right, it is all forgiven if you win the game
last night, if you, as I said, if that drive
still results in a touchdown to Mooth, but it's not
a to play you know, ninety second or to play
how long was it to play twenty five second drive?
If it was like a seven play two and a
half in a drive, leaving like twenty seconds on the
(07:43):
clock for the Bengals and your defense just had to
stop them from scoring within twenty second window, then almost forgiven.
Right you say okay back to the drawing, the same
way you did in week one when you beat the Jets,
saying okay, back to the drawing, board, Let's see what
we can fix, Let's see how we can improve.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
But at least you got the win. You can't say
that after last night because you lost.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
By the way, you said Nick Herbig was missing last night,
there's a reason behind it. He only played thirty eight percent. Yeah,
that's it. So twenty nine snaps last night thirty eight percent.
Alex Highsmith played seventy percent of the snaps, fifty three
snaps on defense, and TJ Watt sixty two snaps last
night at eighty two percent on the football field. That
doesn't jump out here or change anything. But Herbie only
(08:26):
getting thirty eight percent last night. Yeah tough, that's uh, Yeah,
that's tough sledding. That's for sure to be able to
put up any type of stats or make an impact
on the defense. Yes, Flacco and Chase dominated the Steeers
d defensive backfield last night. Call him all out, you
know Slay, Yeah, call him order, even Ramsey, you know, Thornhill,
Deshaun Elliott, the entire secondary they were picked on all night.
(08:49):
It was just a lot of quick slat passes too,
that Flacco was able to pick up Chase and if
the Stewers were blitzing, he was easily able to have
time in the pocket to sit there and throw the football.
Flacco five five hundred and sixty one yards passing in
his first two games as a Cincinnati Bengal, five touchdowns,
no interceptions in those two games. Cincinnati's loving them some
Joe Flacco right now. And on the other side in Cleveland,
(09:12):
they're a little hot right now that they let a
guy like Joe Flaco go. But again, he started the
season there and they benched him. So he didn't have
success early on this season in Cleveland, but he's sure
having some success with the Cincinnati Bengals so far. The
Steelers now zero to nine all time on Thursday Night
football on the road versus divisional opponents. TJ. Watt in
the pass rush extremely quiet last night versus a struggling
(09:34):
Bengals offensive line. We talked about it yesterday. I thought
they'd have a lot of success going up against an
offensive line that was ranked one of the worst with
pass protection in the league. I think they were thirty first, Jacob.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
And you add that all up.
Speaker 1 (09:46):
The last two games against the Vikings and the Browns,
the Steelers started getting home. They're stacking up sack numbers
they were getting back to Blitzburg and last night that
just didn't simply have it. I guess give credit to
the simms Is on that line. He handled TJ. Watt
pretty handily last night. You give credit to the Bengals
offensive line. They showed up, and they showed up in
a big way, and they really shut down the pass
rush of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
Yeah. Completely.
Speaker 3 (10:06):
I mean that that was a mismatch that we thought
was going to be in the advantage of the Steelers,
and obviously that did not happen, right, I mean, we
thought that this was going to be a big game
for TJ. Watt, a big game for Cam Hayward, a
big game for pretty much everyone up front and low,
and behold, what can you say?
Speaker 2 (10:24):
I mean, like no one got home?
Speaker 3 (10:26):
Right. We talked about how the Steelers walked away with
six sacks against Cleveland, sixteen quarterback hits on Dylan Gabriel,
And what did you come away with last night? I
don't have the quarterback hits in front of me, but
I know they only registered two sacks, the one of
the very.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
Beginning of the game and the one at the very
end of the game.
Speaker 1 (10:45):
That was it.
Speaker 3 (10:46):
You basically went the fifty minutes in between with no
pressure on Flacco. It looked like clean pockets all night long.
He was upright, he wasn't on the ground too much.
It just you not do your job, You do not
fulfill your assignment, and they.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
Come out with the big loss last night through the
Pittsburgh Steelers thirty three to thirty one. The Steeers were
their home black jerseys on the road. The Bengals were
on those alternative all white unis. I think that's the
first time. And again we'd have to check with go
back in history and look, but I'm not sure the
Steers have ever wore black home jerseys in Cincinnati.
Speaker 2 (11:21):
In Cincinnati, I'm not sure.
Speaker 3 (11:23):
I know they do it a lot, you know, at
the beginning of the year, at the beginning of the
season exactly, but Cincinnati, I don't know, I never, I
can't remember.
Speaker 1 (11:32):
But what I mean it was a white out crowd.
Give credit to the Cincinnati fan base. It looked like
a Penn State atmosphere when Penn State has their white
outs there at the exactly Indiana fan over there. Make
sure he gets that big ten ripping. There were a
few visible Steeler fans last night too, which was very
very rare. And I don't know it's because it was
the white out.
Speaker 2 (11:52):
White out, Yeah, couldn't really.
Speaker 1 (11:53):
And the Steelers. You know, if you're a true Steeler fan,
whether you're sitting at home watching the game, you're away,
when the Steelers are away, you gotta go white.
Speaker 2 (12:01):
You gotta go white jersey, right absolutely.
Speaker 3 (12:03):
I mean I I've been calling for them, you know,
we've been calling you and I have been calling for
one thing together, and that's to bring in the block
numbers permanently and then similar to how the Penguins where
they brought back their their their alternate jerseys for that
back to back Cup runs. The first year they had
the home jerseys, which are great, and in the second
year they brought back the white away whites. Calling for
(12:24):
the Seilers to do the same thing, to first make
the step of moving permanently to the block numbers and
then bring back the white jerseys with the block numbers
as well.
Speaker 2 (12:34):
Yeah, I'm one hundred percent with you.
Speaker 1 (12:36):
Please, you have to play.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
Do you have an even spread between the home and
away jerseys?
Speaker 1 (12:41):
I probably do. I actually only have one awagers. I
got a Watt Block home jerseys two years ago. Absolutely
love it, wear it all the time. Do you have
any away Whites that you own? Away Whites have a
Joey Porter Junior Away White out, but it's not the
block letter No, I mean those don't exist. The only
you'll like this one I got was special. I'll just
leave it there, okay.
Speaker 3 (12:59):
The only the only away white jersey I own is
a very poor quality. It's real, but it's you know,
poor quality because of how old it is. A Willie
Parker away white jersey.
Speaker 1 (13:12):
Yeah. Well, I had a James Harrison Away White for
for a long time. But as you know, I've lost
a lot. I lost a lot of the right, so
I had to get rid of all my jersey. Now
I could use this, let me tell you. It looks
like a boy. Looks like a bed sheet too. Well.
Speaker 3 (13:25):
You know you could also do in the cold weather
games if you go bundle up underneath and then throw
it over and it's fit perfectly.
Speaker 1 (13:31):
My six hoodies that I gotta wear. I'm always constantly cold. Now.
Current AFC North Standing Steelers four and two steal in
first place. But my goodness, say I win last night
would have even given them more separation and more control
in the AFC North. But it's the AFC North. It's
a division that's always tight and always entertaining, and it's
gonna be that way this year. It's gonna be a
grinded out division. The Bengals now three and four and second.
(13:53):
The Ravens have a bye this week at one and five.
In our next stegment will preview all of the Week
seven games and the Browns one and five. They will
to one in five Miami Dolphins. So, by any means, Jacob,
this division, I don't want to say it's up for grabs,
but it's up for grabs. I mean, the Browns can
go on a roll here, the Ravens can get Lamar back.
They can still go on a roll at one and five.
(14:15):
Stee's got some tough games coming up, tough schedule, So
by any means, we are not done with this. So
let's jump into this.
Speaker 3 (14:21):
I mean, you had the chance, and this was your
chance to stack another win, something we've been preaching all year.
Get to five and one Bury the Bengals and their
season as early as Week seven have, or rather have
the Ravens and the rear View Mirror you're five and one.
They're one and five. Remember they played the bye week,
so they're not doing anything this weekend. Imagine how good
(14:44):
that would have looked. Now here you are, you're only
four and two. The Bengals now are three and four,
and the Bengals are feeling pretty good now. Of course
they don't have Joe Burrow, but Joe Flacco seemingly can
keep them aflow. And if they're around five hundred, Joe
Burrow is able to come back in December. He's gonna
do it, by the way, Oh for sure. If they're
(15:04):
in it, he's bad, right, But then what do you
do there? If Joe Flacco was playing at a Pro
Bowl title?
Speaker 2 (15:09):
Come on, man, you got it. Don't do that. Don't
do that.
Speaker 1 (15:13):
Don't do that.
Speaker 2 (15:15):
Don't don't tell me you're gonna keep Flac going over.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
Flacca is gonna take a back seat, for sure, but
that's a good backup to have. Last night, the Bengals
win against the Steelers at pay Corps Stadium was their
first in the last three games, so it snaps a
three game winning streak for the Steelers in Cincinnati. So
the Steelers had won there the last three years in
a row until last night, when the Bengals break that streak.
(15:39):
Let's get into the numbers last night for both of
these teams. We'll start with Cincinnati and the running game.
Chase Brown eleven carries one hundred and eight yards nine
point eight yards per carry, which is just amazing for
a running back going in that averaged less than three
yards per carry last night. The Bengals as a team
one hundred and forty two yards rushing, averaging six point
two yards per rush. On the flip side, Stewards did
(16:00):
a good job last night. They actually outrushed the Bengals
as they get as a team twenty carries for one
hundred and forty seven yards. They averaged seven point four
yards per carry. Y Jalen Warren sixteen carries one hundred
and twenty seven yards. He averaged seven point nine yards
per carry last night. Kenny Gamol added three carries for
fourteen yards. So the Steelers outrush the Cincinnati Bengals last
night too.
Speaker 2 (16:22):
For what did you feel like it to you?
Speaker 3 (16:23):
Though? Given how well Chase Brown did, no, because Chase
Brown Bengals exactly it felt like well.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
Connor Hayward did have bigger runs, but.
Speaker 3 (16:32):
It just I think just the surprise impact right of
Chase Brown being I mean we talked that, you mentioned
that Connor Hayward finished with like a seven point eight
yard per carry.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
What did Chase Brown finish with?
Speaker 1 (16:43):
So Brown finishes with nine point eight seven point nine so.
Speaker 3 (16:48):
Point, But the fact that this guy, Chase Brown came
in averaging what two yards per carry? On the year,
he averaged ten yards per carry. So that's basically give
the ball to Chase Brown, you're gonna get first down.
He just he ran all over a run defense that
had gotten better than.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
The last two weeks exactly.
Speaker 3 (17:04):
Yeah, I mean, remember how well they did. I mean,
they had their best game overall against the Browns last week.
They shut down the Minnesota Vikings rushing offense. They allowed
one hundred yards against the Patriots, but remember how well
they did effectively against the two running backs. Between Ramadre
Stevenson forcing those fumbles on him and the rookie Travon Henderson,
he was pretty ineffective.
Speaker 2 (17:23):
Yeah, it's it's it's a puzzler.
Speaker 1 (17:26):
Passing wise, Aaron Rodgers last night twenty three of thirty
four for two hundred and forty nine yards. He did
have four touchdowns and two interceptions. So Rodgers his second
game of the year, did it against the Jets, does
it again against the Bengals with for at least four touchdowns.
So good performance by Aaron Rodgers overall. And he had
time last night. Like we said on the first touchdown pass,
(17:48):
he had won eight point six y three seconds as
he was able to get out of the pockets stand there.
The offensive line did their job at least early on
protecting Rodgers and really throughout the game as he wasn't
sacked at all. Another clean night for Aaron Rodgers. On
the flip side, Joe Flacca, we know his numbers, thirty
one of forty seven for three hundred and forty two
yards passing, three touchdowns, and here's a key stat no interceptions.
(18:12):
He was only sacked twice as you said at the
beginning of the game and at the end of the
game in between, no pass rush. All the time in
the world for Joe Flacco. Nothing he needed it because
Chase and Higgins they were running wide open all night long. Yeah,
it's just man, those guys were unstoppable. You know, Priority
number one was stop Jamar Chase. Well, you didn't do that,
so priority number two was easily assigned to stopping t Higgins.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
Well you didn't do that either.
Speaker 3 (18:36):
Now, those are the two guys that you knew were
going to be the most effective weapons on offense for
the Bengals, and what did you do against them?
Speaker 2 (18:42):
Pretty much nothing?
Speaker 1 (18:44):
The two big receivers. Chase sixteen catches on an NFL
record for twenty twenty five, twenty three targets, one hundred
and sixty one yards and a touchdown. T Higgins six
catches on ten targets for ninety six yards and twenty
nine or his longest being a twenty nine yard reception
and a touchdown. Last night, Noah Fan the tight end,
(19:05):
he had four catches for forty four yards, as he
also gets the other Bengal receiving touchdown. Steelers receiving Pat
Friarmuth five catches on six targets for our one hundred
and eleven yards, the two touchdowns, the longest being that
big sixty eight yard score. Jalen Warren last night four
catches out of the backfield for thirty one yards. DK
Metcalf only three catches for fifty yards. They targeted him
(19:27):
early on and then he kind of disappeared in that
offense as the game went on. They targeted DK last
night only five times, three catches for fifty yards, John
new Smith three catches for twenty eight yards, and Darnell
Washington last night officially targeted five times, three catches for
two yards and it was the touchdown that he caught
(19:47):
in the end zone.
Speaker 3 (19:50):
Yeah, getting to DK first, I mean, you mentioned he
finished with fifty yards on the night, and you remember
forty of those came on the very first on that
one pass on the far sideline going right to left.
Speaker 2 (20:03):
So for the rest of the game and the guy
only had eleven yards on the night.
Speaker 3 (20:10):
I mean, again, is it bad when Aaron Rodgers still
finishes the night with four touchdown passes and and distributes
the ball across the oup.
Speaker 2 (20:19):
I mean, that's what you want. You want a well
balanced offense.
Speaker 3 (20:21):
You want you don't want the the the opposing defense
to know who's getting the ball every time. And you know,
they were looking like they could have been easily a
one dimensional offense just Rogers the DK. So it's hard
to complain when Rogers finished with four touchdown passes. Again,
I'm gonna get gonna get back to the word spoiled here,
But that's the only thing that seems appropriate given that
(20:42):
DK Metcalf was pretty much a no show except for
that first drive, that that first big catch he had
of the game.
Speaker 2 (20:52):
It's remarkable.
Speaker 3 (20:53):
But yeah, I mean, credit to Rogers for keeping them
alive offensively without I'll say this again. You know, we
talked about in our Terrible Takes segment earlier this week,
and we've talked about it all season long, who's been
the MVP and who's been the most impactful acquisition or
new member of the team, And we were going between
Ramsey and DK. There is no way. I mean, the
(21:13):
score was thirty three to thirty one. The score easily
could have been thirty three to thirteen if Mason Rudolph
or someone else was a quarterback and non Aaron Rodgers.
Speaker 1 (21:21):
One other note with the stats, at least from an
offensive standpoint, We'll hit special teams quickly. I thought, another
nice job by Keishawn Williams, your guy out of India. Yeah,
I mean, yeah nice. You're not gonna give credit to
Kenneth Gamewell. He had a couple of good returns as well.
He did Yeah, I mean, he got them to the
out of the forty yard by one time. Key Shawn
Williams average. He had three returns last night and averaged
thirty yards per return. That's pretty good. And you're right,
(21:42):
Kenny Game well three returns as well. He averaged twenty
nine point three.
Speaker 3 (21:45):
Yeah, so they're doing better. That's sorry, Johnson, I think
your spot's been filled.
Speaker 1 (21:50):
Yeah, one hundred percent. Keishawn Williams, in my opinion, has
earned a spot on this team, and it's in a
kick return or role as the Steelers move forward. Defensively,
the Steelers only two sacks last night. Kean and has
one and Cam Hayward and TJ. Watt combined on the
other they each get a half a sack last night.
And that's about it. On defense. There's really nothing else.
The highlight, I mean leading the pack was Deshaun Elliott
(22:11):
was six tackles, five by Joey Porter Junior, including two
pass deflections. But we also know Porter had his struggles
with being called with p I a few times. On
the other side for Cincinnati, just the two interceptions, Jordan
Battle with the pick and DJ Turner with the other
Steelers no turnovers for their defense last night and for
the Bengals. They produced two on both of those interceptions.
Speaker 2 (22:32):
How's that with the sacks here? I mean the TJ.
Speaker 3 (22:35):
Watt and Cam Haymard one just felt so much like
it was too little, too late. And then if you
look at the first one, you remember the Steelers open
up the game with that touchdown drive to John new Smith,
and then the second play for the Bengals was that
Kanu Benton sack.
Speaker 2 (22:51):
The Bengals were lining up.
Speaker 3 (22:52):
For third and long, you thought, great, you know, you
came out with the opening touchdown drive, you got a
sack on the first drive. There's no way that Bengals
gonna do anything. And then it's third and long and
Joe Flacco converts. It's like the first of his like
first ten third and longs. He converted all night long.
I mean, I don't know what the Bengals average average
yards was for on third down, like yards they had
(23:15):
to gain, but it felt like they were pushed back
majority of the time, and it felt like Flacco converted
on every single one of them. And and that first
one coming on that first ride for them, which just
set the tone for the night. It's just really tough.
And then you look at the turnovers. I mean, this
is such a what could have been a turnover prone team,
and you came up with zero for the second straight week.
Speaker 1 (23:36):
Coming in, the Steelers were plus seven, they were negative four,
so I mean it was and now then now they're
now they're only plus five two turnovers. Last night the
Bengals produced on the two Aaron Rodgers interceptions.
Speaker 3 (23:47):
You gotta be you gotta be nervous, though, ed because
it's a second straight week without a turnover forced by
the defense.
Speaker 1 (23:52):
They started out so hot doing that, right, And now,
as you said, back to back weeks, and then the
second numbers were good in the last two weeks too,
and that last.
Speaker 2 (23:59):
Year I mentioned nineteen sacks and the last three games combined.
Speaker 1 (24:05):
Stuff, well, you know, and last night the Bengals offensive
line was beat up. I mean they were beat up.
They were one of the worst in the league and
not be able to break through and at least get more.
Speaker 2 (24:14):
I'm sorry, in the four games combined, but you get
the point.
Speaker 1 (24:17):
Yeah, no, they did. And and but last night, you know,
going in, you're thinking you're gonna be able to get
home and beat up this offensive line, and it was
the opposite their past They had, Placo had plenty of time,
and then Chase Brown had some big runs coming out
of the backfield. Let's get to some team stats now, Jacob.
Twenty seven first downs for the Cincinnati Bengals last night,
nineteen for the Steelers. You mentioned third down. I'm gonna
(24:38):
give it to you here. The Steelers actually not bad
on third down last night, seven to ten. They clipped
at a seventy percent rate, Bengals seven of fourteen at
fifty percent conversion on third down. The Steelers had no
fourth down attempts last night. The Bengals won for one
on the quarterback sneak late in the game. The Steelers
fifty four plays last night for three hundred and ninety
six total yards. Meanwhile, the Bengals seventy two total plays,
(25:02):
so they almost twenty more plays on offense than the
Steelers for four hundred and seventy total yards. That's what
the Steeler defense gave up last night. Penalties seven of
fifty nine for the Stealers get again four of thirty
five yards. That's it for Cincinnati. So the Steelers lose
the penalty battle and they lose the turnover battle. As
(25:24):
we mentioned too, with turning the ball over twice to
Cincinnati's zero red zone Steelers were three to four in
the red zone. Still strong there. That's what we've seen
most of this year. Aaron Rodgers has done a great job,
not good, great job in the red zone for the Steelers. Meanwhile,
on the other side, two of five in the red
zone for the Cincinnati Bengals. That was probably the only
stat of the night I'm going to read that might
(25:44):
not be that great for Cincinnati. Time of possession. Finally,
Cincinnati easily thirty four minutes and thirty two seconds to
the Steelers twenty five minutes and twenty eight seconds. So
I always talk about the key stats to winning a
football game. Time of possession. Cincinnati wins that. Who had
less penalties Cincinnati, they win that. Who won the turnover battle, Cincinnati,
they won that. Who had total most total yards Cincinnati.
Speaker 2 (26:07):
They won the Yammy go easy, hommi over here?
Speaker 1 (26:09):
Oh for four, my friend, oh for four?
Speaker 2 (26:12):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (26:12):
Just a bad game for the Steelers and one that
we were thinking that the Steelers we're gonna do, We're
gonna break the curse and finally get out of that trap.
Speaker 2 (26:21):
And they did not, and they looked really bad. In
losing fashion.
Speaker 1 (26:25):
So now they will look the rebound. They'll have ten
days off to sit on this loss to the Cincinnati Bengals.
That's the bad news. You talked about that yesterday. You win,
you feel good for ten days, you'll lose. Well, now
you got to suck it up for the next ten
days to get through. It's a mini bye week for
the Steelers. They will return to action against the Green
Bay Packers on Sunday, October twenty sixth, a week from
this Sunday, and it'll be a night game at eight
(26:45):
twenty and it'll be an Aaron Rodgers revenge game as
he takes on.
Speaker 2 (26:50):
Who knows, maybe it's a Packers revenge game.
Speaker 1 (26:52):
That's right, they can say, hey, this is why we
got rid of Aaron Rodgers. But that's the next time
that the Steelers will be in action. Up next, we'll
go into our next segment with the Renegrade preview, as
we preview Week seven across the NFL. This is the
Steelers Standard with Ed Troop and Jacob Brett on Steelers
Nation Radio, part of the Steelers Audio Network.
Rogers gets a snap back pressure coming eludes, it fires
out field, cockat Timok crazy up the left sideline, the twenty.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
To ten, the five touchdown fireboat.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
Want to play sixty eight yards Rogers with the late
magic would have been the play of the game and
the play of the season if they would have went
on to win. But unfortunately, the Steelers going to lose
last night on Thursday Night Football to the Bengals thirty
three the thirty one. This is the Steelers standard with
Ed Troup and Jacob Brett here on Steelers Nation Radio,
(00:40):
part of the Steelers Audio Network. Jacob, It's time for
our standard report, key stats and notes in Bengals thirty
three Steelers thirty one. Last night, he just heard the
big play by Pat Friarmuth. He had disappeared the last
few games. He showed up last night in a big
way for the Pittsburgh Steelers, leading all receivers for the
Steelers at least with five catches on six targets for
(01:01):
our one hundred and eleven yards and two touchdowns, two
key touchdowns in the second half for the Black and Gold,
and that one was huge. The only problem with that
was for a defense that couldn't get a stop all night.
It ultimately gave Joe Flacco and the Bengals offense way
too much time left to work with with two twenty
one left in the game, and we know the ending
is Flacco easily moves the Bengals offense downfield on the
(01:23):
Steelers defense and the closing two minutes to settle for
the game winning field goal. But the youth played, make
no doubt about it, especially from sixty eight yards, was
very exciting.
Speaker 3 (01:32):
Absolutely. I mean we all had the same thought though.
You know, it was a great play, and I'm sure
all of us watching at home were six standing up
cheering saying go go, go, go go. But at the
same time we were thinking, oh no, there is way
too much time left on that clock. The same thing
happened to Ed when the Bengals punted the ball away
(01:53):
and the Steelers got the ball left with three minutes, saying,
there's more than enough time for the Steers to go
down the field.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
I kill the clock and get get into the end zone.
Speaker 3 (02:03):
And we know that Aaron Rodgers has done this his
whole career, lead these game winning touchdown drives, and so
you thought, great, now you're in the position, but the
fact that you were able to score on just a
two play drive. I'm not saying because you were down
by a touchdown at that point compared to when the
Bengals got the ball at the end of the game,
they were only down by a one point score. I'm
(02:28):
not saying that pat should have gone down because the
touchdown is obviously a lot harder to guarantee than a
field goal.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
But man, oh, you kind of want to back now,
don't you.
Speaker 3 (02:38):
You kind of want to say, Okay, that could have
gone for just like ten yards or so, and then
get tackled and then keep the drive going just to
see the clock go down.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
And then maybe you don't get into the end zone.
I don't know if you feel better about it.
Speaker 3 (02:52):
It was just it was a whirlwinner of emotions because
you were happy to have the lead, but you were
also nervous because you saw how much time was from
and the defense showed no signs of slowing down or
no shot, no no ability to slow down Joe Flacco,
and you thought, oh, Flacco's gonna all you gotta do
is get them in field goal, because again, they weren't
in and they didn't have to get into the end zone.
(03:14):
The Steelers did, so Flacco just had the march into
like the forty and that that would be it. But
they obviously got down to like the five yard line.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
Yeah. Again, it was two forty six left, the Steelers
at their own forty four yard line before the hold
happened on the Roman Wilson completion at midfield that set
them back to their own thirty two. But just to
back to your point, Jacob, when they had the with
two forty six left and you're at your own forty
four yard line, I'm thinking Rogers is gonna take him down.
We've seen him do this throughout the season so far.
It's it's what he does. But just eat the clock,
(03:43):
do not give them enough time left. So, in one ense,
you're exactly right. You described it perfectly. Steeler Nation was
a static on the Pat Friarmuth exciting sixty eight yard touchdown.
But then you looked at the clock and you know
how this game was going, and I thought to myself,
they're they're gonna lose, They're not gonna win. I I
immediately in my mind thought, as Bengal fans were thinking
(04:04):
Steelers thirty one, Bengals twenty What was it? What were
they up to that point? Twenty twenty four? Right, no
point or thirty one thirty thirty one thirty because it
was thirty to twenty.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
Four after the pad touchdown.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
Correct, Yeah, So they then the Steelers go up on
thirty one thirty. So when Bengal fans were thinking that, hey,
we're gonna lose this game thirty one thirty, the Steelers
will score and pull it out right at the end,
I was thinking at that point, we're gonna lose thirty
three to thirty one because the Bengals are going to
march downfield, kick a field goal and win the game.
And that's ultimately what happened. Okay, let's get into some
leftover notes from week seven. Last night on Thursday Night Football,
(04:40):
three straight winning streak for the Pittsburgh Steelers now ends.
They are now one in one in the AFC North.
Aaron Rodgers passed Ben Roethlisberger, yeah, last night, in the
first half for fifth all time in NFL passing yards.
Rogers needed one hundred and sixteen passing yards to surpass Roethlisberger,
who had sixty four thousand, eighty eight coming in. He
got in the second. He got it in the second
(05:01):
quarter when he hit Jalen Warren in a fifteen yard reception.
Brett Farve is now up next. He's fourth all time
at seventy one, eight hundred and thirty eight yards. Rogers
would probably need next season along with the rest of
this season, to try to get to seventy one thousand.
That's that's a number that he's gonna have to chase,
maybe even into another season after that. I'm not sure
he's gonna catch Farv at seventy one almost seventy two
(05:23):
thousand career passing yards, but he's certainly in play now
as the number five all time NFL leading passer. Very
rough second quarter last night, we just mentioned it. It
basically decided the game. The offense looked good early, but
turnovers and penalties just hurt the Steelers last night, especially
on offense, and that second quarter ultimately did them in.
The defense has to improve after this game, too, Jacob.
(05:44):
They got to start getting back to stopping the run.
They couldn't pressure Flaco last night. The time that he
had to pick them apart was a huge, huge difference.
They couldn't generate pressure all night. They couldn't stop Chaser Higgins.
The run defense was poor. I mean, this was probably
the worst defensive performance by the steel I've seen in
a long time. It reminded me of the last five
games of last season where they just couldn't stop the
(06:05):
run or pass, and that was that losing streak that
took him ultimately into the offseason.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
Yeah, it's just what can you say about the defense?
Speaker 3 (06:14):
I mean, we were talking, we were so high on
them right coming into this game, saying, look how well
you did against Minnesota, Look how well you did against
New England. Look how well you did against Cleveland last week?
And lo and behold Joe Flacco, of course, of all people,
is the guy to really burn you and expose you.
There were a lot of people at fault last night.
(06:36):
Cam Hayward said it was their fault. He said, don't
blame the secondary because the defensive line didn't get the pressure.
Jalen Ramseys said it's on him because he admitted that
he had a bad game going up against Jamar Chase.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
We know TJ.
Speaker 3 (06:50):
Want and Alex Highsmith were basically invisible for the whole
whole game. Nick Herbig we never I don't think I
heard Herbig's Herbig's name once called once all night long.
Patrick Queen was was ineffective. The rest of the inside
linebackers didn't do much.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
Yeah, I mean there.
Speaker 3 (07:05):
I don't think there's anyone that's on the defense that's
safe from criticism.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
They got to call everyone out. It was, like I said,
it was their worst defensive performance of this year. And
again the Jets game wasn't that great either, but they
made a play at the end when they had to.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
They they came up with two stops at the end
and they won the game.
Speaker 3 (07:22):
Right, it is all forgiven if you win the game
last night, if you, as I said, if that drive
still results in a touchdown to Mooth, but it's not
a to play you know, ninety second or to play
how long was it to play twenty five second drive?
If it was like a seven play two and a
half in a drive, leaving like twenty seconds on the
(07:43):
clock for the Bengals and your defense just had to
stop them from scoring within twenty second window, then almost forgiven.
Right you say okay back to the drawing, the same
way you did in week one when you beat the Jets,
saying okay, back to the drawing, board, Let's see what
we can fix, Let's see how we can improve.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
But at least you got the win. You can't say
that after last night because you lost.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
By the way, you said Nick Herbig was missing last night,
there's a reason behind it. He only played thirty eight percent. Yeah,
that's it. So twenty nine snaps last night thirty eight percent.
Alex Highsmith played seventy percent of the snaps, fifty three
snaps on defense, and TJ Watt sixty two snaps last
night at eighty two percent on the football field. That
doesn't jump out here or change anything. But Herbie only
(08:26):
getting thirty eight percent last night. Yeah tough, that's uh, Yeah,
that's tough sledding. That's for sure to be able to
put up any type of stats or make an impact
on the defense. Yes, Flacco and Chase dominated the Steeers
d defensive backfield last night. Call him all out, you
know Slay, Yeah, call him order, even Ramsey, you know, Thornhill,
Deshaun Elliott, the entire secondary they were picked on all night.
(08:49):
It was just a lot of quick slat passes too,
that Flacco was able to pick up Chase and if
the Stewers were blitzing, he was easily able to have
time in the pocket to sit there and throw the football.
Flacco five five hundred and sixty one yards passing in
his first two games as a Cincinnati Bengal, five touchdowns,
no interceptions in those two games. Cincinnati's loving them some
Joe Flacco right now. And on the other side in Cleveland,
(09:12):
they're a little hot right now that they let a
guy like Joe Flaco go. But again, he started the
season there and they benched him. So he didn't have
success early on this season in Cleveland, but he's sure
having some success with the Cincinnati Bengals so far. The
Steelers now zero to nine all time on Thursday Night
football on the road versus divisional opponents. TJ. Watt in
the pass rush extremely quiet last night versus a struggling
(09:34):
Bengals offensive line. We talked about it yesterday. I thought
they'd have a lot of success going up against an
offensive line that was ranked one of the worst with
pass protection in the league. I think they were thirty first, Jacob.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
And you add that all up.
Speaker 1 (09:46):
The last two games against the Vikings and the Browns,
the Steelers started getting home. They're stacking up sack numbers
they were getting back to Blitzburg and last night that
just didn't simply have it. I guess give credit to
the simms Is on that line. He handled TJ. Watt
pretty handily last night. You give credit to the Bengals
offensive line. They showed up, and they showed up in
a big way, and they really shut down the pass
rush of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
Yeah. Completely.
Speaker 3 (10:06):
I mean that that was a mismatch that we thought
was going to be in the advantage of the Steelers,
and obviously that did not happen, right, I mean, we
thought that this was going to be a big game
for TJ. Watt, a big game for Cam Hayward, a
big game for pretty much everyone up front and low,
and behold, what can you say?
Speaker 2 (10:24):
I mean, like no one got home?
Speaker 3 (10:26):
Right. We talked about how the Steelers walked away with
six sacks against Cleveland, sixteen quarterback hits on Dylan Gabriel,
And what did you come away with last night? I
don't have the quarterback hits in front of me, but
I know they only registered two sacks, the one of
the very.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
Beginning of the game and the one at the very
end of the game.
Speaker 1 (10:45):
That was it.
Speaker 3 (10:46):
You basically went the fifty minutes in between with no
pressure on Flacco. It looked like clean pockets all night long.
He was upright, he wasn't on the ground too much.
It just you not do your job, You do not
fulfill your assignment, and they.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
Come out with the big loss last night through the
Pittsburgh Steelers thirty three to thirty one. The Steeers were
their home black jerseys on the road. The Bengals were
on those alternative all white unis. I think that's the
first time. And again we'd have to check with go
back in history and look, but I'm not sure the
Steers have ever wore black home jerseys in Cincinnati.
Speaker 2 (11:21):
In Cincinnati, I'm not sure.
Speaker 3 (11:23):
I know they do it a lot, you know, at
the beginning of the year, at the beginning of the
season exactly, but Cincinnati, I don't know, I never, I
can't remember.
Speaker 1 (11:32):
But what I mean it was a white out crowd.
Give credit to the Cincinnati fan base. It looked like
a Penn State atmosphere when Penn State has their white
outs there at the exactly Indiana fan over there. Make
sure he gets that big ten ripping. There were a
few visible Steeler fans last night too, which was very
very rare. And I don't know it's because it was
the white out.
Speaker 2 (11:52):
White out, Yeah, couldn't really.
Speaker 1 (11:53):
And the Steelers. You know, if you're a true Steeler fan,
whether you're sitting at home watching the game, you're away,
when the Steelers are away, you gotta go white.
Speaker 2 (12:01):
You gotta go white jersey, right absolutely.
Speaker 3 (12:03):
I mean I I've been calling for them, you know,
we've been calling you and I have been calling for
one thing together, and that's to bring in the block
numbers permanently and then similar to how the Penguins where
they brought back their their their alternate jerseys for that
back to back Cup runs. The first year they had
the home jerseys, which are great, and in the second
year they brought back the white away whites. Calling for
(12:24):
the Seilers to do the same thing, to first make
the step of moving permanently to the block numbers and
then bring back the white jerseys with the block numbers
as well.
Speaker 2 (12:34):
Yeah, I'm one hundred percent with you.
Speaker 1 (12:36):
Please, you have to play.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
Do you have an even spread between the home and
away jerseys?
Speaker 1 (12:41):
I probably do. I actually only have one awagers. I
got a Watt Block home jerseys two years ago. Absolutely
love it, wear it all the time. Do you have
any away Whites that you own? Away Whites have a
Joey Porter Junior Away White out, but it's not the
block letter No, I mean those don't exist. The only
you'll like this one I got was special. I'll just
leave it there, okay.
Speaker 3 (12:59):
The only the only away white jersey I own is
a very poor quality. It's real, but it's you know,
poor quality because of how old it is. A Willie
Parker away white jersey.
Speaker 1 (13:12):
Yeah. Well, I had a James Harrison Away White for
for a long time. But as you know, I've lost
a lot. I lost a lot of the right, so
I had to get rid of all my jersey. Now
I could use this, let me tell you. It looks
like a boy. Looks like a bed sheet too. Well.
Speaker 3 (13:25):
You know you could also do in the cold weather
games if you go bundle up underneath and then throw
it over and it's fit perfectly.
Speaker 1 (13:31):
My six hoodies that I gotta wear. I'm always constantly cold. Now.
Current AFC North Standing Steelers four and two steal in
first place. But my goodness, say I win last night
would have even given them more separation and more control
in the AFC North. But it's the AFC North. It's
a division that's always tight and always entertaining, and it's
gonna be that way this year. It's gonna be a
grinded out division. The Bengals now three and four and second.
(13:53):
The Ravens have a bye this week at one and five.
In our next stegment will preview all of the Week
seven games and the Browns one and five. They will
to one in five Miami Dolphins. So, by any means, Jacob,
this division, I don't want to say it's up for grabs,
but it's up for grabs. I mean, the Browns can
go on a roll here, the Ravens can get Lamar back.
They can still go on a roll at one and five.
(14:15):
Stee's got some tough games coming up, tough schedule, So
by any means, we are not done with this. So
let's jump into this.
Speaker 3 (14:21):
I mean, you had the chance, and this was your
chance to stack another win, something we've been preaching all year.
Get to five and one Bury the Bengals and their
season as early as Week seven have, or rather have
the Ravens and the rear View Mirror you're five and one.
They're one and five. Remember they played the bye week,
so they're not doing anything this weekend. Imagine how good
(14:44):
that would have looked. Now here you are, you're only
four and two. The Bengals now are three and four,
and the Bengals are feeling pretty good now. Of course
they don't have Joe Burrow, but Joe Flacco seemingly can
keep them aflow. And if they're around five hundred, Joe
Burrow is able to come back in December. He's gonna
do it, by the way, Oh for sure. If they're
(15:04):
in it, he's bad, right, But then what do you
do there? If Joe Flacco was playing at a Pro
Bowl title?
Speaker 2 (15:09):
Come on, man, you got it. Don't do that. Don't
do that.
Speaker 1 (15:13):
Don't do that.
Speaker 2 (15:15):
Don't don't tell me you're gonna keep Flac going over.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
Flacca is gonna take a back seat, for sure, but
that's a good backup to have. Last night, the Bengals
win against the Steelers at pay Corps Stadium was their
first in the last three games, so it snaps a
three game winning streak for the Steelers in Cincinnati. So
the Steelers had won there the last three years in
a row until last night, when the Bengals break that streak.
(15:39):
Let's get into the numbers last night for both of
these teams. We'll start with Cincinnati and the running game.
Chase Brown eleven carries one hundred and eight yards nine
point eight yards per carry, which is just amazing for
a running back going in that averaged less than three
yards per carry last night. The Bengals as a team
one hundred and forty two yards rushing, averaging six point
two yards per rush. On the flip side, Stewards did
(16:00):
a good job last night. They actually outrushed the Bengals
as they get as a team twenty carries for one
hundred and forty seven yards. They averaged seven point four
yards per carry. Y Jalen Warren sixteen carries one hundred
and twenty seven yards. He averaged seven point nine yards
per carry last night. Kenny Gamol added three carries for
fourteen yards. So the Steelers outrush the Cincinnati Bengals last
night too.
Speaker 2 (16:22):
For what did you feel like it to you?
Speaker 3 (16:23):
Though? Given how well Chase Brown did, no, because Chase
Brown Bengals exactly it felt like well.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
Connor Hayward did have bigger runs, but.
Speaker 3 (16:32):
It just I think just the surprise impact right of
Chase Brown being I mean we talked that, you mentioned
that Connor Hayward finished with like a seven point eight
yard per carry.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
What did Chase Brown finish with?
Speaker 1 (16:43):
So Brown finishes with nine point eight seven point nine so.
Speaker 3 (16:48):
Point, But the fact that this guy, Chase Brown came
in averaging what two yards per carry? On the year,
he averaged ten yards per carry. So that's basically give
the ball to Chase Brown, you're gonna get first down.
He just he ran all over a run defense that
had gotten better than.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
The last two weeks exactly.
Speaker 3 (17:04):
Yeah, I mean, remember how well they did. I mean,
they had their best game overall against the Browns last week.
They shut down the Minnesota Vikings rushing offense. They allowed
one hundred yards against the Patriots, but remember how well
they did effectively against the two running backs. Between Ramadre
Stevenson forcing those fumbles on him and the rookie Travon Henderson,
he was pretty ineffective.
Speaker 2 (17:23):
Yeah, it's it's it's a puzzler.
Speaker 1 (17:26):
Passing wise, Aaron Rodgers last night twenty three of thirty
four for two hundred and forty nine yards. He did
have four touchdowns and two interceptions. So Rodgers his second
game of the year, did it against the Jets, does
it again against the Bengals with for at least four touchdowns.
So good performance by Aaron Rodgers overall. And he had
time last night. Like we said on the first touchdown pass,
(17:48):
he had won eight point six y three seconds as
he was able to get out of the pockets stand there.
The offensive line did their job at least early on
protecting Rodgers and really throughout the game as he wasn't
sacked at all. Another clean night for Aaron Rodgers. On
the flip side, Joe Flacca, we know his numbers, thirty
one of forty seven for three hundred and forty two
yards passing, three touchdowns, and here's a key stat no interceptions.
(18:12):
He was only sacked twice as you said at the
beginning of the game and at the end of the
game in between, no pass rush. All the time in
the world for Joe Flacco. Nothing he needed it because
Chase and Higgins they were running wide open all night long. Yeah,
it's just man, those guys were unstoppable. You know, Priority
number one was stop Jamar Chase. Well, you didn't do that,
so priority number two was easily assigned to stopping t Higgins.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
Well you didn't do that either.
Speaker 3 (18:36):
Now, those are the two guys that you knew were
going to be the most effective weapons on offense for
the Bengals, and what did you do against them?
Speaker 2 (18:42):
Pretty much nothing?
Speaker 1 (18:44):
The two big receivers. Chase sixteen catches on an NFL
record for twenty twenty five, twenty three targets, one hundred
and sixty one yards and a touchdown. T Higgins six
catches on ten targets for ninety six yards and twenty
nine or his longest being a twenty nine yard reception
and a touchdown. Last night, Noah Fan the tight end,
(19:05):
he had four catches for forty four yards, as he
also gets the other Bengal receiving touchdown. Steelers receiving Pat
Friarmuth five catches on six targets for our one hundred
and eleven yards, the two touchdowns, the longest being that
big sixty eight yard score. Jalen Warren last night four
catches out of the backfield for thirty one yards. DK
Metcalf only three catches for fifty yards. They targeted him
(19:27):
early on and then he kind of disappeared in that
offense as the game went on. They targeted DK last
night only five times, three catches for fifty yards, John
new Smith three catches for twenty eight yards, and Darnell
Washington last night officially targeted five times, three catches for
two yards and it was the touchdown that he caught
(19:47):
in the end zone.
Speaker 3 (19:50):
Yeah, getting to DK first, I mean, you mentioned he
finished with fifty yards on the night, and you remember
forty of those came on the very first on that
one pass on the far sideline going right to left.
Speaker 2 (20:03):
So for the rest of the game and the guy
only had eleven yards on the night.
Speaker 3 (20:10):
I mean, again, is it bad when Aaron Rodgers still
finishes the night with four touchdown passes and and distributes
the ball across the oup.
Speaker 2 (20:19):
I mean, that's what you want. You want a well
balanced offense.
Speaker 3 (20:21):
You want you don't want the the the opposing defense
to know who's getting the ball every time. And you know,
they were looking like they could have been easily a
one dimensional offense just Rogers the DK. So it's hard
to complain when Rogers finished with four touchdown passes. Again,
I'm gonna get gonna get back to the word spoiled here,
But that's the only thing that seems appropriate given that
(20:42):
DK Metcalf was pretty much a no show except for
that first drive, that that first big catch he had
of the game.
Speaker 2 (20:52):
It's remarkable.
Speaker 3 (20:53):
But yeah, I mean, credit to Rogers for keeping them
alive offensively without I'll say this again. You know, we
talked about in our Terrible Takes segment earlier this week,
and we've talked about it all season long, who's been
the MVP and who's been the most impactful acquisition or
new member of the team, And we were going between
Ramsey and DK. There is no way. I mean, the
(21:13):
score was thirty three to thirty one. The score easily
could have been thirty three to thirteen if Mason Rudolph
or someone else was a quarterback and non Aaron Rodgers.
Speaker 1 (21:21):
One other note with the stats, at least from an
offensive standpoint, We'll hit special teams quickly. I thought, another
nice job by Keishawn Williams, your guy out of India. Yeah,
I mean, yeah nice. You're not gonna give credit to
Kenneth Gamewell. He had a couple of good returns as well.
He did Yeah, I mean, he got them to the
out of the forty yard by one time. Key Shawn
Williams average. He had three returns last night and averaged
thirty yards per return. That's pretty good. And you're right,
(21:42):
Kenny Game well three returns as well. He averaged twenty
nine point three.
Speaker 3 (21:45):
Yeah, so they're doing better. That's sorry, Johnson, I think
your spot's been filled.
Speaker 1 (21:50):
Yeah, one hundred percent. Keishawn Williams, in my opinion, has
earned a spot on this team, and it's in a
kick return or role as the Steelers move forward. Defensively,
the Steelers only two sacks last night. Kean and has
one and Cam Hayward and TJ. Watt combined on the
other they each get a half a sack last night.
And that's about it. On defense. There's really nothing else.
The highlight, I mean leading the pack was Deshaun Elliott
(22:11):
was six tackles, five by Joey Porter Junior, including two
pass deflections. But we also know Porter had his struggles
with being called with p I a few times. On
the other side for Cincinnati, just the two interceptions, Jordan
Battle with the pick and DJ Turner with the other
Steelers no turnovers for their defense last night and for
the Bengals. They produced two on both of those interceptions.
Speaker 2 (22:32):
How's that with the sacks here? I mean the TJ.
Speaker 3 (22:35):
Watt and Cam Haymard one just felt so much like
it was too little, too late. And then if you
look at the first one, you remember the Steelers open
up the game with that touchdown drive to John new Smith,
and then the second play for the Bengals was that
Kanu Benton sack.
Speaker 2 (22:51):
The Bengals were lining up.
Speaker 3 (22:52):
For third and long, you thought, great, you know, you
came out with the opening touchdown drive, you got a
sack on the first drive. There's no way that Bengals
gonna do anything. And then it's third and long and
Joe Flacco converts. It's like the first of his like
first ten third and longs. He converted all night long.
I mean, I don't know what the Bengals average average
yards was for on third down, like yards they had
(23:15):
to gain, but it felt like they were pushed back
majority of the time, and it felt like Flacco converted
on every single one of them. And and that first
one coming on that first ride for them, which just
set the tone for the night. It's just really tough.
And then you look at the turnovers. I mean, this
is such a what could have been a turnover prone team,
and you came up with zero for the second straight week.
Speaker 1 (23:36):
Coming in, the Steelers were plus seven, they were negative four,
so I mean it was and now then now they're
now they're only plus five two turnovers. Last night the
Bengals produced on the two Aaron Rodgers interceptions.
Speaker 3 (23:47):
You gotta be you gotta be nervous, though, ed because
it's a second straight week without a turnover forced by
the defense.
Speaker 1 (23:52):
They started out so hot doing that, right, And now,
as you said, back to back weeks, and then the
second numbers were good in the last two weeks too,
and that last.
Speaker 2 (23:59):
Year I mentioned nineteen sacks and the last three games combined.
Speaker 1 (24:05):
Stuff, well, you know, and last night the Bengals offensive
line was beat up. I mean they were beat up.
They were one of the worst in the league and
not be able to break through and at least get more.
Speaker 2 (24:14):
I'm sorry, in the four games combined, but you get
the point.
Speaker 1 (24:17):
Yeah, no, they did. And and but last night, you know,
going in, you're thinking you're gonna be able to get
home and beat up this offensive line, and it was
the opposite their past They had, Placo had plenty of time,
and then Chase Brown had some big runs coming out
of the backfield. Let's get to some team stats now, Jacob.
Twenty seven first downs for the Cincinnati Bengals last night,
nineteen for the Steelers. You mentioned third down. I'm gonna
(24:38):
give it to you here. The Steelers actually not bad
on third down last night, seven to ten. They clipped
at a seventy percent rate, Bengals seven of fourteen at
fifty percent conversion on third down. The Steelers had no
fourth down attempts last night. The Bengals won for one
on the quarterback sneak late in the game. The Steelers
fifty four plays last night for three hundred and ninety
six total yards. Meanwhile, the Bengals seventy two total plays,
(25:02):
so they almost twenty more plays on offense than the
Steelers for four hundred and seventy total yards. That's what
the Steeler defense gave up last night. Penalties seven of
fifty nine for the Stealers get again four of thirty
five yards. That's it for Cincinnati. So the Steelers lose
the penalty battle and they lose the turnover battle. As
(25:24):
we mentioned too, with turning the ball over twice to
Cincinnati's zero red zone Steelers were three to four in
the red zone. Still strong there. That's what we've seen
most of this year. Aaron Rodgers has done a great job,
not good, great job in the red zone for the Steelers. Meanwhile,
on the other side, two of five in the red
zone for the Cincinnati Bengals. That was probably the only
stat of the night I'm going to read that might
(25:44):
not be that great for Cincinnati. Time of possession. Finally,
Cincinnati easily thirty four minutes and thirty two seconds to
the Steelers twenty five minutes and twenty eight seconds. So
I always talk about the key stats to winning a
football game. Time of possession. Cincinnati wins that. Who had
less penalties Cincinnati, they win that. Who won the turnover battle, Cincinnati,
they won that. Who had total most total yards Cincinnati.
Speaker 2 (26:07):
They won the Yammy go easy, hommi over here?
Speaker 1 (26:09):
Oh for four, my friend, oh for four?
Speaker 2 (26:12):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (26:12):
Just a bad game for the Steelers and one that
we were thinking that the Steelers we're gonna do, We're
gonna break the curse and finally get out of that trap.
Speaker 2 (26:21):
And they did not, and they looked really bad. In
losing fashion.
Speaker 1 (26:25):
So now they will look the rebound. They'll have ten
days off to sit on this loss to the Cincinnati Bengals.
That's the bad news. You talked about that yesterday. You win,
you feel good for ten days, you'll lose. Well, now
you got to suck it up for the next ten
days to get through. It's a mini bye week for
the Steelers. They will return to action against the Green
Bay Packers on Sunday, October twenty sixth, a week from
this Sunday, and it'll be a night game at eight
(26:45):
twenty and it'll be an Aaron Rodgers revenge game as
he takes on.
Speaker 2 (26:50):
Who knows, maybe it's a Packers revenge game.
Speaker 1 (26:52):
That's right, they can say, hey, this is why we
got rid of Aaron Rodgers. But that's the next time
that the Steelers will be in action. Up next, we'll
go into our next segment with the Renegrade preview, as
we preview Week seven across the NFL. This is the
Steelers Standard with Ed Troop and Jacob Brett on Steelers
Nation Radio, part of the Steelers Audio Network.
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