Football Outsiders has a painless enough recap.Pittsburgh Steelers 20 at Cincinnati Bengals 23
Mike Kurtz: The Steelers really need to abandon the Willie Parker project. I know the offense is awful at run-blocking, but he's probably the weakest of the three running backs the Steelers have on their roster. Rashard Mendenhall and Mewelde Moore might not be anything special, but they at least have the strength to run forward and get a yard, yet they keep throwing Parker in short-yardage situations, and IT NEVER WORKS. EVER. Such a well-coached team, but for some reason overwhelming loyalty to a mediocre player.
Cincinnati is really cheating, firing on the outside in an attempt to hem in and sack Ben Roethlisberger. The problem, then, is that the Steelers have been running Parker right past the ends and getting decent yardage. Cincy needs to figure out a better way of getting to the quarterback, or at least work some more inside stuff.
Rey Maualuga down after a Steelers quarterback sneak touchdown, moving but not walking off.
Steelers were looking a bit dicey for a while, where the Bengals stopped gunning with their defensive ends. Then again, that opened up the passing game, and Roethlisberger just picked them apart on mid-range throws.
Maualuga had his knee sat on, apparently. He's out.
Vince Verhei: Except for the pick-six, where he threw shallow and his receivers ran deep, Roethlisberger has been really, really good today. Holding the ball a long time, of course, but never too long. He always manages to find a receiver and hit him with a good pass.
(Limas Sweed drops a touchdown pass.)
Mike Kurtz: Which, of course, is then dropped. In the end zone.
*fumes*
Steelers games are usually well-called, if sometimes wonky. Pittsburgh has run pretty much every first down in the second half, which isn't a great idea even if you have a good running game, much less a mediocre one.
I can't figure out what's wrong with the Steelers. It's not like it's an overwhelmingly green team that builds up leads and then get too excited and just deflates, it's a very experienced team that went out there and just beat the royal hell out of the Bengals for one half, then did pretty much nothing in the second.
Maybe it is complacency -- I didn't see one blitz in the entire fourth quarter, which was baffling, and it looked like they were trying to run out the clock with a bad running game and 5 minutes left in the game. I'm sure Cincinnati made some adjustments, but I can't imagine anything that would lead to such a severe turnaround. Just no idea.
Bill Barnwell: Well, here's what they did on first down in the second half:
Five-yard pass to Heath Miller
Willie Parker rush for no gain
Willie Parker rush for one yard
Willie Parker rush for two yards
Willie Parker rush for a two yard loss
Nine-yard pass to Willie Parker
Willie Parker rush for three yards
Willie Parker rush for three yards
Willie Parker rush for no gain
Willie Parker rush for three yards
Incomplete pass (final play of the game)
What's the pattern you see there?
Mike Kurtz: Yeah, I mentioned that before. That can't explain all of it, but that's definitely part of it.
Mike Tanier: The first-down runs have a lot to do with it. The dropped touchdown pass has a lot to do with it: if I recall, they also had another big pass play where the receiver stepped out of bounds. Some of it has to do with facing two decent opponents; the Bears are pretty good, the Bengals better than expected. A couple of tough losses to some good early opponents is nothing to get alarmed about.
Vince Verhei: On Cincinnati's eventual game-winning drive, they twice spiked the ball to stop the clock. The first time they had two timeouts; they still had one left for the second spike. They still had a timeout in their pocket when the game ended, but they had wasted two vital downs. They overcame this to win, but it was some lousy, lousy clock management. What was Marvin Lewis saving those timeouts for? Is he going to call one during film review tomorrow?
Rob Weintraub: Still recovering from finally -- finally! -- beating those blasted Steelers at home. Game started totally Bengal-like, which meant getting smeared in every facet. But in most un-Bengal-like fashion, they hung in, made some plays, got some breaks (a lot of them), and actually took advantage to win. Give Marvin Lewis credit -- that first spike was dumb, yes (less of problem with the second one -- they had a mass personnel switch after the fourth-down play to Brian Leonard), but he has somehow transformed the team to one that's extremely tough, mentally. Remember, before the BS deflection play in Week 1, Cincy was awful for 56 minutes, then drove 90-plus yards for what should have been the winning score, and an unbeaten record. After the horrifying loss, they shrugged it off and whipped Green Bay in Lambeau. I can't remember a Bengals team that didn't cave at the first sign of adversity. Not this bunch.
On the subject of tough, Maualuga came back in, and made a couple more tackles -- thank God.
Vince Verhei: If they were making a mass personnel switch, that's all the more reason to call timeout.
