Pittsburgh administers knockout punch to Cincinnati
Pittsburgh running back Le’Veon Bell (26) tries to get past Bengals strong safety Shawn Williams during the second half of Sunday’s game in Cincinnati.
Pittsburgh kicker Chris Boswell kicks a first-half field goal against Cincinnati. Boswell kicked a team high six field goals during Sunday’s game. Also pictured is holder Jordan Berry.
CINCINNATI – The Steelers didn’t have to play through a snowstorm as they did last week in Buffalo. But they did have to weather a storm of a different variety Sunday in Cincinnati.
The Bengals ran out to a 20-6 lead late in the first half, taking advantage of some Pittsburgh miscues.
But the Steelers allowed just 38 total yards in the second half and Chris Boswell matched a team record with six field goals as Pittsburgh rallied to beat Cincinnati, 24-20, knocking the defending division-champion Bengals out of playoff contention.
The win, their fifth in a row, sets up a showdown with the Ravens (8-6) Christmas day in Pittsburgh with the AFC North championship on the line.
“They have a chip on their shoulder. We have a chip on our shoulder,” said Steelers cornerback Ross Cockrell. “We want to continue on to this goal of being AFC North champions.”
To get to that point, the Steelers (9-5) needed to dig themselves out of an early hole against the Bengals (5-8-1).
The Steelers fell behind 17-3 and 20-6 in the first half before kicking a field goal with six seconds remaining in the second quarter to trim the lead to 20-9 as the Bengals scored on each of their four first-half possessions.
“We ain’t gonna panic,” said Steelers offensive tackle Marcus Gilbert. “We know we need to go out and play Steelers ball and win a game of chess. We didn’t do that. We were playing checkers in the first half.”
Penalties were a big factor.
Defensive end Stephon Tuitt grabbed Cincinnati quarterback Andy Dalton’s facemask on a third-down sack and also injured his right knee on the play. Instead of being forced to punt, the Bengals turned that into a 23-yard field goal by Randy Bullock. Bullock, who had been with the Steelers for two weeks, was signed by Cincinnati last Monday.
The Steelers tied the game, 3-3, on a 45-yard Boswell field goal on the ensuing possession, but Cincinnati took advantage of a 39-yard pass interference penalty on rookie Artie Burns in the end zone to score on a 4th-and-1 quarterback sneak by Dalton. Before that, Jeremy Hill was turned away three times by Pittsburgh’s defense.
Up 10-3, the Bengals put together their only non-penalty-aided scoring drive on their next possession, getting a 4-yard TD run from Hill to go ahead 17-3.
The Steelers appeared to answer with a TD when Ben Roethlisberger hit Antonio Brown in the end zone, but it was negated by a chop block penalty on running back Le’Veon Bell. Boswell kicked a 49-yard field goal to make it 17-6.
Cincinnati’s Alex Erickson returned the ensuing kickoff 72 yards, getting tackled by the shoestrings by Boswell at the Pittsburgh 26. But the Bengals failed to cash in on the great field position, settling for a 22-yard Bullock field goal.
“Great tackle by Boswell,” said Steelers linebacker Lawrence Timmons. “I’ve seen him work on that. He could play some linebacker.”
The Steelers needed Boswell to keep kicking.
They tacked on a field goal before the half and the game changed dramatically in the second half.
“At halftime, we were able to gather ourselves and minimize the negativity we were creating,” said Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin.
“The past two weeks, during their winning streak, they were up big at halftime,” said Cockrell of the Bengals. “They started fast. And they started fast on us. The difference was that it wasn’t 20-0 or 19-0. It was 20-9. We continued to keep our foot on the gas pedal and it worked out for us.”
While Cincinnati was unable to generate anything on offense in the second half, the Steelers kept chipping away, adding field goals of 40 and 49 yards in the third quarter then getting an interception from Lawrence Timmons at the end of the quarter to set up another field goal, this one from 30 yards that made it 20-18.
After another three-and-out that ended with a near interception by Cockrell, the Steelers got the ball back at their 31.
The drive chart says the Steelers went on a 5-play, 69-yard touchdown drive, but the Bengals were penalized on four consecutive plays, helping things along. Defensive tackle Pat Sims was penalized for being offsides, corner Dre Kirkpatrick had back-to-back holding penalties and Sims finished things with an unnecessary roughness call for slamming Bell to the ground.
“We made some mistakes,” said Sims. “We can’t change what happened.”
“We don’t want four consecutive penalties any time,” said Cincinnati head coach Marvin Lewis, a McDonald native and Fort Cherry High School graduate.
Roethlisberger made them pay, connecting with Eli Rogers for a 24-yard TD pass that gave the Steelers their first lead of the game and the only one they would need.
“A lot of satisfaction,” said Roethlisberger, who threw for 286 yards and one touchdown, of the victory. “It’s an AFC North road win against a good football team. It was a tale of two halves - or it felt that way. We couldn’t do everything we wanted to on offense early. It’s a good defense. There was never any panic. We kept grinding and continuing to make plays.”
Sunday’s loss was the 100th of Lewis’ career in the regular season. He’s 115-100-3. … Pittsburgh won for the 16th time in 19 games at Paul Brown Stadium. … Bell had his string of 100-yard rushing games stopped at four. He had 93 yards on 23 carries, adding 38 yards receiving. … Rogers had five catches for a team-high 75 yards. … Tuitt did not return after his injury. Tight end Ladarius Green, who had five catches for 72 yards, left in the fourth quarter with a concussion. … The Bengals had 222 yards of offense. … James Harrison led the Steelers with nine tackles, while Timmons had eight to go along with the interception.