The 8-6 Bengals go to 7-7 Pittsburgh on Saturday (4:30 p.m.-Cincinnati’s Channel 5) for a game that is eerily identical to one played 11 years ago on the same field.
The Bengals triumphed on the final play of the game at Acrisure Stadium on December 23, 2012, and advanced to the playoffs. The Steelers lost and went home, and the Bengals are playing their first game without the Pro Bowl duo of quarterback Joe Burrow and wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase.
While Burrow backup Jake Browning isn’t regarded as a generational talent like those two, his numbers are after bouncing back from a 16-10 loss to the Steelers in his first NFL start last month.
In a player’s first four career starts, the last 30 seasons. For the first four career starts since 1950, his 76 completion percentage trails only Chad Pennington’s (76.9).
There are two generations.
The Bengals and Browning both stated this week that they were aware of the November 26 matchup. Browning has spoken about how he kept the ball too long on several third downs (where the Bengals were 2-for-10) on a day when they only had the ball for 41 snaps and had a season-low 25 running yards on 11 attempts. They had Chase that day, but not wide receiver Tee Higgins, and Higgins is coming off his greatest game of the season, with two touchdowns, four catches, and 61 yards coming in the previous game.
“We didn’t do well on third down.” We only had about 40 plays in that game, so we didn’t get a lot of chances because we didn’t convert, and we had some controllable ones that we didn’t convert,” offensive coordinator Brian Callahan said this week. “We’ll benefit from playing differently on third down and being better on third down.” Without giving too much away about how we’ll play differently, there are some things in the run game that we can do better and differently than we did before, and I believe that will assist.”But, at the end of the day, you have to win the line of scrimmage in AFC North games in general, and always against Pittsburgh.”
Since then, the Bengals have been much better on third down (17-for-38) and more prolific running the ball, averaging 28 rushes and 116 yards per game in a three-game winning streak as they try to mitigate the impact of NFL sack leader T.J. Watt, who had two sacks and a forced fumble the last time they met.Pro Bowl safety for the Pittsburgh Steelers Minkah Fitzpatrick will not play on Saturday, as he did last month. Callahan isn’t expecting much of a change in appearance. Without Chase, the Bengals have a plan to beat the Steelers in Pittsburgh. They did it last year, 37-30, when Burrow passed for 355 yards and Higgins ran for 148 of them. Joe Mixon and Samaje Perine caught 94 more passes in a row.
(Mixon missed the game with an injury midway through, and Perine is in Denver, but Mixon is healthy, and rookie running back Chase Brown has 217 yards from scrimmage in the last three games.)And, according to Pro Football Network, the Bengals are coming off a game in which nine players recorded at least two catches for the first time in franchise history.
“I believe Tee still has a lot of respect.” So I believe you see similar things when we just have Ja’Marr or just Tee,” Callahan said. “Tee is a little different in style. He doesn’t play in the backfield like Ja’Marr. He can play some inside, but not all of the time.
“I believe Tee still has a lot of respect.” So I believe you see similar things when we just have Ja’Marr or just Tee,” Callahan said. “Tee is a little different in style. He doesn’t play in the backfield like Ja’Marr. He can play some inside, but he doesn’t do all Ja’Marr does. In general, there isn’t much of a difference.”They’ll try to find a way to double them, cloud them, or do those things when they can.” We’ll move them or they can move themselves. He does, however, frighten people. I mean, when you see him in pregame, all their scouts and personnel folks on the sideline just stare.
Leave a Reply