Steelers advance as the Bengals hit the self destruct button

Article by Gordon Dedman

I am glad that I am writing a review of this game because I want to remember this battle for years to come. I expected a tough fight, but the torrential rain turned the game into a Hollywood drama with an ending that only a script writer could have conceived with the main star emerging as a hero.

The ingredients for a classic playoff game. Pittsburgh - a team with a football tradition to uphold in Cincinnati - a team with a playoff jinx to lay to rest. The twist in the tale saw a leader on one side turn villain while the hero returned to produce the impossible and save his team from defeat.

With the rain cascading down on the players, the initial skirmishes were tentative with both teams probing for the weak points of their opponents with scoring opportunities rare.

Missing DeAngelo Williams, the Steelers used Fitzgerald Toussaint and Jordan Todman early to put their running game into gear.

 

Playing in his first playoff game, Cincinnati’s AJ McCarron was hesitant, but the early difference between the quarterbacks was McCarron’s interception. His deep pass in the second quarter was underthrown in the wet and plucked out of the air by Anton Blake to set up a 39-yard field goal that broke the deadlock.

As the second quarter finished, the Steelers added another Chris Boswell field goal from 30 yards to increase their lead to 6-0.

In that first half, both teams could only convert one of their seven third downs, a reflection on the stagnant football being played as the defenses held the upper hand in the atrocious conditions.

When the Bengals put a creditable drive together at the beginning of the third period, it was brought to an abrupt end with McCarron’s forced fumble that set the Steelers up for a field goal of 34 yards.

Antonio Brown caught a 60-yard pass in Pittsburgh’s next series and his team capitalised on it when Ben Roethlisberger threw a 10-yard touchdown pass to Martavis Bryant. The catch, which will make all the highlight reels, was a moment of magic as Bryant summersaulted to complete the reception and increase Pittsburgh’s lead to 15-0 after failing with the two points after attempt.

The frustration of playing in the inclement conditions combined with the Bengals losing yet another playoff game gradually turned adrenalin into aggression, particularly when Vontaze Burfict was on the field.

His crunching tackle of Roethlisberger as the third period came to an end sent the quarterback into the locker room with a shoulder injury and sparked the Bengals into life.

In a frantic final quarter, Cincinnati’s play picked up intensity. When Will Allen’s pass interference penalty placed the ball on the Steelers four-yard line, Jeremy Hill’s run of 2 yards put the Bengals first points on the board and the home crowd finally found their voice as the cauldron that was Paul Brown Stadium began to heat up.

With Landry Jones now at quarterback, Pittsburgh turned conservative and paid the price giving up ten points as McCarron found his form including a 25-yard touchdown pass to AJ Green giving his team a 16-15 lead.

With less than two minutes remaining, Steelers’ Markus Wheaton fumbled gifting Cincinnati supreme field position on Pittsburgh’s 26-yard and the game at their mercy. With the Bengals finally looking a playoff win in the eye, the Steelers were facing the end of their season.

As the Bengals were taking time off the clock with a 6-yard run from Hill, they began to self-destruct. Steeler’s linebacker Ryan Shazier stripped the ball and the turnover provided Pittsburgh with one final opportunity to snatch a win.

Enter the gladiator who had seen and done it all before. Roethlisberger reappeared to guide his team into long field goal range before two crass, unnecessary Bengals penalties, including a Burfict hit on Brown that produced a three game suspension, moved the attempt into a chip shot for Boswell. His 35-yard field goal gave the Steelers the 18-16 win.

The battered Steelers move to Denver next Sunday while the Bengals spend a few months pondering on what could have been and why their aggression turned to stupidity and cost them the game.