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Week 7 Bengals @ Steelers

MrCincinnati

By MrCincinnati
in Cincinnati Bengals

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MrCincinnati

MrCincinnati

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When the Bengals schedule always comes out, the Steelers games are always going to be the games I look most forward to. Even though the Bengals don’t have a great track record against this team, these types of matchups are always going to be a bloodbath. If the Bengals want to have any hope of staying in the AFC North battle, this is probably a must win game for them.

HISTORY LESSON

The Bengals are 16-31 against the Steelers when playing in Pittsburgh, and the Steelers have beaten the Bengals in the last 4 matchups.
Last matchup – Last season Steelers won 24-20 in Cincinnati
Last matchup in Pittsburgh – Last season Steelers won 24-16
Last Bengals win – 2015 season Bengals won 16-10 in Pittsburgh

GAMEDAY INFO

Game time will be this Sunday 4:25 PM ET on CBS. Here’s the TV Map:
http://506sports.com/nfl.php?yr=2017&wk=7

5 KEYS TO VICTORY

5. Second Half Adjustments – Going back to the last time both these teams played, the Bengals had a 20-9 lead going into halftime. Then they proceeded to lose the game by failing to score any points in the 2nd half. This year hasn’t been any different, as the Bengals currently are dead last when it comes to scoring points in the 2nd half with a total of 26 points. The stat might be a little misleading considering they had most of their problems in their first 3 games, while they’ve scored 20 of those 26 points in their last 2 games now. If they want to win this game, they have to score more points in the 2nd half.

4. Burfict Record – Most of you already know my view on Vontaze Burfict, but despite what the casual fan may think, the guy has proven to be a difference maker. Since coming back from his suspension, the Bengals have not lost a game. The defense that was already very solid has become even more rock solid with him in the lineup. This Bengals defense has been flying under the radar this year, as they currently rank 2nd against points and yards. At the same time though, when Burfict plays the Steelers, you know it’s about to become a bloodbath.

3. The OL Once Again – Lets review the state of the OL once again after their game against the Bills. The biggest positive I’ve seen lately was Jake Fisher’s performance against the Bills, as PFF graded him with an 81 overall from that game. It’s very encouraging, but it should also be noted he only played 52 percent of the snaps from that game. Andre Smith didn’t fare very well once he started getting more snaps, and TJ Johnson has probably lost his job after constantly looking bad each week. Hopkins has earned his job back, and now he must try to keep it.

2. IMMA CHARGIN MAH LAZOR – If you got that reference, then you have no life just life me. It’s no secret at what a fantastic job Bill Lazor has done this year. In the wake of his promoting, the Bengals have now averaged 25 points a game as being the OC. I myself wasn’t sure if this was going to be good move or not, but I’ve been very impressed thus so far. This game he really has a golden opportunity to do something really good perhaps. As much as I liked guys like Gruden and Jackson in the past when they were here in Cincinnati, neither guy could really figure out how to beat the Steelers.

1. Turnovers – Winning the turnover battle always seems like a key in every game, but it’s much more important in big games like this. While we may want to laugh at that 5 INT game that Big Ben had against the Jaguars, the Bengals haven’t been any better in the turnover battle this year. The Bengals are near the bottom with the least amount of defensive turnovers with only 4 all being INT’s, as well as the turnover margin with a -7. The Steelers currently sit with a -2 turnover margin. The Bengals were extremely careless with the ball against the Bills, but of course all of that was AJ Green (then again, he was the only one doing anything on offense). If Dalton and the offense shoot themselves in the foot too much, then this game will turn into a mirror image of the Ravens game in week 1, because the Steelers won’t waste there opportunities like the Bills did.

PREDICTION

I wrote off the Bengals after they started 0-3 on the year but now all of a sudden they sit at 2-3 and have a legit shot at winning the division perhaps. Despite all of that though, I still stand by what I said as I believe the season is still a lost cause despite what they’ve done recently. The reason being is because they have to win this game in order to keep their chances alive, which I don’t think will happen. I had some small hope going into this game until I watched the Steelers beat the Chiefs, so now I think this team only has like a 10 percent chance to win. If they do win this game though, the AFC North is wide open once again, and while I think this is another low scoring game, I just can’t picture the Bengals coming out on top.

Bengals 16 Steelers 17

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Beck Bristow

Beck Bristow

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OK naysayers, here is the last loss this season.  Mike Mitchell has at least too uncalled illegal hits and Burfict gets thrown out for touching their qb because the league freaked out after Rodgers got injured..  I believe the score is already 256-0 so I don't see the good guys overcoming that.

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fluhartz

fluhartz

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10 hours ago, Beck Bristow said:

OK naysayers, here is the last loss this season.  Mike Mitchell has at least too uncalled illegal hits and Burfict gets thrown out for touching their qb because the league freaked out after Rodgers got injured..  I believe the score is already 256-0 so I don't see the good guys overcoming that.

 

 

probably this..

mitchell/shazier and company will do their normal cheap shots. leading with the helmet and such

Burfict will get tired of getting hit after the play and retaliate...then he will be the one flagged/kicked out of the game

Marvin will coach like ole marv does

Tomlin will cry after every play, even after getting calls

ben will break a fingernail..get carted off dead.. be reborn and return to throw a td

my hatred for the stealers will grow even more

 

 

 

naaaahh....screw all that

Bengals 20

stealers 17

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theJ

theJ

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I think i'm picking the Steelers here too.

Though i think it's only a good thing that the Bengals locker room is not talking to media this week and just focusing on preparing for the game.  Still too much of that big brother syndrome.

If it's a loss, 2-4 is a big hole to dig out of.  3-3 means they're 0.5 game out of first, with the Colts, Jags and Titans as the next three games (weird scheduling to play most of the AFC South in three straight weeks, but i digress).  Colts should be without Luck still from the way it sounds.  Jags are still the Jags, and the Titans will be a tough test.

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THE DUKE

THE DUKE

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Burfict form tackles Le'Veon Bell with a perfect hit of shoulder pads to chest and is thrown out of the game for targeting and then suspended the rest of the season.  Mike Mitchell spears Dalton in the face after launching head first and leaving the ground and returns the resulting fumble for a touchdown with no flag.

Bengals 20
Stealers 24

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INbengalfan

INbengalfan

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The key to this game is the refereeing.  It has to be an even called game.  We can not have a repeat of the 2015 game where their players took one cheap shot after another at Burfict, who simply walked away....UNTIL...... the shot on Gio went unflagged.  That was the tipping point.  Not Vince Williams tweets.  Not DeCastro driving him into the turf 10 yards behind the play 4 seconds after the whistle.The Rooneys clearly have more on Goodell than Alexander has on the Browns, as they continue to get zero penalties for their out of control play on the field.  

 

If the Steelers come out and play like they did last week, our o-lone will get decimated.  It's just that simple.  But, how many times have we seen the Steelers look great one week, then return home and lay an egg (Jacksonville, anyone?)

 

The line has to create space for Gio and Mixon to gain decent chunks to stay out of third and longs.  The line also has to give Dalton enough time to find a WR not named Green to pick up medium chunk plays.  If they can, we win.  If they can't, we lose.  

 

Either the Bengals win a close one or the Steelers win big.  No middle ground.  Since there is no $$ involved here, I'll stick to my usual self and say Steelers 256-0.  Hopefully you guys can thank me on Monday.

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theJ

theJ

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19 minutes ago, INbengalfan said:

If the Steelers come out and play like they did last week, our o-lone will get decimated.  It's just that simple.  But, how many times have we seen the Steelers look great one week, then return home and lay an egg (Jacksonville, anyone?)

That doesn't really happen against the Bengals though.  They always play their A game against the Bengals.  They save their C games for Browns and inter-divisional games.

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