Steelers Week 15 Recap: Steelers Top Bengals

The Steelers defeated the Bengals in a come from behind victory in Cincinnati on Sunday. One giant leap toward securing a spot in the playoffs.

The Steelers maintain their lead over Baltimore atop the AFC North. Ladarius Green continues to show his value to the offense, an offense which can move all over the field until it gets in the red zone. Chris Boswell shows why he should be considered among the top kickers in the leage. Perhaps the most shocking development is not 1 single player got purposefully injured by Vontaze Burfict. Merry Christmas indeed.

1st Quarter

The Bengals started off with the ball. They moved the ball, yard by yard, down the field. Jeremy Hill ran most of the way with a pair of receptions for 11 and 18 yards by Brandon LaFell aiding the cause. They had to settle for a field goal though. Bengals up 0-3.

But the Steelers would answer kick for kick. The drive started with a 44 yard return from Sammie Coates. Roethlisberger kept moving the ball with passes to Ladarius Green, Le’Veon Bell, and Antonio Brown. But the Steelers too had to settle for a field goal. Game tied at 3-3.

The Bengals started their next drive with a pair of Hill runs. He started the game off better than ended up. But the drive really kicked into another gear when a pass interference moved the ball 40 yards to the goal line. The Steelers held them out of the endzone until 4th down but Dalton ran it in. Bengals up 3-10.

2nd Quarter

The Steelers began the quarter with a 12 yard pass to David Johnson followed by a 5 yard run from Bell. They would still have to punt though. The Bengals moved the ball to midfield with a series of short and mid-range passes from Dalton. Then LaFell caught a 25 yard pass. Then Burkhead took a short pass 18 yards. LaFell added another 9 yards. Jeremy Hill finished the job with a tocuhdown. Bengals up 3-17.

Le’Veon Bell had a nice 8 yard run but a deep pass to Antonio Brown of 32 yards got them into Bengals territory. Not to be out done, Bell got them into the redzone when a 10 yard run was extended 15 yards by a penalty on Frogger Jones. The Steelers penalized themselves out of the red zone, which they have not done well in, and took a field goal. Bengals up 6-17.

The night of a thousand kicks was not over yet. The Bengals got themselves a 72 yard kickoff return from Erickson that was saved by Chris Boswell. Boswell was doing the job of the offense and defense in this game. The Bengals got to the 3 yard line but ended up kicking. Bengals up 6-20.

The Steelers needed to gain some ground before half. There was a 13 yard pass to Brown. There was a 10 yard pass to Coates. Then Cobi Hamilton came down with a 21 yard reception. Bell added another 8 yards on a reception that brought them to the 2 yard line. Then they spiked the ball … even though they had a timeout. This spike meant that they had to take a field goal after a 3rd down pass failed. Bengals up 9-20.

3rd Quarter

Pittsburgh came out swinging following halftime. Roethlisberger picked up an essential first down with a 23 yard pass to Ladarius Green. Le’Veon Bell was contributing often on the drive and Vontaze Burfict contributed with a predictable unnecessary roughness penalty. Do you think the Steelers were able to convert reaching the red zone to a touchdown? Field goal. Bengals up 12-20.

The Bengals got a couple 1st downs with runs and short passes. Ryan Shazier got a big 3rd down sack to force a punt though. The Steelers took advantage and Eli Rogers caught a long pass for 28 yards. The managed another 1st down but Boswell had to make a field goal of 49 yards. Bengals up 15-20.

The Bengals made it to just behind the 50 yard line when a pass was thrown short and picked off by Lawrence Timmons and brought to the Cincinnati 34 yard line.

4th Quarter

So now 15 yards from Le’Veon Bell on the ground and 18 through the air from Eli Rogers got Pittsburgh to the 12 yard line. Surely, with such a highly touted offense they would score a touchdown. Another field goal from Boswell. Bengals up 18-20.

The Bengals went three and out and punted. Le’Veon Bell ran for 12 yards. Then Ladarius Green added 10 yards to that. Then, all too predictably, the Bengals drew a series of penalties. They had 4 penalties for 30 yards, the last of which was an unnecessary roughness call. Ben ended up throwing a 24 yard touchdown to Eli Rogers. They failed they 2 point conversion. Steelers up 24-20.

Dalton started the next drive with a 14 yard pass to LaFell but the drive fell apart after Dupree stuffed Hill for a loss and the Bengals had to punt.

The Steelers then spent the next 6 minutes of game clock going from their own 18 to the Cincinnati 8. Obviously, Le’Veon Bell did most of that work but a 28 yard third down reception by Ladarius Green kept the drive alive. The Steelers could have scored but didn’t need to and just knelt the game out.

Pittsburgh won. Brown set a record for most receptions over a 4 year span. Boswell tied a single game team record for field foals. As Tomlin said in his post-game press conference, “A gritty performance by our guys. A necessary win.” It wasn’t pretty but it was gritty. The Steelers play the Ravens next week for the AFC North.

All stats via NFL.com