The Pittsburgh Steelers came out hot on both sides of the football on Thursday night against the Cincinnati Bengals. The offense was moving the football and showing impressive balance and the defense was stifling, putting pressure on quarterback Joe Flacco and shutting down the run.
Then the second quarter happened. Pittsburgh’s defense completely fell apart, the pass rush disappeared and the Bengals scored 17 straight after falling behind 10-0 and leads going into halftime up 17-10. One of the biggest things that has hurt the Steelers on offense is a pair of ugly interceptions by quarterback Aaron Rodgers. One of those was a horrible decision by Rodgers, while the other was just a freak play you cannot account for.
Defensively, once the pass rush cooled off, the secondary was exposed and the ageless Flacco just picked them apart. Cornerback Joey Porter Jr. was sloppy with a pair of pass interference calls and Jalen Ramsey has struggled to deal with Ja’Marr Chase who has seven catches and a touchdown.
The Steelers need to rally if they want to come back and get this win. Ugly missed tackles on defense and a lack of options on offense are really limiting the Steelers options.
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