Week 3 Game Recap: Cincinnati Bengals 28, Pittsburgh Steelers 20

What you need to know

Cincinnati Bengals

The Cincinnati offense offered up its best Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde impression with an inconsistent performance, but made sure to take full advantage of opportunities and cashed in for four touchdowns, three of them off of Pittsburgh turnovers. The Bengals added to its streak of consecutive successful trips to the end zone when in the red zone by scoring on all three chances Sunday. They’ve now put points on the board on their last 26 trips inside the 20 yard line, and 11th time this season. Carson Palmer threw for 193 yards, had four touchdowns and completed 69 percent of his passes, including one stretch where he connected on 11 consecutive passes. While he put up great numbers, he was also easily rattled by the Pittsburgh defense, fumbled three times (lost one), threw two interceptions and nearly threw two more.

T.J. Houshmandzadeh and Chris Henry, not Chad Johnson, were the two major beneficiaries of Palmer’s success. Houshmandzadeh had a game high nine receptions and 94 yards with two second half touchdowns while Henry had five catches 69 yards and caught Palmer’s two first half touchdown receptions. Both receivers were banged up during the game, Houshmandzadeh aggravated a heel injury, Henry left after taking a jarring hit, but both returned and continued to leave their mark in the Steelers’ secondary. Johnson was the odd man out with only one reception and just two targets, although it certainly wasn’t for a lack of being open.

The running game is where Cincinnati took a blow as Rudi Johnson gained just 47 yards on 19 carries. Johnson’s long of seven in the first half and eight in the second half were the only highlights to his day and he averaged paltry 2.5 yards per carry in each half. Only a couple of timely runs by backup Kenny Watson salvaged the team average yards per carry at 3.5.

The Bengals’ defense tallied five turnovers, many of the gift wrapped variety, including a botched punt return, two poorly thrown balls for interceptions and a fumble in which the Steelers’ runner dove into his own blocker. Despite all that, Cincinnati still gave up 177 rushing yards and 208 yards in the air. They nearly let a win slip away and were it not for a well earned, game clinching interception by Kevin Kaesviharn with 16 seconds remaining.

Pittsburgh Steelers

The final score was 28-20, but another score will also be remembered in this game; 5-3, which represents the turnover battle, lost also by the Steelers. And like the Bengals at times, the Steelers were inconsistent with respect to third downs, converting its first six in a row, before missing nine of their final ten tries. Despite a blown punt return by DB Ricardo Colclough and a fumble by RB Verron Haynes just a few offensive plays later which seemed to turn the game upside down, it was the erratic play of quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, who threw three interceptions, including the game ending turnover, which should be of most concern. Roethlisberger was off the mark most of the game, with passes high and behind his intended targets, much like last week at Jacksonville. His timing, chemistry with his receivers and most alarming, his mechanics seemed to fail him at multiple points during the game. He did show his scrambling skills in and out of the pocket, but his legs could only do so much.

The legs that should have carried the Steelers were those of Willie Parker. Parker rebounded nicely from Week 2 with 133 yards and two touchdowns for the Steelers first two rushing touchdowns on the year. Parker showed great instincts with several yards gained after cutbacks, stiff arms, and spin moves. Like week one, Parker was the workhorse with 31 carries, including in all goal line and short yardage situations. Verron Haynes saw time mostly on third downs and added 24 yards on five carries, but lost a crucial fumble midway through the fourth quarter when he dove for a first down and right into teammate, LG Alan Faneca.

Haynes was the Steelers’ most popular receiver with five catches for 33 yards, mostly of the dump off variety. Cedrick Wilson had the most receiving yards with 79 on three receptions. And pro-bowler Hines Ward was kept very quiet with just two receptions and 20 yards.

The Steelers' defense will get credited with giving up 28 points, but considering two Cincinnati possessions began on Pittsburgh’s nine and 30 yard lines due to two turnovers, it did quite well. It held the Bengals running game in check with 87 yards. The Steelers sacked Carson Palmer six times, forced three turnovers and dropped two more potential interceptions.

What you ought to know

QB Carson Palmer, Pass: 18 - 26 - 193 - 4 TD / 2 INT, Rush: 3 - 5 - 0

Palmer got off to a rocky start by completing one of his first three passes including a poorly thrown ball on a deep out pattern which was picked off for his first of two interceptions. In between his two incompletions, Palmer was hit twice and fumbled both times, both recovered by the Bengals. To his credit, he was not careless with the ball, but rather just got hit at the right place and time. Palmer made up for it in big way in leading a 14 play, 97 yard drive followed by a seven play, 62 yard drive, both resulting in second quarter touchdowns. He found Chris Henry on a 20 yard fade pattern right at the near-side pylon, then engineered the two minute drill (or 1:08 drill) culminated by a three yard touchdown pass to Henry again with ten seconds left in the first half. Palmer completed 11 consecutive passes from the early second quarter until the final minute of the first half when he was forced to spike the ball to stop the clock. Palmer was not nearly as effective in the second half, five of nine for 55 yards, but he wasted no time in scoring on two one-play drives after Steelers’ turnovers. He found T.J. Houshmandzadeh twice within 54 seconds, once for nine yards off play-action, the other for 30 yards to give the Bengals an 11-point lead and the win. His second interception was a result of a big hit on the intended receiver Chris Henry.

RB Rudi Johnson, Rush: 19 - 47 - 0, Rec: 2 - 10 - 0 (2 targets)

Johnson was not much of a factor, but carried the ball enough times to keep the Pittsburgh defense honest. Johnson had long runs of seven and eight, draws set up by the passing game, passes in a row which helped get Cincinnati’s first scoring drive off the ground.

RB Kenny Watson, Rush: 3 - 35 - 0, Rec: 1 - 9 - 0 (1 targets)

Watson didn’t get a whole lot of touches, but played a key factor in keeping the Bengals alive on a couple of drives. Watson scooped up a Palmer fumble in the first quarter and darted eight yards for a first down to help avoid a costly early turnover. He split the defense with an 18 yard draw to the Steelers’ three yard line which set up Chris Henry’s second touchdown in the second quarter.

WR T.J. Houshmandzadeh, Rec: 9 - 94 - 2 (9 targets)

Houshmandzadeh picked up where Henry left off in the second half. He did have four receptions for 38 yards in the first half, including an 18 yard screen pass on third and 7 from their own five yard line. He limped off the field after the play with what appeared to be an aggravation of his heel injury, but soon returned. Houshmandzadeh lit up the Pittsburgh secondary in the second half with two touchdowns. The first off play action and he was wide open in the middle of the end zone. The second came on a deep ball, jump ball situation with CB Deshea Townsend. Houshmandzadeh got separation, leaped and corralled the ball after a slight deflection off of Townsend’s hand and his own helmet.

WR Chris Henry, Rec: 5 - 69 - 2 (10 targets)

Henry had all five of his receptions and 69 yards in the first half. He was huge on the Bengals first scoring drive with catches of 20, nine followed by the 16 yard touchdown catch over CB Ike Taylor. Henry reached over Taylor whose back was turned away from the ball in flight. Henry landed with his left foot sliding inside the front pylon for the touchdown. Henry opened up the Bengals' second scoring drive with a 22 yard skinny post reception in which he split the coverage before racing across midfield. His second touchdown came at the end of the first half; over the middle with a defender draped over his back to give the Bengals a 14-7 lead at the break. He was the intended target on Palmer’s first interception but wasn’t in position to receive the short pass. Henry left the field in the second half after taking on a thunderous hit from safety Ryan Clark, causing the ball to pop out of his reach and into the Steelers hands for their second interception. But he returned on Cincinnati’s next possession after just having the wind knocked out of him.

WR Chad Johnson, Rec: 1 - 11 - 0 (2 targets)

The Bengals' best WR played third wheel to T.J. Houshmandzadeh and slot receiver Chris Henry, catching only one pass for 11 yards on the Bengals first scoring drive. It was his lowest yardage output since Week 15 of the 2004 season and least number of receptions since Week 3 of the 2002 season. His two targets also represents an all time low since he became a starting WR.

PK Shayne Graham 0 - 0 FG, 4 - 4 XP, 4 points

Graham converted all four of his extra point attempts. Many of his kick offs went out of the end zone thanks to the swirling winds at Heinz Field.

CIN Rush Defense

With injuries to LB David Pollack and SS Dexter Jackson, the only run stopping specialist left in the Bengals lineup was DT Sam Adams. And at 360 lbs, he cannot endure 60 minutes of football. Needless to say, the shorthanded Bengals’ defense gave way to Willie Parker and his 133 rushing yards. This unit was often caught in over pursuit, allowing Parker to cut back away from his lane for lots of extra yardage. LB Landon Johnson led the Bengals in the middle with eight solo tackles.

CIN Pass Defense

Cincinnati’s secondary came up huge with two interceptions in the end zone. Madieu Williams pick off early in the second quarter prevented Pittsburgh from going up two touchdowns and Kevin Kaesviharn stepped in front of a pass in the end zone with 16 ticks left on the clock to ice the game for the Bengals. Deltha O’Neal had the third interception and DL Robert Geathers collected two sacks.

QB Ben Roethlisberger, Pass: 18 - 39 - 208 - 0 TD / 3 INT, Rush: 1 - -1 - 0

Many believed the idea in starting Roethlisberger last week was to shake off any rust he may have had after being sidelined all summer with injuries from his motorcycle accident and most recently his emergency appendectomy surgery just over three weeks ago. Apparently, another week was needed. Roethlisberger’s form and accuracy left a lot to be desired out on the field and he looked very uncomfortable in the pocket. With throws coming off his back foot, and him rarely stepping into his passes, many balls sailed high, or did not even reach the intended targets. His first interception was well off the mark in the end zone and was handled by safety Madieu Williams. His second in the third quarter was a lame duck bomb to Wilson, but even with room in front of him, he just chucked it up in the air without stepping into it, and he fell down after the throw when he stepped on LT Marvel Smith’s foot during his follow through, limiting any kind of power behind his throw. The third was with just a few seconds left in the game when he didn’t see safety Kevin Kaesviharn waiting in front of Nate Washington on the goal line.

Roethlisberger looked best rolling out of the pocket, but even when he was completing passes; his receivers were doing most of the work in trying to haul them in. He completed three of his first four, meaning his completion percentage was just 43 percent the rest of the game (15 of 35). Roethlisberger has a -4 TD/INT ratio and the Steelers are 1-3 in the regular season when he has 30 or more passing attempts.

RB Willie Parker, Rush: 31 - 133 - 2, Rec: 1 - 13 - 0 (1 targets)

Parker cut left, cut right, delivered stiff arms and spun out of would be tacklers en route to 133 yards on 31 carries. He took full advantage of the huge push off the line his blockers were giving him and used his speed to dart through small holes, including both of his goal line touchdown runs of three and one yards, the latter coming on a fourth and one from the half yard line. That fact is most noteworthy as the Steelers coaches have yet to use big back Najeh Davenport, acquired via free agency right after Week 1, in short yardage/goal line situations. Parker left the game just before Verron Haynes’ fumble with what might have been a small injury to his arm when he took himself out after a defender’s helmet rammed into it, but no official announcement was given. Parker is tied for third in the league with 71 rushing attempts.

RB Verron Haynes, Rush: 5 - 24 - 0, Rec: 5 - 33 - 0 (6 targets)

After the Bengals capitalized on a fumble on a punt return, Haynes coughed up a fumble with 7:22 left in the game on the very next Steelers’ possession. In trying to earn those few extra yards at the end of a run, Haynes dove forward over the first down marker and into his own LG Alan Faneca, which jarred the ball loose and into LB Brian Simmons hands. The Bengals scored on the very next play to take an 11 point lead. Haynes led the team in receptions with five for 33 yards and added 24 yards rushing.

WR Cedrick Wilson, Rush: 1 - 14 - 0, Rec: 3 - 73 - 0 (9 targets)

Wilson got the Steelers off to a flying start with a 36 yard reception on an in and out pattern to the left sideline. He got to the Bengals’ 44 yard line just two and a half minutes into the game, which was two yards further than the Steelers had gotten all last week at Jacksonville. Wilson also drew an illegal contact penalty when a pass went off his finger tips at the end zone, and he took and end around for 13 yards to set up Parker’s first touchdown run all on the team’s first drive. He was the target on Roethlisberger’s second interception on the under thrown deep ball and had other big gains of 27 and 17 in the fourth quarter, giving him 24.3 yards per reception.

WR Santonio Holmes, Rec: 3 - 30 - 0 (4 targets)

Holmes appeared as the number four receiver and caught three passes for 30 yards, all on Pittsburgh’s next to last drive in the fourth quarter. Holmes was relegated to primarily punt return duties, although he was switched out in favor of CB Ricardo Colclough in the fourth quarter when Colclough muffed the ball and turned it over to Cincinnati. Holmes finished with 14 punt return yards and had a kick return for 26 yards.

WR Hines Ward, Rec: 2 - 17 - 0 (11 targets)

Ward was stifled by the Bengals’ secondary. Although Ben Roethlisberger tried to find Ward on a few other occasions, the attempts seemed either forced, or just off the mark all together. Either way, Ward had someone in his face nearly every time and paid the price on any ball that came close to him. Ward caught an 11 yard pass for a first down in the second quarter and made a leaping grab for six yards and a first down to keep a fourth quarter drive alive to help set up Jeff Reed’s field goal. Ward was targeted six times in the fourth quarter, including one in the end zone.

WR Nate Washington, Rec: 1 - 8 - 0 (4 targets)

Washington was used as the number three receiver, but only managed one reception for eight yards. He did, however, drop two passes, one at the goal line for a potential touchdown that could have cut Pittsburgh deficit to five and/or three with the conversion pending. He also dropped a would-be first down catch earlier in the fourth quarter, which forced the Steelers to punt. Washington was the targeted receiver in the end zone when Roethlisberger threw his final interception on the Steelers last offensive possession.

TE Heath Miller, Rec: 3 - 34 - 0 (3 targets)

Miller, the receiver leader for Pittsburgh heading into the game, had three receptions for 30 yards. Miller’s receptions were not designed to go to him first, as he was checked down to all three times and he was taken out in the hurry up offense midway in the fourth quarter.

PK Jeff Reed 2 - 3 FG, 2 - 2 XP, 8 points

Reed had a 48 yard field goal blocked when he tried to keep the ball low due to the prevailing winds inside the stadium. He was able to boot field goals of 37 and 36 yards in the third and fourth quarters respectively.

PIT Rush Defense

The Steelers did a solid job against the run once again, holding Rudi Johnson to 47 yards on 19 carries. Backup Kenny Watson sneaked in an additional 35 yards, including a draw play for 18 that set up Cincinnati’s second touchdown, but it was the only big play out of the backfield. LBs Larry Foote and James Farrior led the Steelers with seven solo tackles each.

PIT Pass Defense

Pittsburgh was relentless in pressuring Carson Palmer to the tune of six sacks, two interceptions and three forced fumbles. But they also gave up four touchdown passes, two each to Chris Henry and T.J. Houshmandzadeh. Three of the four touchdowns were from inside the red zone. CB Deshea Townsend had five solo tackles, an interception, a sack and a forced fumble. LB Clark Haggans had two sacks and a forced fumble.