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Week 13 Game Recap: Cincinnati Bengals 10, Pittsburgh Steelers 24
What you need to know
| Cincinnati Bengals |
On another rainy night in Pittsburgh the Cincinnati offense got off to a good start, scoring a touchdown on their initial drive after taking the ball 75 yards on 12 plays. Despite the encouraging first series, the Bengals' offense would go on to accumulate 174 yards on their remaining drives as they were only able to scratch across three more points. Carson Palmer struggled mightily in this contest as 27 of his 44 attempts fell incomplete. The Cincinnati signal caller finished the night with 17 completions for 183 yards and no touchdowns.
T.J. Houshmandzadeh and Chad Johnson were targeted a combined total of 29 times, but only 11 of those attempts went for completions. Johnson led all Cincinnati receivers with six catches for 86 yards and was targeted a number of times on deep balls, but those passes fell incomplete. The physical play of the Steelers' secondary seemed to frustrate Houshmandzadeh as he was seen complaining to the officials a number of times. He also had a couple of balls that hit him in the hands fall incomplete.
Pittsburgh came into this contest giving up a measly 77 yards per game on the ground, so its no surprise that the Bengals' running backs had difficulty picking up yards rushing the football. The combination of Rudi Johnson, Kenny Watson, and DeDe Dorsey combined to pick up 72 yards on 20 carries. Johnson led the running back trio with 14 rushes and he did have a one yard scoring run on Cincinnati's first drive of the game.
| Pittsburgh Steelers |
Ben Roethlisberger got off to a slow start in this game, as he seemed to have problems with the wet football. A number of times, Roethlisberger passes came out wobbly and sailed high of their intended target. He got things turned around on the Steelers' fourth drive as he led a touchdown scoring drive that he capped with a six yard scoring rush. On the night, Roethlisberger completed over 65 percent of his pass for 184 yards and he threw two touchdown passes to WR Hines Ward.
With Najeh Davenport a surprise inactive for this contest, Willie Parker got all but one of the carries from the running back position for the Steelers. Going against a Cincinnati defense ranked 23rd against the run, Parker finished the night with 87 yards on 28 attempts for an average of 3.1 yards per rush. His fumbles in the third and fourth quarter could have proved disastrous for Pittsburgh, but the Bengals were only able to score three points on those two turnovers.
Hines Ward was Ben Roethlisberger's go to guy in this contest as he was targeted an eye grabbing 17 times (12 of which came in the first half). In addition to hauling in 11 passes for 90 yards, he also caught his fifth and sixth touchdowns of the year. Ward's sixth catch of the game was the 700th of his career and his second scoring grab established a new Steelers' record for touchdown receptions at 64.
What you ought to know
| QB Carson Palmer, Pass: 17 - 44 - 183 - 0 TD / 0 INT, Rush: 2 - -2 - 0 |
Palmer got off to a good start on the Bengals' initial drive as he completed six of his seven attempts for 57 yards, helping lead the offense to their only touchdown of the game. The Cincinnati quarterback would go on to complete only 12 more passes throughout the remainder of the contest as he finished with a season low 183 yards passing. The offense seemed to be in third and long situations throughout the night, which contributed towards Palmer's struggle in moving the chains. His pass catchers didn't help him out either as a number of balls that hit receivers in the hands fell incomplete.
| RB Rudi Johnson, Rush: 14 - 34 - 1 |
Four of Johnson's 14 rushes came on Cincinnati's first drive when he rushed for 10 yards. Despite only averaging 2.5 yard on that first series, he did cap the drive with his second rushing touchdown of the year. Johnson's long run of the night was four yards and he received zero looks in the passing game.
| RB Kenny Watson, Rush: 5 - 23 - 0 (2 targets) |
Watson averaged 4.6 yards on his five rushes and had a long run of eight yards.
| RB DeDe Dorsey, Rush: 1 - 15 - 0, Rec: 1 - -7 - 0 (3 targets) |
Dorsey was on the field for the Bengals' first play of the game, but he only got one carry in the contest. All three of his targets in the passing game came in the fourth quarter.
| RB Jeremi Johnson (1 targets) |
His only target of the came at the start of the fourth quarter and fell incomplete.
| WR Chad Johnson, Rush: 1 - 4 - 0, Rec: 6 - 86 - 0 (15 targets) |
Johnson led all receivers with 15 targets, but his first touch of the game was a backward pass that went for four yards. He finished the night with 86 yards receiving, but 37 of those yards came on Cincinnati's last drive when the game had already been decided. Johnson had a target in the end zone hit him in the hands with the Bengals operating from the Pittsburgh five yard line. It would have been a tough grab as he had to lay out for the pass, but it's a catch that we've grown accustomed to seeing Johnson make.
| WR T.J. Houshmandzadeh, Rec: 5 - 42 - 0 (14 targets) |
Houshmandzadeh caught his first three targets for a total of 24 yards on Cincinnati's initial drive, but the next five passes his way fell incomplete. One of those incompletions was a second quarter pass that hit him in the hands that probably would have went for a first down if he would have been able to hold on. His fourth and fifth grabs came in the second half and went for a total of 18 yards. Houshmandzadeh was targeted in the end zone on a fourth and goal play with the Bengals on the Pittsburgh three yard line, but the ball fell incomplete after hitting him in the hands. After catching a touchdown in his first eight games of the year, this was the third game of his last four that he failed to get into the end zone.
| WR Antonio Chatman, Rec: 2 - 23 - 0 (3 targets) |
Both of Chatman's grabs came on third down plays that moved the sticks. His first catch came on Cincinnati's only touchdown scoring drive when he made a 14 yard reception on a third and two play. His other catch came in the third quarter and went for a gain of 12.
| WR Chris Henry, Rec: 2 - 31 - 0 (5 targets) |
Henry's first catch went for 18 yards on a third and 11 play in the first quarter. His only other reception came in the third quarter and went for 14 yards. Henry grabbed a fourth quarter pass in the corner of the end zone that would have went for a three yard touchdown, but he was ruled out of bounds when his foot came down on the side line.
| TE Reggie Kelly, Rec: 1 - 8 - 0 (1 targets) |
Kelly's only reception came in the second quarter and went for seven yards. His effort to stretch the ball out as he was going down resulted in a first down.
| PK Shayne Graham 1 - 2 FG, 1 - 1 XP, 4 points |
Graham missed his first field goal wide right from 43 yards out in the second quarter, but did connect on a 24 yard try later on in the third quarter. He made his only extra point attempt of the game.
| CIN Rush Defense |
The Bengals did a good job keeping Willie Parker in check as the Pittsburgh running back picked up only 87 yards on 28 rushes. In addition to the low rushing numbers for Parker, Cincinnati also recovered two of his fumbles. Ben Roethlisberger did score a touchdown on a six yard run in the second quarter.
| CIN Pass Defense |
Ben Roethlisberger finished the night with 21 completions for 184 yards and two touchdown passes. CB Johnathan Joseph and S Madieu Williams had interceptions in this contest. A questionable fourth quarter holding call on CB Leon Hall negated a Roethlisberger sack in the end zone that would have went for a safety.
| QB Ben Roethlisberger, Pass: 21 - 32 - 184 - 2 TD / 2 INT, Rush: 6 - 13 - 1 |
Roethlisberger got off to a slow start as he began the game two of six for 18 yards and an interception. He did get things going on Pittsburgh's fourth drive of the game as he led the Steelers to their first score when he rushed for a six yard touchdown. On the play, the Pittsburgh quarterback dropped back to pass, and after scrambling to his left, he broke for the end zone and dove for the goal line. Replay showed that there was some question as to whether the ball broke the plane, but there was no challenge and the touchdown stood. Roethlisberger's first touchdown throw came from the Bengals' two yard line when he boot legged out to his right and hit Hines Ward for the score. He followed that touchdown pass up with another scoring strike to Ward in the third quarter, this one from nine yards out. Roethlisberger turned the ball over twice in the contest with interceptions in the first and fourth quarters.
| RB Willie Parker, Rush: 28 - 87 - 0, Rec: 1 - 14 - 0 (1 targets) |
After gaining only four yards on his first four carries, Parker picked it up a bit on the Steelers' fourth drive of the game. On that series, he rushed the ball five times for 23 yards as he helped drive Pittsburgh to their first touchdown. Parker finished the first half averaging 2.9 yards per rush on 10 attempts and caught one pass that went for 14 yards. He followed up his first half performance with an 18 rush second half that gained 58 yards. Parker had a problem holding on to the wet football as he put the ball on the ground four times (Though replay challenges of his first and third fumbles showed that he was down before the ball came loose.) His third quarter fumble gave Cincinnati the football at the Pittsburgh 25 yard line and ultimately resulted in a Bengals' field goal. His fourth quarter fumble gave Cincinnati the ball at the Bengals' 46 yard line but did not result in any points.
| RB Gary Russell, Rush: 1 - 1 - 0 |
His only rush of the game came with 2:35 remaining in the game.
| RB Najeh Davenport |
Despite practicing all week and not being listed on the injury report, Davenport was inactive for this game due to what was initially reported as a foot injury. It was reported during the game that head coach Mike Tomlin stated that "other issues" contributed towards him being out of this contest.
| WR Hines Ward, Rec: 11 - 90 - 2 (17 targets) |
Ward was targeted early and often in this contest as QB Ben Roethlisberger looked to him when the Pittsburgh offense had to make a play. Six of his 11 receptions came on third down and five of those grabs went for first downs. Ward caught both of Roethlisberger's scoring throws which were his fifth and six touchdown receptions of the year. He was also the intended receiver on Roethlisberger's first interception of the game.
| WR Cedrick Wilson, Rec: 3 - 34 - 0 (5 targets) |
Wilson's first two receptions went for a total of 20 yards as he helped lead the Pittsburgh offense to their second touchdown. His only other catch in the game came in the third quarter and went for 14 yards. Wilson was the intended receiver on Ben Roethlisberger's second interception.
| WR Nate Washington, Rec: 2 - 16 - 0 (4 targets) |
All of Washington's targets came in the first as half and both of his catches came on the Steelers' first touchdown scoring drive. He took his second reception down to the Cincinnati two yard line.
| WR Santonio Holmes |
Holmes missed his second straight game because of an ankle injury.
| TE Heath Miller, Rec: 4 - 30 - 0 (5 targets) |
The first pass Miller's way fell incomplete but he went on to grab his next four targets, all of which came in the second quarter. Two of his catches went for first downs, and he took a Ben Roethlisberger shovel pass down to the Cincinnati five yard line.
| PK Jeff Reed 1 - 1 FG, 3 - 3 XP, 6 points |
Reed connected on his only field goal attempt from 21 yards out in the second quarter. He also made good on all of his extra point attempts.
| PIT Rush Defense |
The number one ranked defense against the run allowed only 74 yards on 23 attempts (an average of 3.2 per run). Despite keeping the Cincinnati running backs in check for the majority of the night, the Steelers did surrender a one yard touchdown run to Rudi Johnson on the Bengals' first drive of the game.
| PIT Pass Defense |
Carson Palmer completed only 17 or 44 passes for 183 yards and no touchdowns. Both the poor weather conditions and the physical Pittsburgh secondary seemed to contribute towards his struggles. A second quarter sack by Larry Foote resulted in an eight yard loss.
