Steelers Today - A Pittsburgh Steelers blog

According to Bengals.com, wide receiver Chad Johnson has been deactivated for tonight’s game against the Steelers.  Johnson apparently violated a team rule.  No specifics have been released as to why Ocho Cinco was deactivated.

according to Bengals’ radio play-by-play man Brad Johansen, Ocho Cinco said that he “begged and begged” Bengals’ coach Marvin Lewis not to sit him after he overslept an 8:30 p.m. meeting.

The Bengals are looking at starting Chris Henry or Glen Holt in place of Johnson.

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You may also want to check out our Top 10 Reasons Pittsburgh Is Better Than Cincinnati, and our Steelers vs. Bengals Key Match-ups.

This Thursday at 8:15 PM, the Cincinnati Bengals come to Heinz Field to face the Steelers. The game will be aired on NFL Network.

It would be easy for the Steelers (7-3) to become complacent going into a game against the Bengals (1-8-1). Afterall, the two teams sit at opposite ends of the AFC North standings. The Steelers are in first place, and the Bengals are in last place (sound familiar?).

The Bengals’ offense is ranked #32 in the NFL (that’s last, for those of you who aren’t aware). They average a mere 158.9 yards per game passing, and an even more meager 83.7 rushing yards per game.

The Bengals’ rushing attack (if you can call it that) is led by Cedrick Benson (yes, Cedrick Benson. Stop laughing!), the NFL’s 50th ranked running back. Benson is averaging 47.2 yards/game (Bwahahaha!!!!!). Benson will be going up against the Steelers’ #1 ranked defense. They’re #1 against the pass, and #1 against the run (I like the way that sounds). Given the difficulty that REAL running backs like Clinton Portis, LaDainian Tomlinson, Fred Taylor, Maurice Jones-Drew, Brian Westbrook, and Brandon Jacobs had trying to run against the Steelers, Cedrick Benson is probably in for a long and painful night on Thursday. Benson should be scrambling to get a doctor’s excuse or a note from his mom before Thursday.

The Bengals’ passing game is led by quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick. His 71.3 passer rating ranks #30 in the NFL, right behind JaMarcus Russell and Tyler Thigpen, and just ahead of Dan Orlovsky. That is not the type of company that any quarterback wants to be in. Fitzpatrick has connected with loud-mouthed wide receiver Chad Johnson 41 times this season for a total of 383 yards. That’s 10 yards less than Steelers’ #3 receiver Nate Washington has accumulated. The self-proclaimed “future hall of famer” has an unimpressive 4 touchdowns this season. Johnson has never had much success against Steelers’ cornerback Ike Taylor. That shouldn’t change this week.

The Bengals’ defense is just slightly more intimidating than their offense. They give up an average of 24.9 points per game. That puts a lot of pressure on their offense.

The Bengals have difficulty putting pressure on opposing quarterbacks. That should be welcome news to Steelers’ quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. The Bengals’ defense has a total of only 11 sacks this season. That’s one fewer than Steelers’ linebacker James Harrison has accumulated. In fact, the Bengals sack leader, DE Robert Geathers, has 1.5 fewer sacks than Steelers backup linebacker Lawrence Timmons.

But before Steelers fans get too excited, we should note that Cincinnati played the Philadelphia Eagles to a 13-13 tie last week (yes Donovan, there are ties in the NFL). That’s the same Eagles team that beat the Steelers like a drum earlier this year. Moreover, the Bengals have beaten the Steelers at Heinz Field as recently as 2006. So the Steelers have to be diligent not to allow this to become a “trap” game. As they say, “on any given Sunday”.

Yeah right. Who am I kidding? The Bengals don’t have a chance in this game. I predict the Steelers will win big. Final score: Steelers 32, Bengals 10.

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This weekend, the Pittsburgh Steelers travel to Cincinnati, Ohio to play the Cincinnati Bengals. The Steelers enter the game atop the AFC North with a 4-1 record. The Bengals are in last place at 0-6. The Bengals have the worst record in the NFL, 1/2 game behind the 0-5 Detroit Lions.

The Steelers lead the all-time regular season series against the Bengals 45-30. The Bengals’ last win was in 2006 at Heinz Field.

The Steelers have defeated the Bengals the last 7 times they’ve traveled to Cincinnati. Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, who is from Findlay, OH is a perfect 10-0 in the state of Ohio (5-0 versus Bengal, 5-0 versus Browns).

Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin is a perfect 2-0 versus the Bengals.

Although we are only 7 weeks into the season, Bengals fans may already be giving up hope. Rumor has it that thousands of tickets are available for this match-up of division rivals. Of course, that is great news for Steeler Nation, who loves to take over opponents’ stadiums. All indications are that black and gold should be prominent in the crowd on Sunday.

The 0-6 start is the longest losing streak of head coach Marvin Lewis’ career, and some say that his job may be in jeopardy. Interestingly, the last Bengals head coach to start the season 0-6 was current Steelers Defensive Coordinator Dick LeBeau.

The Bengals futility begins on offense. With weapons like Carson Palmer, Chad Ocho Cinco, and T.J. Houshmandzadeh, the Bengals should be an offensive juggernaut. Yet, they are dead last in the NFL in total offense.

The Bengals’ passing offense, which is their strength, is ranked 27th in the NFL, and only averages 155.7 yards per game. By contrast, the Steelers, a run-oriented offense, are averaging 177.4 passing yards per game.

Chad Johnson only has 19 receptions this year in the Bengals’ pass-happy offense. Meanwhile, T.J. Houshmandzadeh has twice as many receptions with 38. Amazingly, Johnson has fewer reception yards than both Hines Ward and Santonio Holmes, both of whom play in the Steelers’ conservative, run-oriented offense. Johnson says that he is being punished for negative comments that he made during the offseason.

The Bengals passing offense won’t be helped by the fact that Carson Palmer will miss his third start in four weeks due to an injury to his right elbow. His backup, Ryan Fitzpatrick will get the start. Fitzpatrick has been sacked 8 times in 2 starts, and is likely to receive heavy doses of James Harrison and LaMarr Woodley on Sunday.

The bengals’ rushing offense is even worse than their passing offense. They are ranked next to last in the NFL in rushing, averaging only 72.2 rushing yards per game. leading rusher Chris Perry is averaging only 2.6 yards per carry. Moreover, the Bengals’ second leading rusher is Ryan Fitzpatrick. Their third leading rusher is Carson Palmer. No wonder their rushing attack is so futile.

As if things couldn’t get any worse for the Bengals, they are going to have to face the Steelers #2 ranked defense. The Steelers defense is only allowing 66.8 rushing yards per game. So the Bengals already paltry rushing average is likely to go even lower.

On offense, the Steelers were preparing to welcome back starting running back Willie Parker this week. However, Parker re-injured his knee during practice, and probably won’t play on Sunday. Nevertheless, Ben Roethlisberger and the Steelers “O” should have little trouble with the Bengals’ defense.

The Bengals defense allows a whopping 156.8 rushing yards per game. This will play to the Steelers’ strength. Even with Parker out, the Steelers should have success running against the Bengals.

Surprisingly, the Bengals pass defense is very good. They are ranked #4 in the NFL, right behind the Steelers. They have an attacking defense that really tries to get after the quarterback. The Bengals are in the top 10 in the NFL in blitz frequency. Despite their frequent blitzes, the Bengals have been unable to convert their pass rush into actual sacks. The team has only 5 sacks on the year. By contrast, Steelers linebacker James Harrison has 6.5 sacks all by himself, and LaMarr Woodley has 5.5 sacks.

The one bright spot for the Bengals is that their kick returner, Glenn Holt, leads the NFL in kickoff return yards. However, that statistic is misleading. Holt is actually not even in the top 15 in the NFL in yards per kickoff return. His statistics are due to the fact that he has the highest number of kickoff return attempts in the NFL. That is the one statistic that a team DOES NOT want to lead the league in. If your team is getting more opportunities to return kickoffs than any other team in the league, it is usually because your defense is allowing more touchdowns than any other team in the NFL. Ouch!

I predict an easy Steelers win, with a final score of 24-7.

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As the Steelers prepare to play the Bungles Bengals, I started thinking about how the two teams compared. Of course, this got me thinking about how the two cities compare. Here are my top 10 reasons why Pittsburgh is better than Cincinnati.

#10) When you look across the river from downtown Cincinnati, you see Kentucky. Advantage: Pittsburgh.

I'm from Kentucky, y'all!

#9) The worst item from Primanti Bros. is better than the BEST item from Skyline Chili. Advantage: Pittsburgh.

#8) The Pitt Panthers own the Cincinnati Bearcats in Big East Basketball. Advantage: Pittsburgh.

Pitt wins again!!

#7) Steelers players don’t have to bring their parole officers to games with them. Advantage: Pittsburgh.

#6) Cincinnati’s most famous son is Jerry Springer. In fact, he used to be the city’s mayor. No kidding. Look it up. Cincinnati should repent for that. Advantage: Pittsburgh.

Mr. Mayor

#5) Our hockey team is better than their hockey team. Oh wait, they don’t have a hockey team. Ha! Advantage: Pittsburgh.

#4) According to the database Statistics I Just Made Up, 79% of the Cincinnati Bengals wish they played for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Advantage: Pittsburgh.

#3) Downtown Cincinnati sits on the Ohio River. Even Cincinnati’s river was born in Pittsburgh. Advantage: Pittsburgh.

Who's your daddy?

#2) Ocho Stinko! Need I say more? Huge advantage: Pittsburgh.

Hines Ward is my idol.

#1) Five is better than zero. Advantage: Pittsburgh!!!

We hate to brag, but.......

As you can see, our highly scientific process proves definitively that Pittsburgh is better than Cincinnati. Now it’s time to kick their arses in football……..again!

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