The Good-When you defeat a division rival in their house by a considerable margin while you're battling for the division lead, it's all good, baby! The Killer B's, QB Ben Roethlisberger, RB Le'Veon Bell, WR Antonio Brown and (welcome back to the end-zone)WR Martavis Bryant all brought their A games today. Ben was 25 of 39 for 350 yards, 3 touchdowns and a 118.5 passer rating with no turnovers. Bell continues to battle AB for team MVP by running 185 yards on 26 carriers with 1 touchdown. Not content to stand pat, he also caught 6 passes for 50 yards and 1 TD. AB looked pretty good himself, catching 9 balls for 117 yards. The rookie, Bryant, got back in everyone's good graces, with 4 receptions for 109 yards, including a 94 yard TD from Ben that put the Steelers up 35-21. And how about that offensive line? They kept Ben clean while opening holes a mile wide for Bell all day long. And although the defense had their issues (more on that later) they did recover 2 fumbles, recorded 3 sacks and held the Bungles scoreless in the 4th quarter. The Steelers outscored Cincy 25-0 in the final frame. That's darn good!
The Bad-It's wasn't all gravy for Dick LeBeau's defense. Cincy WR AJ Green torched them with 11 receptions for 224 yards and a touchdown. This season the Steelers have surrendered 26 touchdown passes. Unfortunately, the secondary has been burned more than my morning toast. Why do the Steelers continue to put CB Ike Taylor against their opponent's best receiver? Maybe it's because they have no one else? Ike was ultimately removed from yesterday's game. As I write this, I'm not sure if it was because of injury or because of a bruised ego. Either way, Ike's best days are clearly behind him, much like he is with opposing receivers. And I'm sorry to say this, but Troy Polamalu's days should be numbered as well. The Steelers are not doing themselves any favors by continuing to trot out these tried-and-try warriors. It may be out of necessity and will most certainly have to be addressed in the offseason.
The Ugly-Next week the Steelers travel to Hotlanta where they'll battle the NFC South division-leading Falcons. It could be ugly for the secondary again as they face not one, but two top-notch receivers in Julio Jones and Roddy White. If Coach LeBeau and secondary coach Carnell Lake can't get the DBs ready for this game, can they at least suit up? They can't be any worse then most of these guys.
The Steelers continue to look up at the Bungles following this week's win as Cincy is 8-4-1. The Baltimorons won so they're tied with the Steelers at 8-5. The Clowns are on the outside looking in with a 7-6 record following their loss.
As I said, the Steelers are on the road next week against a 5-7 team (Atl plays Green Bay on MNF). Woop, woop, woop! Beware the trap game! With 3 left in the regular season, every game counts. Continue to put the ball in the hands of your playmakers and put up as many points as humanly possible to make up for the (lack of) D. Let's Go Steelers!!!!!!
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