Pittsburgh Steelers: Keys To Victory at Cincinnati (Part 2 of 3)
By Dan Thomas
On Saturday, the Pittsburgh Steelers travel to Cincinnati, Ohio to take on their AFC North rival, the Cincinnati Bengals. These two teams split their regular season series 1-1 and each team will be looking to win this rubber match.
What can the Steelers do to win their first playoff game since 2010? Here’s the second installment of this three-part series.
No. 2. Defense Needs to Keep Rolling
We all know how the old cliche goes, “Defense wins championships”. There have been plenty of examples of this in the last decade. The Seattle Seahawks in 2014, the New York Giants in 2011 and 2007 and the Steelers in 2005. In the case of the 2015 Pittsburgh Steelers, their defense won’t be the reason why they win a championship but they certainly can be the reason they lose one.
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Run Defense
The run defense has not been the issue for the Steelers in 2015. In fact, it’s one of their bright spots on the team. They finished the 2015 regular season ranked as the #5 rushing defense in the NFL. The last time they allowed a 100-yard rusher in a game came back in Week 7 against Charcandrick West and the Kansas City Chiefs. On Saturday, they should continue their dominance against the Bengals’ mediocre rushing offense.
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The Bengals starting RB, Jeremy Hill, had zero games with 100 yards rushing in 2015. Let me say that again: He had ZERO games with 100 yards rushing. Hill finished the 2014 regular season with three-straight games with 100+ yards rushing but could not produce one in 16 games this season.
Hill only had 794 rushing yards during the regular season and his 3.6 yards per carry was ranked dead last among players with at least 195 carries. Also, you can’t expect to get much out of Hill in the passing game. He only had 79 receiving yards in 2015. That’s an average of 5 yards receiving per game. Combine that with his average of 50 rushing yards per game and that’s about 55 total yards from scrimmage per game from Hill.
Hill’s ineffectiveness made the Bengals lean on their backup/change of pace RB, Giovani Bernard. Gio was able to manage one game with over 100 yards rushing but that came back in Week 2 against the San Diego Chargers who had the 27th ranked rushing defense in 2015. Still, that’s more than Hill can say. Think about this: Bernard had 64 less rushing yards than Hill on 69 less carries. That is borderline pathetic for Hill considering that Bernard’s true calling card is his ability to be a receiver out of the backfield.
Bernard finished the season with 49 receptions for 472 receiving yards. That is an average of 9.6 yards per reception. His total receptions was more than three times the amount Hill had and his total receiving yards was six times the amount Hill had.
Here’s a closer look at their stats in their two games against the Steelers this year:
| Bernard | Hill | |
| 52 | Rushing Yards | 76 |
| 49 | Receiving Yards | 16 |
| 12 | Total Touches | 25 |
| 8.42 | Yards Per Touch | 3.68 |
Considering the minimal amount of success that Jeremy Hill had this year and against the Steelers, it wouldn’t be a surprise if the Bengals make a point to get Bernard around 12-15 touches during the game. Either way, there’s a minimal chance that the Bengals get a 100-yard performance from either of the two on Saturday. In fact, it will be a mild-victory and surprise if the Bengals are able to get 100 rushing yards total against the Steelers.
Pass Defense
Let’s face it: This is the weak link of the bunch.
The Steelers’ secondary was victimized all year by opposing quarterbacks and that’s the reason they finished the regular season with the 3rd worse passing defense in the NFL.
Getting torched by Carson Palmer for 421 yards and Russell Wilson for 345 yards isn’t acceptable but it is understandable. Allowing guys like Johnny Manziel (372 yards), Colin Kaepernick (335 yards) and Ryan Mallett (274 yards) sling the ball around the field like Aaron Rodgers is another story.
With all of that said, the secondary has improved as of late. Since surrendering 345 yards to Russell Wilson in Week 12, they have tighten up a bit.
In Weeks 1-12 the Steelers gave up an average of 300 passing yards per game and could only force .82 interceptions a game. In Weeks 13-17, the Steelers have only surrendered an average of 252 passing yards a game and have forced an average of 1.6 interceptions a game. There is a small catch to those numbers in those final five games: Every team they faced was starting either their 2nd or 3rd string QB.
However, the QB they’ll be facing on Saturday, AJ McCarron, is a backup. There is no reason why the Steelers’ secondary should give up over 250-275 passing yards to a guy who only averaged 208 passing yards in the four games he has played in this year. If they do allow McCarron to reach these numbers, it strengthens the possibility of the Steelers losing. It also means that WR A.J. Green got loose a couple times.
In the two games Green played in against the Steelers this season, he averaged 8.5 catches, 125 yards and 1 touchdown. The former 1st-round pick is talented enough to beat 95% of the DB’s in this league and can make an average QB look like a great QB. The Steelers’ secondary must make containing Green their first and most important priority. The second priority is stopping TE Tyler Eifert.
Eifert managed to score 13 touchdowns in 13 games this season which was #1 amongst TEs. In Week 14, against Pittsburgh, the Steelers caught a break when he left the game early with a concussion. He’s now healthy and will be in the starting lineup for the Bengals on Saturday.
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He’s a big target that does a lot of his damage inside the redzone. In Week 17, him and McCarron hooked up for a 22-yard touchdown. It’s nothing to necessarily go crazy over but it is a sign that the two are on the same page. Not to mention, McCarron connected with A.J. Green on a 5-yard touchdown in the same game. McCarron throwing a touchdown pass to his top two targets in Week 17 could be a sign that the passing offense is on the upswing.
The odds are the average rushing offense of the Bengals won’t do any damage against the Steelers stellar run defense. The average passing offense of the Bengals against a below-average secondary is where the real focus is. If the secondary shows up, the team will have a good day. If they don’t, they could be the reason the Steelers aren’t playing next week.