Pittsburgh Steelers: Stephon Tuitt Devastates Cincinnati

On Sunday the Pittsburgh Steelers traveled to Ohio to take on the Cincinnati Bengals. Just like many of the AFC North games over the years, this game had the making of a dogfight that wouldn’t be decided until the end.

However, every week in the NFL there are unexpected turns and events that totally change the landscape of a game.

This game turned out to be no different.

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In the first quarter of the game, Andy Dalton stepped back to pass. His eyes immediately looked towards the middle of the field towards the endzone in attempt to get the Pittsburgh defenders to retreat. He then attempted a screen pass to his left to his shifty Running Back Giovani Bernard.

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In a blink of an eye a behemoth wearing a Steelers’ uniform intercepted the ball before it could even get back to the line of scrimmage and ran it three yards to the Bengals’ ten-yard line before he was taken down.

This mountain of a man turned out to be Defensive End Stephon Tuitt.

On that play, he single handedly changed the entire game and possibly the season for both of these NFL franchises.

As the 22-year old out of Notre Dame was running with the football after his first ever NFL interception he was tackled by the Bengals’ quarterback Andy Dalton. The former second-round pick and two-time Pro-Bowler broke his right thumb on the tackle.

Moments later, Dalton was ruled out for the rest of the day with an injury and the Bengals would have to play the rest of the game with their backup Quarterback AJ McCarron.

Although there was more than three full quarters of football left in the game, this one was unofficially over due to the aftereffect of Tuitt’s great individual effort.

The Steelers would go on to win the game 33-20. Don’t be fooled by that. The game wasn’t as close as the final score suggests.

McCaron did not have a horrible game (280 yards, 2 TDs and 2 INTs) but he did make some plays that had Steelers’ players and fans quoting (the late) Harry Stamper from the movie Armaggedon.

“AJ, I got just five words for you: Damn glad to see you boy!”

On the second play of the second half McCarron’s pass was intercepted and returned 23-yards for a touchdown by Steelers’ CB William Gay. That would give the Steelers a 23-7 lead.

Then late in the fourth quarter while the Bengals were trailing by 13, he badly overthrew Wide Receiver Mohammed Sanu and was intercepted by Robert Golden.

The ripple effect of Tuitt’s interception continued after the game when it was reported that Dalton’s injury might cost him more than just this one game.

According to Bob Holtzman of ESPN, there’s a strong feeling Dalton’s season is over.

The Bengals are all but basically in the playoffs with their current 10-3 record. However, the chances them winning a playoff game with McCarron at quarterback are very slim.

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Stephon Tuitt. The man who possibly ruined the 2015 Cincinnati Bengals’ season.

Let the rivalry continue.