Cincinnati Bengals: 3 Reasons for loss vs. Steelers in Week 7
By Kenn Korb
2. Back-to-back INTs
Despite those two scores allowed before the half, things were still in a good place for the Bengals when the 3rd quarter began. Down just 20-14, a touchdown would be enough to give them a lead again. Their second half hopes didn’t began well: a quick three-and-out punt for Cincinnati, followed by another Pittsburgh field goal to make it a two-score game.
Things only got worse from there though, and the ensuing drives are what sealed this loss for the Bengals. Both the second and third Cincinnati drives of the second half ended with interceptions thrown by Andy Dalton.
The first interception came with the team down 23-14. Cincinnati couldn’t even finish two plays on the drive before it struck. On second-and-2 at their own 33 is where it happened. After pre-snap motion, A.J. Green was the singular receiver on the right of the formation. Dalton targeted Green, who was running a quick slant.
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Dalton couldn’t put the ball right on him (mainly due to T.J. Watt dropping into coverage, forcing him to put it slightly higher than he probably wanted), and Green was left flailing at it. He tipped the pass, but didn’t catch it, giving Pittsburgh’s Joe Haden enough time to come up and grab the pick. On their ensuing drive, Pittsburgh used their great field position to score their fourth of five field goals to put the score at 26-14.
The second interception came after the team actually seemed to find a bit of rhythm. They made it four plays before a questionable decision by Dalton became a horrible mistake.
On third-and-4, Dalton dropped back with three receivers and a tight end set heading out on routes. Early on in the read, he made the mistake, as Dalton decided to go to Josh Malone over Tyler Kroft. It seemed like he may have hesitated slightly though, completely removing any timing advantage he did have on Pittsburgh’s defense before he tried to fit the pass to Malone in between three defenders. It was too high for Malone, who tipped the ball before he was immediately contacted by a Steeler and the ball was left hanging in the air for another one to easily pick the ball off.
Neither throw was a particularly egregious mistake on its own. Both times, a slightly better throw or narrowly better timing between quarterback and receiver would’ve changed the result. They each also had the added element of the ball being tipped — something which immediately promotes randomness and allows many of the interceptions we see occur.
Those minor issues become major in a close game, and were disastrously game-changing errors when they occurred in this one. One would’ve been bad enough. Suffering both completely ruined any legitimate hopes of the Bengals recovering to make a late run at stealing away this game.