Cincinnati Bengals vs. Pittsburgh Steelers: 5 Bold predictions for Week 4
4. Conner, Mixon enjoy best days of 2019 by far
To say that running backs James Conner and Joe Mixon have been ineffective through the first three games is putting it exceedingly mildly. Conner has just 34 carries for 97 yards and one touchdown on the ground and, somehow, Mixon has been worse with 32 carries for 87 yards and no scores. It’s been a rough go of it.
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The good news for both running backs, though, is that the opposing run defenses in this game are also quite bad. The Steelers have allowed just shy of 140 yards per game on the ground while the Bengals have given up a whopping 168.7 rushing yards per contest. As such, Conner and Mixon may not look like superstars but both will top at least 70 yards on Monday night in their best games of the 2019 campaign to this point.
3. Rudolph gets had by Bengals secondary
Since taking over the starting quarterback job for an injured Ben Roethlisberger, Mason Rudolph has been nothing more than fine and perhaps less at times. In 1.5 games, the Steelers new starting quarterback still hasn’t topped the 300-yard mark and, while he has four touchdown throws, he also has an interception in each of his two outings this year.
If there’s one strength of the Cincinnati Bengals defense that they can exploit on Monday, it’s their secondary. With the way this group of pass-catchers has stumbled out of the gate for Pittsburgh, the likes of William Jackson III and others will have a good chance to pick on a backup quarterback. As such, they’ll force Rudolph into his first multi-interception game of 2019 — though probably not his last.