Aside from the fact I thought taking the Steelers -5.5 was a good idea, this was maybe the game of the year so far. Just a high level of play by both offenses and good coaching too. The Bengals had the greatest end-game clock management I’ve ever seen between Tee Higgins sliding five yards from the end zone to run clock, Joe Flacco not just kneeling but running around for a few seconds each play before doing so and the Bengals using timeouts with zero left on the play clock. And Aaron Rodgers at 41, reaching the end zone on that 70-yard Hail Mary was insane. What a cannon he still has!
I thought Flacco was toast based on his Browns play this year, but I was wrong. When he has time, he still throws a nice ball and makes good decisions, one of which was targeting Ja’Marr Chase 23 times! Chase even dropped two or three balls, but wound up with 16 catches. He’s the WR1 now even when Puka Nacua is healthy. The Steelers just couldn’t guard him, and when they helped Flacco made them pay.
Higgins could have had two TDs, but wisely slid to seal the win. He still went 10-6-96-1 and seems to have regained a good chunk of his pre-Joe Burrow injury value.
Even Chase Brown woke up, though he dropped an easy catch that would have gone for at least 20 yards.
Evan McPherson was jobbed out of the all-time FG distance record last week due to a last second timeout, but nailed all his kicks, including the game winner, and none were in any doubt — all straight down the middle.
The Steelers defense got almost zero pressure, which surprised me. The Bengals run and passed-blocked to near perfection.
Rodgers threw a couple picks, but also mostly played out of his mind with perfect ball placement on a bunch of throws. He also moved well in the pocket.
Jaylen Warren had a great game too, and it seems like he’s the bell cow again, Kenneth Gainwell’s big performance in London notwithstanding.
The Steelers don’t have a Chase, but Pat Freiermuth had a big game as the Bengals just cannot cover tight ends:
Jeff Erickson posted this 10K to 1 long shot joke in the first quarter, and it literally almost came true.
DK Metcalf is okay, but you’d want more out of him in a game like this.
Shockingly good game between two average teams on short rest.
