Bengals 2009 Season Review-Week 3 continued

Bengals v. Steelers Post Mortem
How did the Bengals win this game? As I sat watching the game, the bile I have for the Steelers stewing to a medium boil in my belly, I thought to myself “the Bengals aren’t a good enough team to win a game like this”. You see, that’s what separates good teams from bad ones in the NFL, the ability to win games when you don’t play well. Finding ways to win games has never been this team’s M.O., it’s more likely they find ways to lose.
But there they were, down 20-15 with 5 minutes to go and the ball on their own 29. Plenty of time, plenty of timeouts, and plenty of ways to choke this thing away, but a strange thing happened. This team channeled its inner Joe Montana, and out Steelered the Steelers. 71 yards, 5 minutes, two 4th down conversions, a touchdown, a two point conversion and the immergence of Antoine Caldwell and Brian Leonard later, the Bengals were ahead 23-20. All while Big Ben sat helplessly on the sidelines.
But how did they even get to that point in a game that was dominated by the Steelers? If I were to script the absolute worst-case scenario for the start of the game I’d have said the Steelers would run effectively and dominate time of possession and the Bengals would commit stupid penalties to short-circuit drives. The Bengals would fall victim to a balanced Steeler offense picking up third downs at will, give up big plays trying to do too much, and be down two scores at the end of the first quarter. Check mark all of those.
13-0 after a quarter and change before the Bengals managed a first down. Willie Parker had scored his first receiving touchdown in a million years and rookie Mike Wallace looked like Jerry Rice. The only bright spot were two redzone stands by the defense to keep this game from total blowout.
After a promising second quarter drive got the Bengals to the Steeler 33, in typical fashion, a holding call kills the drive and yields no points. Then the Steelers did something they shouldn’t have done. After picking up two short third down conversions and driving to the Bengals 35, they showed that they had no respect whatsoever for the Bengals. The Steelers tried to convert on 4th and 4 and failed, after the Bengals finally showed a semblance of a pass rush. They gave the Bengals life.
The Bengals moved quickly back down the field, aided by a defensive penalty and got setup for a shot at a touchdown as the half wound down. In fine fashion, they mismanaged the clock, getting only one real shot at the endzone and had to settle for a field goal as the half ran out. At least they managed something out of nothing, something the Steelers shouldn’t have given them. 13-3 at the half was a merciful blessing the way they had played; it could’ve been 20-0 easily.
In hindsight, the second quarter showed that if the Bengals offense could avoid penalties they could move the ball on the Steelers. Pass protection, with the exception of one sack, had been good all half and the two-minute offense was particularly effective. (Don’t you love my sad attempt at foreshadowing?)
The Steelers came out in the second half with the ball, and immediately gave life to the Bengals a second time with a mixed-up route/pass combination to Santonio Holmes that was read, picked and cashed in for a touchdown by Jonathan Joseph. Holmes had a pretty bad day all around, while JJoe gutted out a solid performance on a bad ankle that kept him from cutting or running at top speed. 13-9 after another bad snap by St. Louis and a botched extra point attempt. (We all remember the failed field goal that would’ve beaten Denver. Can you believe this team is the Immaculate Deflection from 3-0?)
After a great return by Logan, the Steelers were setup well on the next drive but failed to convert a short third and four, going for the jugular instead. Limas Sweed had the game in his hands on a perfectly thrown ball to the endzone, and dropped it as he is becoming known for doing. Jonathan Joseph again struggled to keep up with his man on a bad wheel, and the Bengals got another lucky break. Mike Tomlin learned from his earlier mistake of going for a fourth down conversion at the same place in the first half, but overestimated Jeff Reed’s range. A missed field goal gave the Bengals good field position.
The Bengals could not; however, convert on a short 3rd and 1 after a questionable wide receiver screen was blown up by William Gay. The Bengals punted, again, and the Steelers showed the response of a defending champion on the next drive. Overcoming a holding penalty and a 3rd and 13, the drive was capped off by a one-yard sneak by Big Ben. At 20-9, and 3 minutes to go in the third, the game still appeared over.
The Bengals looked to be beaten when they failed to convert the next 3rd and 7, but for the second time this season, faked a punt and picked up the first down. Bob Bratkowski immediately followed this with fantastic play calling that resulted in a long field goal attempt. It had no shot, and it appeared the Bengals didn’t either.
But the Bengals defense didn’t give up at any point in the game, and that is noticeably different from years past. The defense rose to the challenge on the next two drives, and gave the team the chance to win. After a three and out, the Bengals moved quickly with two aggressive passes and a pass interference call that put them in Steeler territory. After giving up only the second sack of the game, and one that didn’t really hurt the down and distance, Palmer hit Coles for a 9 yard completion on 3rd and 2. The next play was the longest of the day for the Bengals, a huge run to the left for Benson with great blocks all the way down the field. It can’t be overstated how much of an improvement Caldwell and Coles are as blockers from past units. 20-15 after an ill-conceived two point conversion play with 9 minutes left.
The Bengals defense again rose to the challenge, aided by conservative play calling and the first sack of the game, to force the punt. Bengal ball, 5 minutes and change remaining. The rest is history as they say. As they had done all day, the O-line gave Palmer time and he threw laser beam passes to nearly every receiver on the field. Coles 4th and 2 conversion and Brian Leonard’s fantastic effort on 4th and 10 highlighted the drive we’ll all be talking about for a long time. Lost is a near touchdown on a beauty of a fade to Chad MuchoMoutho, but broken up on a fine play by Ike Taylor. In the end, I think the Steelers were spread out and worn down by two long drives in that 4th quarter, and were no match at the end for the spread formation from the 4. The Bengal receivers were better than the Steelers secondary in the end, and the pass rush never helped out enough to overcome it when they needed it most. 23-20 after a nice play call on the 2 point conversion to Leonard.
The Bengals defense bent all day, but came up huge on two of the three redzone trips by the Steelers. They were gashed early by the run game, but held together in the second half when it mattered most. After the first half, I would not have believed they would’ve kept Parker under 100 yards. I will not dole out too much credit though, as the Steelers did as much to beat themselves as anything the Bengals did to stop them. The decision to go on 4th and 4, the pick six, the Sweed drop, and the conservative play calling in the 4th quarter all went against the Steelers. Funny how the roles really did reverse. I do believe that if the Steelers had the ball at the end of the game, they would’ve done the same thing, but it was truly sweat to see their offense stuck on the sideline as Carson slammed that ball into Caldwell’s chest.
This was an ugly game where the Bengals were given plenty of chances to hang around by a better team. For once, they took advantage and had their best unit on the field when it mattered most. I didn’t believe they were going to win until Leonard picked up the first down, but they did it. As much as anything it does for the rest of the season, it gets the monkey off this team’s back and sends two divisional rivals in opposite directions.
Game balls go to the offensive line, Andre Caldwell and Jonathan Joseph. Caldwell not only had 50 yards and a touchdown receiving, but added 100 return yards.