Cincinnati Bengals vs. Pittsburgh Steelers
The NFL matchup of the week has to be the Bengals at the Steelers. Some might say Dallas at New York is a better game to watch, but I’m an AFC fan so I choose the AFC game. This is a must win game for the Steelers. The Bengals lead the division by a game with 5 games to go. The Steelers have lost 2 games in a row, but a win Sunday will put them in a tie for the division lead (with Pittsburgh owning the tie breaker).According to espn.com “Roethlisberger said Thursday his right thumb injury "is pretty painful," but he is hopeful it won't severely affect his throwing Sunday in a key AFC North game against the Cincinnati Bengals.” Roethlisberger probably wants this season to end now. He gets banged up week after week, yet still has compiled an 18-2 record in the regular season. He got torched last week against Indy and will not want to get embarrassed again.
Cincinnati should be able to throw all over Pittsburgh. I think their defense is over rated (for example, they were exposed last week by Indy on the first play of the game). Look for the Bengals to open it up in the air. Johnson might get shut down some, but TJ Houshmanzadeh will pick up the slack like he did last week with his 100+ yard 1 td performance.
This is a battle of the future star QBs of the NFL. Who will come out on top? My guess is Carson Palmer and the Bengals. The Steelers just seem to be playing bad ball at the wrong time. The Jags hold the wild card tie breaker over both Cincy and Pitt so it will likely come down to who wins the division. San Diego is playing to well right now, it is my opinion that they will take the 2nd Wild Card spot along side the Jags.
Prediction: Bengals 31 Steelers 20
posted by David Lithman at 10:54 AM
6 Comments:
Your knowledge of virtually every sport is a little intimidating. Nice.
If Roethlisberger can't put some zip on his ball then the Bengals secondary (who have quite a few picks) will be all over his receivers routes.
The thumb is a big part in the throwing motion. I wonder how it will affect his ability to throw.
The Steelers really need this game or they can kiss the division good bye. It's a home game and the Steelers defense limited the Cincy offense last time. I'll take the Steelers 27-24.
Is Roethlisberger really one of the future star QBs? I wouldn't put him in the same class as Palmer because he's had a much better running game and defense. Not saying that Big Ben hasn't been amazing winning games but I don't think he was as responsible for winning the games as Palmer has been for Cincy.
Looks like I was right with predicting the winner, just a little off with the score
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