Within the Week 7 version of “Thursday Evening Soccer,” the Cincinnati Bengals play host to the division rival Pittsburgh Steelers.
Cincinnati has misplaced 4 in a row since beginning the season 2-0. The Bengals final week traded for Joe Flacco, who bought the beginning final week in opposition to the Inexperienced Bay Packers however wasn’t capable of pull Cincy out of its slide. They should begin stacking wins, rapidly, in the event that they need to salvage their season and nonetheless be in competition if and when Joe Burrow is ready to return to the lineup.
Pittsburgh, in the meantime, is driving excessive with a 4-1 report and sits atop the AFC North with a number of video games’ price of cushion. The Steelers got here out of their bye and relatively simply dispatched the Browns, they usually’re arrange right here to increase their division lead even additional. The schedule toughens up a bit after this, so it is essential to seize the victory earlier than that occurs.
Will the Steelers proceed to roll, or will the Bengals lastly get again within the win column? We’ll discover out quickly sufficient. However earlier than we break down the matchup, let’s check out how one can watch the sport.
The place to observe Bengals vs. Steelers dwell
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When the Steelers have the ball
Do you know that the Steelers are twenty ninth within the NFL in yards per sport? Look it up, it is true.
They’re 14th in scoring as a result of they’ve the third-best common beginning area place within the NFL and have not often turned the ball over (solely 5.7% of their possessions, per Professional-Soccer-Reference), however the underlying metrics on their offense aren’t all that encouraging.
They’re thirtieth in performs per drive and twenty eighth in yards per drive. They’re twenty second in success fee, through TruMedia, twentieth in damaging play fee and twenty fifth within the share of performs that gained 10 or extra yards. They’re twentieth in third-down conversion fee and do not go for it on fourth downs. They’ve solely kicked 9 whole area targets.
So how on earth are they scoring? A few of it’s simply the Jets sport in Week 1 skewing issues. They’ve scored a landing on simply 21.4% of their possessions over their final 4 video games after doing so on 4 of their 10 non-kneeling journeys within the opener. In addition they have 5 scoring drives (three of which resulted in touchdowns) that began in opposing territory.
And but! They’re about to play the Bengals, who might need the worst protection within the NFL, and could be with out their finest defensive participant in Trey Hendrickson. Cincinnati is thirty first in yards allowed per sport and thirtieth in factors allowed per sport. The Bengals are thirtieth in each EPA per play in opposition to and opponents’ success fee. Opponents have scored touchdowns on the league’s third-highest fee and punted on the Tenth-lowest. They do not do something nicely: They’re thirtieth in opposition to the cross and twenty fifth in opposition to the run.
In different phrases, this Steelers offense most likely does not should be good to be able to transfer the ball on Thursday evening. They simply have to not shoot themselves within the foot with turnovers, and that has been the single-biggest power of this offense this season. Aaron Rodgers nonetheless takes care of the ball, and that should not change in opposition to a protection that does not have a lot ammo relating to forcing takeaways.
Pittsburgh can get some stuff going with DK Metcalf within the passing sport, and everybody runs it with success in opposition to the Bengals, so Jaylen Warren and Kenneth Gainwell ought to have the ability to discover some operating room as nicely. The Steelers won’t mild up the scoreboard right here, however they’re additionally most likely not going to battle all that badly as a result of the Bengals do not power anybody to battle. A solid-ish offensive efficiency with a number of short-ish scoring drives appears doubtless.
When the Bengals have the ball
On the floor, it might sound as if Joe Flacco breathed some life into the Cincinnati offense provided that the Bengals have been inside one rating of the Packers for a quick time within the fourth quarter, however the actuality is that wasn’t actually the case.
The Bengals have been scoreless till the final 5 minutes of the third quarter. In addition they totaled simply 268 yards of offense. Flacco averaged a pathetic 4.9 yards per cross try and the speeding “assault” generated 55 yards on 16 carries. Cincinnati actually didn’t do a lot of something offensively and largely scored some garbage-time factors and by no means threatened to truly win the sport.
Nonetheless, it was a marked enchancment over earlier weeks with Jake Browning on the helm — largely as a result of Flacco managed to get out of the sport with none turnovers. However that is truly out of character for him. He threw six interceptions in his 4 begins for the Browns this season, seven in his six begins in Indianapolis final season and eight in his 5 begins for the Browns the 12 months earlier than. He’s a turnover machine. He simply occurred to not flip it over on Sunday.
The Steelers, in the meantime, have compelled turnovers on 18.4% of their opponents’ possessions, in accordance with Professional-Soccer-Reference. That is the third-highest turnover fee within the league. A few of that’s skewed by an unbelievable five-turnover efficiency by the Patriots, however additionally they compelled 5 whole turnovers of their three different pre-bye video games. They’re coming off their first sport of the season with out a takeaway, however Flacco is at all times ripe for an interception. It would not be shocking if the Steelers turned him over right here.
Will Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins have the ability to get theirs occasionally in opposition to Joey Porter Jr. and Darius Slay on the skin? Most likely. They’re that good, and Flacco has a powerful arm and is keen to fireside the ball to anyplace on the sphere. However Flacco can be a sitting duck within the pocket and can nonetheless be working behind one of many weakest offensive strains within the league. It is not going to be simple for the Bengals to maneuver the ball by means of the air.
Cincinnati, in the meantime, is only a dreadful speeding offense. Chase Brown is averaging 2.7 yards per keep it up the season. His runs are yielding solely 0.45 yards earlier than contact, on common, which ranks thirty fourth out of the 37 gamers with 50-plus carries this season. His yards after contact per carry common (2.28) truly ranks thirty sixth amongst that very same group of gamers, so it isn’t like he is doing a lot to beat the poor blocking he is getting up entrance. The Steelers are yielding 4.1 yards per carry, however the thought of the Bengals all of a sudden changing into a group that may efficiently run the ball appears exterior the realm of risk right here.
Prediction
Pittsburgh does not actually have the profile of a 5-1 group given the expertise stage on either side of the ball, however the schedule has damaged in such a manner that it seems like it may occur. (The Steelers bought the Jets in Week 1, the Carson Wentz-led Vikings in Week 4, the Browns in Week 6 and now the Burrow-less Bengals in Week 7.) The Bengals haven’t got sufficient juice on both aspect of the ball to tug off the upset right here.
Prediction: Steelers 21, Bengals 16
