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3 winners and 8 losers in Bengals’ ugly 36-10 loss to Stealers

A degrading and humiliating performance from the orange and black.

By John Sheeran@John__Sheeran  Nov 15, 2020, 7:49pm EST 
 
 

In a year when the unexpected has reigned supreme, nothing has changed in the relationship between the Cincinnati Bengals and Pittsburgh Stealers.

To call this matchup a rivalry is disrespectful to actual rivalries. The Bengals’ latest feeble attempt to take down their Ohio River neighbors ended in a 36-10 slaughtering in which all three units looked completely overmatched. 

A few players played decently for the visiting team, but this week’s winners and losers feature more bad than good. 

Winners

Tee Higgins: Just as the Bengals’ offense was starting to move the ball, Higgins put the ball on the ground at the end of the first quarter. He followed his first career fumble with a 54-yard reception and a fourth-down touchdown on the very next drive. Higgins finished the game with 115 yards on seven catches and would’ve had more if Joe Burrow hadn’t missed him on a deep ball early in the third quarter.

Hakeem Adeniji and Quinton Spain: The Bengals’ starting offensive line wasn’t revealed until the offense took the field for the first time, and it featured Adeniji at left tackle and Spain at right tackle. It was Adeniji’s second-career start and the first time Spain had played tackle since his college days, and both played fairly well against a great Stealers’ pass rush. 

Losers

Vonn Bell: Two of Ben Roethlisberger’s touchdowns targeted the Bengals’ strong safety in coverage. Bell also fell down when covering Eric Ebron on a third down that extended one of the drives that ended in one of those touchdowns. Whenever Bell has been forced to play deep coverage, the results have not been pretty.

Tony Brown: Injuries forced Brown onto the field on Sunday, and he looked like a cornerback that hadn’t played all year. He had a bad missed tackle on Diontae Johnson’s first quarter touchdown and allowed a third-and-10 catch and conversion to Chase Claypool later in the game. There were some vertical routes that Brown covered well, but he made too many mistakes for someone who started the whole game to make. 

William Jackson III: The Bengals needed a dominant performance from Jackson, and he did not deliver. Jackson was burned deep by Diontae Johnson for 46 yards and the first big play of the game. That deep shot was immediately followed by the game’s first touchdown and put the Bengals down 12-0 before the first quarter concluded. Jackson was later called for pass interference in the red zone on a drive that ended in a touchdown. 

Alex Redmond: The Bengals wanted Redmond starting at right guard for continuity purposes, and they got a classic Redmond performance. His critical holding penalty on a second-and-short paved the way for Burrow to get sacked on third-and-12 in the second quarter. Later in the period, he was late to recognize a T.J. Watt stunt and allowed a sack of his own. 

Alex Erickson: It was an abysmal day for the Bengals’ punt returner. Erickson fumbled at the end of his first punt return, which allowed the Stealers to score the first points of the game. He made bad judgement calls when deciding whether to call for a fair catch or not the entire game. This was a performance that gets you fired. 

A.J. Green: So much for that temporary revival in October. Green’s catch-less day fit the theme of his 10th season much more than how he looked in the previous three weeks. 

Darrin Simmons: The fake punt was fun, but before five minutes came off of the game clock, the Bengals had a fumbled punt return, a fumbled kickoff return that was mercifully called a touchback, and a delay of game penalty on a punt. Simmons is just as responsible for the unit being unprepared as the players are for the sloppy play.

Zac Taylor: Why was Joe Burrow in the game that late? Burrow originally hurt his ankle right before halftime and looked off ever since. For Taylor to leave Burrow in late in the fourth quarter was terribly irresponsible and Burrow hurt his ankle again long after the game was decided. 

And then Burrow CAME BACK INTO THE GAME FOR THE FINAL DRIVE. If anything happens to the Bengals’ franchise quarterback, there is nothing standing in the way of Taylor facing the appropriate consequences. 

 

 

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25 minutes ago, Jamie_B said:

 

 

What is the Saint's cap space?

 

Allegedly $6M.  Bell's hit $5M. 

 

Bengals cap space is allegedly $9M. 

 

Worst thing about Bell is his cap hit goes up the next two years.

 

Surely NO saw Bell and a declining player who wanted more money than he was worth.

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2 minutes ago, UncleEarl said:

 

Allegedly $6M.  Bell's hit $5M. 

 

Bengals cap space is allegedly $9M. 

 

Worst thing about Bell is his cap hit goes up the next two years.

 

Surely NO saw Bell and a declining player who wanted more money than he was worth.

 

 

I guess all we can do is hope he improves with time in the system, but man I've been disappointed.

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1 hour ago, SF2 said:

Hurt his neck a few weeks ago.  

Yeah, I know.  But he didn't appear on the inactive list.

I guess they did not have to have him on it and just held him out of the game.

Some sort of mind game to make the Squeels think he would be in there.

You know, strike fear into their hearts.

Whatever, good to see iji get some real time game experience vs the toughest

and dirtiest line he will see.  Trial by fire.

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1 hour ago, Jamie_B said:

Vonn Bell has been a huge disappointment

Bynes perhaps more so.  He joins the long list of Land of the Lost Linebackers... Kevin Minter, Preston Brown, A.J. Hawk... and the beat goes on.  As, indeed, he will go on to his life's work after this season.

45 minutes ago, Jamie_B said:

 

 

What is the Saint's cap space?

More like crap space.

I can't even call it good scouting and game planning that Ben threw at him and camp fodder Brown all day.

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We all know this team isn't good enough to beat the Stealers on the road in normal circumstances while committing bad turnovers. But playing with another make-shift line, down four coaches, down almost the entire CB room, and down Mixon - well, in that circumstance you CANNOT fumble the ball like Erickson did to start the game nor lose it like Higgins did later in the first quarter. You just can't. The Erickson one really pisses me off - because he let it affect him the rest of the game too. He was terrible receiving punts all day.

The frustrating thing, as usual, for me as a Bengals fan, is to watch seemingly every break and refs call go Pittsburgh's way. No PI in the first series against Pittsburgh, but PI against Jackson for similar contact. Ben goes down like he's been shot when Hubbard was blocked into him and did everything he could not to hit him at all (and really did spare Roeth) and that gets a flag while Burrow gets shoved out of bounds into the benches and hurts his ankle at end of first half and no call. That Higgins was not ruled forward progress stopped and that fumble allowed while Pittsburgh's fumble was ruled forward progress stopped. Oh, and at least five balls tipped and floating in the Bengals secondary that found turf and did not turn into interceptions.

And, then, on the team, they didn't make plays when they could have. Bates should have had a pick 6 to make it 22-14. He doesn't bring it in. Burrow missed Higgins to start second half. They had about five chances to get to Roeth and missed each one.

All of that in a blender and you get beat 36-10. I don't know what changes it. I keep thinking it can't keep happening, and it keeps happening.

I still think we beat them in December.

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We should win our next two, I think we have a pretty good chance against the Dolphins, but I just don't think we have the talent on the team to beat the top end teams yet. I will say i agree with Vilma yesterday saying in our division you have to be able to run and stop the run and we don't do either particularly well. We at least have the talent at RB to do better but not the O-line. Same on D.

 

This team needs to address both lines this coming offseason.

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AJ Green was held without a catch even without Joe Haden covering him most of the day.

That says a lot.

He also ran the same route as Tyler Boyd when TB running a slant on a 3rd down conversion.

AJ just seems not to have confidence anymore with his hands or feet.

It's a shame because he is one of my favorite Bengals behind Chad and Houshmanzadeh.

 

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2 hours ago, membengal said:

We all know this team isn't good enough to beat the Stealers on the road in normal circumstances while committing bad turnovers. But playing with another make-shift line, down four coaches, down almost the entire CB room, and down Mixon - well, in that circumstance you CANNOT fumble the ball like Erickson did to start the game nor lose it like Higgins did later in the first quarter. You just can't. The Erickson one really pisses me off - because he let it affect him the rest of the game too. He was terrible receiving punts all day.

The frustrating thing, as usual, for me as a Bengals fan, is to watch seemingly every break and refs call go Pittsburgh's way. No PI in the first series against Pittsburgh, but PI against Jackson for similar contact. Ben goes down like he's been shot when Hubbard was blocked into him and did everything he could not to hit him at all (and really did spare Roeth) and that gets a flag while Burrow gets shoved out of bounds into the benches and hurts his ankle at end of first half and no call. That Higgins was not ruled forward progress stopped and that fumble allowed while Pittsburgh's fumble was ruled forward progress stopped. Oh, and at least five balls tipped and floating in the Bengals secondary that found turf and did not turn into interceptions.

And, then, on the team, they didn't make plays when they could have. Bates should have had a pick 6 to make it 22-14. He doesn't bring it in. Burrow missed Higgins to start second half. They had about five chances to get to Roeth and missed each one.

All of that in a blender and you get beat 36-10. I don't know what changes it. I keep thinking it can't keep happening, and it keeps happening.

I still think we beat them in December.

Agree with all you said (as usual)

I also questioned the Tate (I think) out of bounds call that Zac challenged and lost.

I thought the replay shoed green turf kicked up by his right foot.  No way that could have happened

if his foot had not been inbounds to dislodge it.  I also thought if it had been Jar Jar Binks Shrimper and

Tomlin threw his red rag, it would have been overturned or not even called out in the first place.

 

To be fair, I thought Brandon Wilson's abominably mishandled kick off that went into the end zone

should have been a safety and he was darned lucky it wasn't worse.

Couldn't believe it when it was called a touchback.

I'm surprised Tomlin didn't have Rothlisburger's baby on the sidelines ripping the ref.

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51 minutes ago, SmoothD said:

AJ Green was held without a catch even without Joe Haden covering him most of the day.

That says a lot.

He also ran the same route as Tyler Boyd when TB running a slant on a 3rd down conversion.

AJ just seems not to have confidence anymore with his hands or feet.

It's a shame because he is one of my favorite Bengals behind Chad and Houshmanzadeh.

 

 I like AJ.  But he is making a hell of a lot more money being franchised here than he would have received on the open market.

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2 hours ago, Jamie_B said:

We should win our next two, I think we have a pretty good chance against the Dolphins, but I just don't think we have the talent on the team to beat the top end teams yet. I will say i agree with Vilma yesterday saying in our division you have to be able to run and stop the run and we don't do either particularly well. We at least have the talent at RB to do better but not the O-line. Same on D.

 

This team needs to address both lines this coming offseason.

I thought Vilma's head was so far up Tuba's ass he knew what he had for breakfast.

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4 minutes ago, High School Harry said:

Agree with all you said (as usual)

I also questioned the Tate (I think) out of bounds call that Zac challenged and lost.

I thought the replay shoed green turf kicked up by his right foot.  No way that could have happened

if his foot had not been inbounds to dislodge it.  I also thought if it had been Jar Jar Binks Shrimper and

Tomlin threw his red rag, it would have been overturned or not even called out in the first place.

 

To be fair, I thought Brandon Wilson's abominably mishandled kick off that went into the end zone

should have been a safety and he was darned lucky it wasn't worse.

Couldn't believe it when it was called a touchback.

I'm surprised Tomlin didn't have Rothlisburger's baby on the sidelines ripping the ref.

That was Boyd and it was clearly a catch.

Even the announcers said it.

Can someone tell me why Brandon Phillips only returns kickoffs and not return punts?

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GOOD

Tee Higgins-Another solid game by this kid who is turning out to be a terrific selection. He reminds me a lot of young AJ.

 

Offensive Line (Not You, Redmond)-Other than Redmond, these guys did pretty well. This is a super patchwork line and for the most part, they allowed opportunities in the run game and gave Burrow enough time. The majority of the four sacks came late in the game in obvious passing situations. The Stealers are one of the best defenses in the league including #1 in sacks and I felt this group did all that I could ask for.

 

Running Backs-Played solid. Ran the ball well and did their job in pass blocking. I'd like to see more Trayveon Williams next week if Mixon can't go.

 

Run Defense-Great job here. Did what they needed to on the ground. Too bad they sucked in every other facet.

 

Jessie Bates-He probably should have picked off that pass but, he is the one bright spot in a dreadful secondary. Yes, I'm looking at you William Jackson. That pass he knocked down in the first half was lights out.

 

BAD

2nd Half Joe Burrow-First time he hasn't been on my "Good" list and in the second half, it was bad. By my count he was 5 for 15 for 31 yards. He looked like terrible in his decision making and precision. He noted in his post game interview that he super sucked in the second half and he was right.

 

Injuries-We might not be the worst team but man, is this team beat to shit right now. The secondary, offensive line and defensive line are all a mess.

 

Where Did Our Veterans Go?!?-Maybe good riddance but, AJ Green and Geno Atkins who are supposed to be veteran cornerstones of this team have been all but invisible this year. The two of them are getting paid $32 million this season. Yesterday, AJ was targeted 5 times for zero catches. Woof.  

 

Pass Rush-The Bengals have had 1 sack in the past three games and it was apparently caused by a mistake. They let that bloated fat fuck stand back there and throw all day. Both lines require significant and aggressive focus in free agency and the draft.

 

William Jackson-You're typically a favourite of mine but you've been gah-bage lately. Are you another veteran who doesn't want to be here? Then pack your shit and go.

 

UGLY

Zac Taylor-Joe Burrow being on the field, hobbled, late in an unwinnable game was idiotic. The play calling was the shits, too. He needs to be done here as the coach. The remainder of the staff can go, too.

 

Alex Erickson-Nice job doing the only thing you're supposed to be good at, ball security. Get rid of him. He adds nothing. Let Brandon Wilson return punts and kicks.

 

Alex Redmond-This guy has to go. Junk. They need to have Williams, Adeniji, Spain and (can't believe I am going to say it) Hart out there. That penalty was inexcusable.

 

Balls-This team has none and hasn't since 2015. They play the Stealers scared and it's embarrassing. So many mental gaffes and miscues all the while looking terrified of these fucksticks.  

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22 minutes ago, SmoothD said:

That was Boyd and it was clearly a catch.

Even the announcers said it.

Can someone tell me why Brandon Phillips only returns kickoffs and not return punts?

Alex Errickson has averaged 7.7 a return for the past 2 seasons..

He had a good year or two then descended into a bad returner..

Yes it's time for Wilson ..

Erricksons last year with the team im thinking..

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6 minutes ago, BengalFanInTO said:

GOOD

Tee Higgins-Another solid game by this kid who is turning out to be a terrific selection. He reminds me a lot of young AJ.

 

Offensive Line (Not You, Redmond)-Other than Redmond, these guys did pretty well. This is a super patchwork line and for the most part, they allowed opportunities in the run game and gave Burrow enough time. The majority of the four sacks came late in the game in obvious passing situations. The Stealers are one of the best defenses in the league including #1 in sacks and I felt this group did all that I could ask for.

 

Running Backs-Played solid. Ran the ball well and did their job in pass blocking. I'd like to see more Trayveon Williams next week if Mixon can't go.

 

Run Defense-Great job here. Did what they needed to on the ground. Too bad they sucked in every other facet.

 

Jessie Bates-He probably should have picked off that pass but, he is the one bright spot in a dreadful secondary. Yes, I'm looking at you William Jackson. That pass he knocked down in the first half was lights out.

 

BAD

2nd Half Joe Burrow-First time he hasn't been on my "Good" list and in the second half, it was bad. By my count he was 5 for 15 for 31 yards. He looked like terrible in his decision making and precision. He noted in his post game interview that he super sucked in the second half and he was right.

 

Injuries-We might not be the worst team but man, is this team beat to shit right now. The secondary, offensive line and defensive line are all a mess.

 

Where Did Our Veterans Go?!?-Maybe good riddance but, AJ Green and Geno Atkins who are supposed to be veteran cornerstones of this team have been all but invisible this year. The two of them are getting paid $32 million this season. Yesterday, AJ was targeted 5 times for zero catches. Woof.  

 

Pass Rush-The Bengals have had 1 sack in the past three games and it was apparently caused by a mistake. They let that bloated fat fuck stand back there and throw all day. Both lines require significant and aggressive focus in free agency and the draft.

 

William Jackson-You're typically a favourite of mine but you've been gah-bage lately. Are you another veteran who doesn't want to be here? Then pack your shit and go.

 

UGLY

Zac Taylor-Joe Burrow being on the field, hobbled, late in an unwinnable game was idiotic. The play calling was the shits, too. He needs to be done here as the coach. The remainder of the staff can go, too.

 

Alex Erickson-Nice job doing the only thing you're supposed to be good at, ball security. Get rid of him. He adds nothing. Let Brandon Wilson return punts and kicks.

 

Alex Redmond-This guy has to go. Junk. They need to have Williams, Adeniji, Spain and (can't believe I am going to say it) Hart out there. That penalty was inexcusable.

 

Balls-This team has none and hasn't since 2015. They play the Stealers scared and it's embarrassing. So many mental gaffes and miscues all the while looking terrified of these fucksticks.  

You nailed it..

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Oh, and anyone that doesn't believe this team needs a significant upgrade at TE and that the position is a "luxury" hasn't been watching football, and specifically the Bengals, this season. Joe Burrow needs a quality TE to play the kind of football he is capable of. That play where Drew Sample tried to catch that dump off lob was so comical.

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