Mike Tomlin quipped during his Tuesday press conference that experienced players are happy to have that tenure while inexperienced ones don’t think it’s a big deal.
I’m sure the Pittsburgh Steelers are glad they have that winning, playoff culture. It’s something the Cincinnati Bengals are still searching for.
The Steelers were the more penalized team. Some of them teetering on boneheaded. But in the game’s final – and biggest – moments, they didn’t unravel.
The Bengals? They fell apart quicker than a Mr. Potato Head.
“Cooler heads prevailed,” Ramon Foster summed up to reporters after the game.
Cincinnati has no one to blame but themselves for the loss. They had the ball with 1:36 left, in field goal range leading by a point. Then Jeremy Hill fumbled the ball way. The Steelers drove, inch by inch. And then Vontaze Burfict and Adam Jones did what they do – silly, selfish plays that hurt their team. Burfict recklessly tried to knock out Antonio Brown. Jones got into it with Joey Porter.
It put the Steelers in field goal range, a chance they wouldn’t squander.
“Tempers will flare, you know what has happened in the past, and it’s just about being disciplined in those meoms. We understood that. I thought for the most part, we kept our composure,” Cam Heyward said.
The Bengals were called for three personal fouls, including those two costly ones at the end of the game. The Steelers survived and advanced.
It’s what they do.
The Bengals head back home.
It’s what they do.
