After winning at home Sunday afternoon against the Atlanta Falcons, the Pittsburgh Steelers now enter Week 6 of the 2018 NFL regular season with a record of 2-2-1. The Steelers will next play the 4-1 Cincinnati Bengals in Week 6 and not surprisingly they opened Monday as a 3-point road consensus underdog, according to vegasinsider.com.
The Bengals, who currently lead the AFC North division, notched their fourth win of the 2018 regular season Sunday afternoon at home against the Miami Dolphins 27-17. The Bengals trailed in that game 17-0 at one point before scoring 27 unanswered points in the second half.
In the win, Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton completed 20 of his 30 total pass attempts in the game for 248 yards with one touchdown and one interception. His lone touchdown pass went to running back Joe Mixon from 18 yards out and in the fourth quarter.
Bengals wide receiver A.J. Green led his team in receiving Sunday against the Dolphins as he caught 6 passes for 112 yards. Fellow Bengals wide receiver Tyler Boyd chipped in 4 receptions for 44 yards.
The Bengals running game on Sunday was led by Mixon, who in addition to catching 3 passes for 22 yards against the Dolphins, also rushed for 93 yards on 22 total carries. It’s worth pointing out that the Bengals offense only converted 2 of their 11 total third down opportunities on Sunday against the Dolphins.
In addition to the Dalton to Mixon score sand two field goals by kicker Randy Bullock, the Bengals other scores came courtesy of their defense in the fourth quarter. The first of those two defensive scores was a 22-yard interception return by Bengals defensive end Michael Johnson with 11:43 left in the fourth quarter and the second one was a 19-yard fumble recovery and return by defensive end Sam Hubbard with 2:37 remaining.
Defensively for the Bengals on Sunday against the Dolphins, linebacker Nick Vigil led the unit in total tackles with 9 and fellow linebacker Vontaze Burfict recorded 7 in his 2018 debut. Defensive tackle Geno Atkins recorded two of the Bengals three sacks during the game and defensive end Carlos Dunlap had the other one. Atkins is now tied for the league lead in sacks with 6 entering Monday night.
The Bengals other three wins this season came against the Indianapolis Colts, Baltimore Ravens and Atlanta Falcons. Their lone loss came in Week 3 on the road against the Carolina Panthers. The Bengals have scored an average of 30.6 points per game so far this season while only having an average of 26 points per game scored against them.
The Steelers have won their last 6 games against the Bengals and 9 of their last 10. The last meeting between the two teams in Cincinnati ended in a 23-20 Steelers win. The Bengals led that contest 17-0 at one point during the first half and that was the game that Steelers linebacker Ryan Shazier suffered his serious spinal injury in. The last win by the Bengals over the Steelers came in 2015 in Pittsburgh and included quarterback Ben Roethlisberger throwing three interceptions in his first game back from a knee injury he had suffered earlier in the season.
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