“The jig is up, the news is out, they’ve finally found me”
Practice how you play. That’s the sound the Cincinnati Bengals are going to hear this weekend. And it’s the sound they heard throughout the week. Looking for revenge following their Week One loss, the Bengals are gearing up to come to Pittsburgh to take on the Steelers in a critical AFC North matchup for both teams. Cincinnati’s coaching staff isn’t just preparing for T.J. Watt, Cam Heyward, and Pat Freiermuth. They’re also preparing for the music.
According to this recent Bengals’ report, the coaches played Pittsburgh’s unofficial ‘Renegade’ anthem in team meetings throughout the week.
You can hear players like safety Jesse Bates talk about it here via the Bengals’ team site.
“All you hear is that blaring in our team meeting. So we know what week it is,” Bates told reporters.
Bates went on to say this isn’t the first time the coaching staff has “greeted” their players with the song and that he has plenty of respect for Steelers’ Nation.
As virtually every fan knows, ‘Renegade’ is the song played in the fourth quarter of a tight game when the defense needs a big stop. It proved effective last weekend. After it blared, CB Levi Wallace picked off Andy Dalton for the game-sealing INT. New Orleans never got the ball back as Pittsburgh drained the final 4:30 minutes to secure victory.
Sunday’s game between the Steelers and Bengals means plenty for both teams. Cincinnati is a shocking 0-3 in the AFC North this season. Not only would a loss continue that winless streak, it would drop them to 5-5 and make it awfully hard to compete for the division title. For Pittsburgh, there’s a world of difference between a team that’s 4-6 versus one that’s 3-7. Since the league moved to a 16-game schedule, only one team has ever made the playoffs after starting 3-7, the 2020 Washington Football Team who won the NFC Least at 7-9. But over 7% of the teams who started 4-6 made it into the postseason. Still long odds but a far greater mathematical chance.
Pittsburgh is looking for their first home win against the Bengals since 2020 when they blew them out 36-10 en route to an 11-0 start. They lost last year’s contest 24-10. Though there’s been more blowouts in recent years, odds are this is going to be a close game. One that’s won in the final five minutes. And when the Bengals get the ball, you’re only going to hear two things.
– A screaming Steelers’ Nation
– “Oh mama, I’m in fear for my life from the long arm of the law”
