The Pittsburgh Steelers will face the Cincinnati Bengals for the first time this season on Sunday, warts and all on both sides. Collectively, the two AFC North rivals have more problems than Frank Costanza on Festivus. While the Bengals are in better shape offensively, they have much bigger problems on defense. They can’t even count on each other in the secondary.
And that’s not me saying it; that is what the Bengals are saying. Part of that is just the nature of attrition, as they have had some injuries that have forced lineup changes. But you rarely hear professionals talk like S Geno Stone about his teammates. At least on good teams.
“I look at who’s on the field with me and then what side of the field I could trust”, Stone said via Ben Baby of ESPN. “Now I know if I know this guy has been winning consistently, I could lean the other way while I’m playing the post”.
The Bengals opened the season with Dax Hill and Cam Taylor-Britt at cornerback, Smith and Vonn Bell at safety, and former Steelers CB Mike Hilton in the slot. Hill suffered a season-ending injury in Week 5, however, and the Bengals benched Taylor-Britt for his play.
Replacing him was DJ Turner until he went down injured as well. The Bengals, meanwhile, have rotated Bell with Jordan Battle. Only Hilton and Stone, expatriates of other AFC North squads, have maintained a consistent presence.
Baby spoke to the Bengals’ longest-tenured coach, special teams coordinator Darrin Simmons. He called consistency the “ultimate thing” in football, and the turnover this year has prevented that. “If that’s a revolving door, then you never develop consistency”, he said. “You never develop that trust, so that they’re all seeing it the same way all the time”.
That’s why you have a starting safety in the NFL like Geno Stone talking to reporters about feeling like he had to decide who he can trust and who he can’t before every snap. Normally, players will just claim to trust everybody or make generalized comments. “We need to trust each other”. But not in Bengals country. No, they’ll come out and tell you.
Coming off of their bye, the Bengals have a lot to answer for. Otherwise considered a Super Bowl contender, their defense has essentially lost them the season. Barring a miraculous comeback and some good fortune, they have no shot of making the postseason.
But they can certainly put a damper on the Steelers’ season, playing them twice more. The Steelers are coming off a loss to the Browns, which cost them control over their playoff seeding. The Bengals would love to be in their position, of course, either in the standings or the stability of their secondary.
