When the Pittsburgh Steelers host the Cincinnati Bengals on Saturday night, it will be a rematch of the Steelers’ highest-scoring game this season. When the two teams met in Cincinnati, the final score was 44-38 in favor of the Steelers.
Despite the Steelers allowing the most points they’ve allowed all season, the defense still made some key plays. They forced three turnovers, including LB Payton Wilson returning a fumble for a touchdown. So Bengals QB Joe Burrow knows that even though his offense was able to score points, the Steelers’ defense will cause problems.
“They’re gonna make plays on defense,” said Burrow during his Thursday press conference per video from the Bengals’ X/Twitter account. “We’ve had some success with them against them throwing the ball. But when you have T.J. Watt and Minkah and everybody on that front, they’re gonna make plays. They’re gonna cause turnovers, and there’s sometimes there’s not a lot that you can do about that. And it’s just about staying focused, moving on to the next play, and trying to execute each play to the best of your ability.”
On paper, it’s a matchup of each team’s strengths. Burrow is having an incredible year despite the Bengals’ record. He’s completing 69.8 percent of his passes for 6,481 yards and 42 touchdowns with only eight interceptions. And three of those touchdowns came against the Steelers in Week 13.
On the other side of the line of scrimmage? The Steelers’ defense is still the seventh-best scoring defense in the NFL. They allow 20.5 points per game. They are also first in the league in terms of turnovers with 31. Hence, Burrow is saying that they’ll make plays. And he’s definitely been on the receiving end of some of those plays in Pittsburgh before.
“We played there in 2022, and TJ Watt jumped up, caught my ball on a choice route, and then got slammed, and I threw a pick,” Burrow said. “And then another time they, I was throwing a curl route, and somebody jumped up and tipped it at the line of scrimmage, and I threw another pick. And there’s just nothing you can do about that. They have great players on defense that are gonna make plays. You just gotta go out and make more.”
The Bengals are on a four-game winning streak since they lost to the Steelers, while the Steelers are on a three-game losing streak. However, records go out the window when it comes to divisional matchups.
The Steelers certainly would love to replicate the results from facing the Bengals earlier this season. However, the final result will depend on which team makes more plays because the Steelers and Bengals will make things happen no matter who has the ball.
