How much the Pittsburgh Steelers have to gain by beating the Bengals is yet to be determined. It hinges on the game that comes before, which will decide whether they can still win the AFC North. For Joey Porter Jr. and the rest of the locker room, though, there is more at stake—including reputation.
“I feel like we all want to get rid of that bad taste”, Teresa Varley quoted Porter as saying, via the Steelers’ website, about their three-game losing streak in which the defense has been a key issue. “Going into this, this is a very personal game for all of us. We’re taking the game very seriously, like every weekend”.
Of course, Porter also said that he takes “every game personal”, so make of it what you will. That does sound like his father’s son, though, always slighted and ready for redemption. “We are just trying to show everybody that we know how to play defense still”, he said.
It’s hard not to take it personally when you lose three games in a row in spectacular fashion. It’s all the more egregious when you were verging on contender status in the run-up to the fall. The Steelers could make excuses if they wanted to—Joey Porter Jr. missed most of two of those games—but it doesn’t change the circumstances they are now in.
For the finale, the Steelers have virtually a full deck or may. While Porter is returning after missing most of the past two games, Donte Jackson is questionable with a back injury. Any injury in the secondary will be a problem against a potent Bengals offense, so it could be a long day for the Steelers defensively if they don’t manage to clean up some of their recent issues.
From the Steelers’ perspective, that is kind of the point, though. The way they see it, they haven’t been playing Steelers football lately. They believe, as does Porter, that getting back to their brand of football will see them through.
Regardless of what happens on Saturday, the Steelers will play the following week. Whether they win or lose, they will most likely be a Wild Card team. If they win, and the Ravens win, they will definitely be the No. 3 seed. If they lose, they may fall to the No. 6 seed. And that could be the difference between playing the Texans and playing the Ravens in the first round.
You know if you asked Joey Porter Jr. if it mattered who they played in the first round, he would say that it doesn’t. But you also know it does—and we hear that from former players. Former Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger made it very clear they don’t want to play the Ravens right now.
