Knee jerk reactions produce knee jerk results. The Pittsburgh Steelers defeated the Cincinnati Bengals by the score of 27-17.
The Steelers again claimed the bloodthirsty championship flag of the AFC North by capitalizing on timely miscues by the Bengals on Sunday night.
Defensively, two picks by Steelers cornerback Brice McCain were just part of the Bengals woes, along with Pittsburgh safety Antwon Blake strong-arming the football from Bengals wide receiver A.J. Green after a nice gain. That was not a fumble by Green, that was a “football felony,” pure and simple.
On the offensive side of the ball for Pittsburgh, the Bengals suffered the same fate that every other team had to face in regards to covering the elusive Antonio Brown. Brown ended up with 212 all-purpose yards, including a 71-yard punt return for a TD. In the second quarter, Martavis Bryant snatched a 21-yard pass from Ben Roethlisberger, like the fine tuned Maserati that he is, and zipped into the end zone before you could say, huh?
There even seemed to be some “dirty play” originating from one member of the Bengals’ defense. Steelers running back Le’Veon Bell hyperextended his right knee in the third quarter when Cincinnati safety Reggie Nelson hit Bell low at the end of a 19-yard reception. Pittsburgh coach Mike Tomlin seemed to be prepared to go “oops up side” Nelson’s dome after the game.
It appeared that if Bengals Head Coach Marvin Lewis and Steelers assistant coach Joey Porter had not intervened, Nelson might have had to schedule an appointment with Dr. Vinny “Boom-Boom” Mancini, the resident bone doctor and cracked jawbone specialist of the plasma soaked AFC North. You know how they do it in baseball. If a pitcher hits a player from one team, it is considered “punksville” if there is no type of retaliation. And, if the Bengals and Steelers however unlikely happen to hook up again during this postseason, Cincy running backs may want to purchase some extra insurance and keep a close eye, a very close eye on their kneecaps.
Everyone continues to repeat, over and over and over that the ultimate battle for AFC supremacy will more than likely be fought between the New England Patriots and the Denver Broncos but the end of season of the “pocket-back” may be nigh.
Defensive coordinators are no longer satisfied with “prevent” defenses that only prevent the team utilizing such a strategy from standing in the winner’s circle. The time for fearing “static” and immobile quarterbacks’, with so-called “superior football intellect” is past.
Patriots and Broncos QB’s Tom Brady and Peyton Manning, regardless of their greatness and football acumen cannot pick a defense apart if they are lying flat on their backs, now can they?
I predict that the AFC Championship will be held in Foxborough, Mass., between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the New England Patriots and unlike a few of their past encounters in this millennium, the Patriots will not be able to be victorious over the Steelers; primarily because the New England “illegal” video “spying and cheating department for all intents and purposes has been disbanded.
The flaws of QB Tom Brady will be uncovered, capitalized on and exploited. So there; that is my story and I am sticking to it.
This week, welcome back the Baltimore Ravens. Playoff notes: The AFC North will be “lights out” for the remainder of the AFC simply because it is the toughest division of the AFC.
(The source for this article was espn.com)
(Aubrey Bruce can be reached at: abruce@newpittsburghcourier.com or 412-583-6741. Follow him on Twitter@ultrascribe.)
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