Brief Pre-Game Scuffle Between Steelers and Bengals

Andy Dalton has two great options at tailback in Giovanni Bernard and Jeremy Hill; he’s also throwing to nice options in A.J. Green, Marvin Jones and tight end Tyler Eifert.

” The Bengals have played more games against the Steelers than any other team with 91 and that includes the 2005 Wild Card Game won by Pittsburgh in a season the clubs split the season series. For this team to win, it typically takes close to 30 points in a game and I think there is no reason to believe that won’t be the case again in Cincinnati this week.

“It’s one of those matchups that the more we play them, the more we don’t like them and the games get more intense”, Steelers linebacker Ryan Shazier said Friday after practice. Cincinnati has a 10-2 record for the year. Indeed, even if Pittsburgh wins this one, its chances of surpassing Cincinnati are not strong.

“It’s obvious we don’t like them”, Gilbert said. Behind them are the Steelers with a 7-5 standing.

Taking this into consideration, maybe this game should be billed as one that pits America’s team versus Europe’s team.

Particularly if the Steelers can postpone Cincinnati’s celebration at least a week.

There certainly won’t be any love lost between the pair with accusations of cheap shots floating around during recent encounters while a mid-December showdown between two divisional rivals with plenty at stake invariably means tension gets in the way of some free-flowing football.

“I’d love to shake LeSean’s hand”, Kelly said on a conference call, adding that he had tried to call McCoy after the trade.

As Roethlisberger struggled to find top gear after injury in that last encounter, Cincinnati’s sluggish offensive display was seemingly down to a lack of sharpness following the bye week and both issues probably contributed to a stop-start contest and just 26 total points.

HAPPY RETURNS: The Steelers are done experimenting in their return game. They are trying to get a win over the Bengals before they play their last home game of the regular season against the Denver Broncos. The Ohio native tossed four scoring strikes last week as Pittsburgh breezed to a convincing 45-10 rout of Indianapolis. Both Leon Hall (back) and Dre Kirkpatrick (knee) appear set to return to the field against the Steelers, so it remains to be seen who might take over as the third cornerback should Jones eventually wind up on the inactive list. It was evident most when Antonio Brown returned a punt for a touchdown against the Colts, and jumped on the goal post padding.