Dalton’s injury a bad blow at playoff time — FANTASY PLAYS

Linebacker Vontaze Burfict went to the locker room and was evaluated for a head injury in the second half.

Not only did the loss cost the Bengals (10-3) the top seed to the Patriots, who improved to 11-2 with a rout of the Texans, but Cincinnati suddenly also must worry about salvaging the AFC North. The Steelers have won four of their past five to improve to 8-5 and are now just two games behind the Bengals with three games to play. Tight end Heath Miller and receiver Antonio Brown combined for 17 catches and 153 yards.

This mountain of a man turned out to be Defensive End Stephon Tuitt. “They know what’s at stake”, Kirkpatrick said. “It’s not a UFC fight”. It was a big football game.

The Bengals shouldn’t really be afraid of anyone on their AFC schedule.

“You definitely don’t worry when you have those guys out there”, McCarron said. “No team can intimidate us”.

“We’re a professional football team”, he said.

Is that what happened Sunday? They put a 33-20 beating on “em”. He can lead a team to the Championship and win it too. They dominated from start to finish. “That’s how we like to play”.

“We got positive news, basically, on the quarterback today”, Lewis said. “You’ve got to play with your pads”, he growled.

Bengals backup AJ McCarron finished the game on Sunday after Dalton went down in the first quarter.

Andy Dalton’s right hand is in a cast.

Dalton had been the Bengals’ iron man. He hadn’t been sidelined because of injury in the NFL.

But don’t let that detract from the Steelers’ solid defensive effort. He won’t be the first or last quarterback to dive into a stupid tackle, but he did on Sunday, and now Bengals fans are about to pay the price for it. Sunday against the Steelers, the Alabama product completed 22 of his 32 pass attempts in the game for 280 yards with 2 touchdowns and 2 interceptions in relief of Dalton. They had two interceptions in last week’s win over the Colts. The Bengals rushed for just 64 yards. Teams that are 10-3 like Cincinnati and Denver want them on the field only in case of an emergency. “You know, we seem to attract that type of atmosphere”.

Tuitt’s interception might have been the most important play. The Steelers picked off the Bengals three times, including taking one back for touchdown. He then attempted a screen pass to his left to his shifty Running Back Giovani Bernard. “The way I reacted is the way I reacted from how we did in practice”. I reacted, as I should have. He had an appointment with a specialist on Monday who recommended that the fracture could heal without surgery.

“Basically we’ll go week to week with things”, coach Marvin Lewis said.

Where does Heath Miller rank among the best TEs ever? Roethlisberger didn’t have a TD pass against the Bengals, but he helped the Steelers convert 8 of 14 third-down conversions. Heyward is a star. DeAngelo Williams ran for a pair of touchdowns, and Chris Boswell made field goals from 42, 47, 45 and 31 yards.

Despite all that, quarterback Ben Roethlisberger believes the offense can do better. We’ve just got a little different leader right now and that’s OK. “To win a Super Bowl you have to have luck on your side”. “It’s not like we’re No. 1 in the AFC”. “We’ll continue as is”.

– Unbeaten Carolina’s Jonathan Stewart (left foot) and Greg Olsen (left knee) had scares in the rout of Atlanta, but AP Charlotte sports writer Steve Reed reported that coach Ron Rivera said both could’ve returned to the game.

“Not yet. Not yet”, Heyward said.

“If this is our best game we’re in the wrong league”.

It was a nice thought to end an otherwise nasty day.