Full Pittsburgh Steelers Midseason Awards

The Bengals are 7-0 for the first time in their history and have a comfortable lead in their division. Bell twisted his knee when he was tackled in the second quarter and was carted off the field.

He hyperextended the knee in the final regular-season game of 2014 when he was tackled low by safety Reggie Nelson. He led the Steelers on a touchdown drive to open the game, but Pittsburgh managed only a field goal the rest of the way. The Steelers tweaked their front seven after the Chiefs game.

“I’m pretty sore, pretty beat up, I’m not going to lie”, Roethlisberger said.

It’s a potentially, if not likely, devastating blow for the Steelers. He contacted the running back with a clean, form tackle at the Bengals’ 44. The Steelers defense was the bright spot in this game for the Steelers.

Quarterback Alex Smith amassed 78 yards on the ground, including a 49-yard dash in the second quarter and a touchdown run from 11 yards out. James Harrison put forth another solid effort, and Ryan Shazier finished his second game without an injury. “When I talk to you guys at the beginning of the season everyone always asks: What’s the key to the season?” He’s not just a teammate. “I think he’s meeting with the team of doctors and our medical staff maybe this afternoon or tomorrow morning”.

“We went down the field on the opening drive just fine”, he said.

Now the Steelers will turn to Williams to fill the void.

Bell is the Steelers best offensive weapon, but without him and with the lost weeks with Roethlisbereger, the Steelers are going to be battling uphill this entire season and things won’t be any easier. But Williams is no Bell. By halftime, Bell was in the locker room and the Steelers were scrambling. Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said Bell will have an MRI on Monday to reveal the severity. “So they did lose a little bit of that dimension”. He is without a doubt the most important piece to the offense. “This one is on me”, he said.

But if Roethlisberger is starting to feel as if this is one of those rotten seasons, it’s hard to blame him. That injury helped Burfict log 35 snaps on his surgically repaired knee. Throw in all of the injuries to the defensive players. The Steelers (4-4) are right behind them and can vault the Raiders this week when they visit Heinz Field. The bad news is that they’ve lost two out of their last three games with their lone victory, an uninspiring 10-7 win against a 1-6 Tennessee Titans squad.

Burfict’s early impact set the tone for the Bengals on defense, giving the team energy and motivation to stay tenacious throughout the game. Quarterback Josh McCown, 36, had three TD passes.

Bell was averaging more than 100 yards rushing per game this season entering Sunday’s game, sitting at 556 yards on 113 carries at the time of what appears to be a season-ending injury.

Cornerbacks: a few fans may believe Ross Cockrell and Antwon Blake did not play as well as they should to go hand-in-hand with William Gay on the other side, but keep in mind, across the line of scrimmage were a few pretty good receivers.

The gang was back together again for about 20 minutes on Sunday.

“We have to find a way to get the job done”, wide receiver Antonio Brown said.