Steelers wise not to look past Bengals

By Neal Coolong  |   Thursday, October 16, 2008  |  Comments( 2 )

Pittsburgh Steelers
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On paper, the Steelers hold every advantage in their Week 7 matchup with AFC North rival Cincinnati.

The Steelers run the ball better than the Bengals, they stop the run better and they aren't starting a quarterback named Ryan Fitzpatrick.

That's all on paper. The Steelers would be wise to remember that. On paper, the lowly Rams shouldn't have beaten the Redskins in Week 6. On paper, the Browns didn't have a prayer of putting the whipping on the defending champs the way they did on Monday night. There's no way, on paper, the winless Chiefs should have taken out the Broncos in Week 4.

This is a league of upsets, where the only paper that matters is the one mandating the docking of a player's paycheck. Pittsburgh at Cincinnati has all the makings of a letdown game for the AFC North-leading Steelers.

These are two teams very familiar with each other. It's the third showdown between Bengals coach Marvin Lewis and Steelers coach Mike Tomlin - Tomlin has won all three. Tomlin also had Bengals killer Willie Parker in his backfield all three of those games. He hasn't practiced since Monday, after aggravating his left knee injury that's kept him out of the past two games. While the Steelers used Mewelde Moore to slay the Jaguars in Week 5, that's one more game of film the Bengals get to find tendencies in a porous Pittsburgh ground game.

Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger has been highly effective so far this season, but he has 11 interceptions against Cincinnati in his career, throwing at least one in each of the past six games versus the Bengals. In two of those games, he threw three. Granted, the Steelers haven't lost at Paul Brown Stadium with Roethlisberger under center, but turnovers have a funny way of giving momentum to a team aching to earn its first victory in an aging season.

The Steelers (4-1) have more wins than the rest of the AFC North combined (Ravens two, Browns one, Bengals one), but injuries have piled up and the bye week may not have been long enough for them to get nose tackle Casey Hampton (groin) back. Moreover, the Bengals don't appear to be as far away from an upset win Sunday as most would think.

If the Steelers want to maintain a commanding lead over the division and win their eighth straight meaningful AFC North game, they'd better not be looking at the doughnut under the 'W' on the Bengals record; after all, Cincinnati could put a dent in the AFC North crown Pittsburgh currently wears.
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About Neal Coolong

Neal Coolong is a freelance sports writer with contributions to Scout.com, AOL and Steelers Live. He lives with his fiance in St. Paul, Minn., and saves every dime (that she knows about) for their wedding next June. He's already made the prediction that the Steelers 2007 draft class will be one ...
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