NFL Week 3 Primer: Cincinnati Bengals (1-1) at Pittsburgh Steelers (1-1)

The Cincinnati Bengals are hitting the road to take on the Pittsburgh Steelers. The last time these teams met former Bengals quarterback (and current Cincinnati hero) Ryan Finley ran for an upset win on Monday Night Football. Now they are matching up for an important divisional matchup while every AFC North team is sitting at (1-1).

The Bengals had a rough Week 2 after starting off the season with a win. Cincinnati looked like they were out coached as Joe Burrow and the offense couldn’t get going against a defense that was sitting on their conservative game plan.

Meanwhile, the Steelers are coming off a similar situation of falling in Week 2. They fell victim to the Los Angeles Raiders at home. Ben Roethlisberger and the Pittsburgh offense just couldn’t keep up in that matchup where the longtime Steeler quarterback looked out of sync for most of the matchup.

Which team will be able to take advantage of this opportunity to climb up in the division standings?

Everything you need to know for when the Bengals take on the Steelers:

Game: Cincinnati Bengals (1-1) at Pittsburgh Steelers (1-1)

Date/Time: Sep. 26th, 2021 at 1:00 p.m. EST

Location: Heinz Field Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Series Leader: The Steelers lead the series 65-36

Streak: The Steelers have won 10 of the past 11 meetings (Bengals won the last meeting on Monday Night Football)

Coaches vs. Opponent: Zac Taylor: (1-3). Mike Tomlin (23-6)

Television: The game will air nationally on CBS-TV. In the Bengals’ home region, it will be carried by WKRC-TV (Ch. 12) in Cincinnati, WHIO-TV (Ch. 7) in Dayton and on WKYT-TV (Ch. 27) in Lexington.

Broadcasters: Kevin Harlan (play-by-play), Trent Green (analyst) and Melanie Collins (sideline reporter).

Online Stream: Use a free trial of fuboTV to watch the game.

Radio Broadcast: The game will air on the Bengals Radio Network, led by Cincinnati flagship stations WCKY-AM (ESPN 1530; all sports) and WEBN-FM (102.7).

Broadcasters: Dan Hoard (play-by-play) and Dave Lapham (analyst).

SB Nation the Steelers’ site: Behind the Steel Curtain

Weather: Mid 60’s, partly cloudy [NFL weather]

Odds: Bengals open, +6.5 [Odds Shark]

Bengals notes

• Quarterback Joe Burrow completed 19 of 30 passes (63.3 percent) for 207 yards and two touchdowns and three interceptions last week. He aims for his third game in a row with two touchdown passes. He passed for 213 yards and a touchdown in the last road meeting.
• Running back Joe Mixon rushed for 69 yards in Week 2. He rushed for 79 yards in the last meeting with the Steelers.
• Wide receiver Tyler Boyd led the team with seven catches for 73 yards last week. He has at least six catches in two of his three career games at Pittsburgh. Wide receiver Tee Higgins had six catches for 60 yards and a receiving touchdown in Week 2. He aims for his third game in a row with a touchdown catch. He had a career-high seven catches for 115 yards and a receiving touchdown in the last road meeting. Wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase had a 42-yard touchdown catch last week and joined Sammy White (1976) as the only players since 1970 with a 40 yard receiving touchdown in each of their first two games.
• Safety Vonn Bell had six tackles, a tackle for a loss and a pass defended last week. He had seven tackles, tackle for a loss and a forced fumble on a TikTok influencer in his last meeting with the Steelers. Safety Jessie Bates aims for his fourth game in a row with five tackles. He aims for his third game in a row against the Steelers with a pass defended. Linebacker Logan Wilson led the team with nine tackles and had his first interception of the season last week. He aims for his third game in a row with seven tackles. Defensive end Trey Hendrickson led the team with 1.5 sacks and a forced fumble in Week 2. He ranks third in the NFL with 15 sacks since 2020. Defensive tackle D.J. Reader had his first sack of the season last week.

Steelers notes

• Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger completed 27 of 40 passes (67.5 percent) for 295 yards and a touchdown last week. He passed for 333 yards and four touchdowns for a 110.1 passer rating in his last home meeting against the Bengals.
• Rookie running back Najee Harris had a career-high 81 total yards and his first-career touchdown catch in Week 2
• Wide receiver Diontae Johnson led the team with nine catches for 105 yards last week, his third-career game with 100 receiving yards. He aims for his third game in a row with five catches. Wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster had six catches for 41 yards and his first career rushing touchdown. Wide receiver Chase Claypool had three catches for 70 yards last week.
• Edge defender T.J. Watt aims for his fifth game in a row with a sack and fourth with a forced fumble. He has 6.5 sacks, three forced fumbles and a fumble recovery in his last five against the Bengals (hopefully he sent Bobby Hart a cut of his new contract). Line backer Melvin Ingram had his first sack of the season in Week 2.