So once again the Pittsburgh Steelers had the lead going into the fourth quarter and plenty of chances to put the game away but they let the Cincinnati Bengals back into it and they ended the Steelers dominance in the Queen City with a thrilling 23-20 victory.
The Steelers got things started right away shutting the Bengals down on offense and the Pittsburgh O took the ball down the field and came away with the first points of the game on a field goal by Jeff Reed. The Steelers got on the board again when Ben Roethlisberger connected with Willie Parker for a 27 yard scoring pass to put the Steelers up 10-0. Jeff Reed put Pittsburgh up 13-0 with 24 yard field goal in the second quarter.
The Bengals found a flow to their offense just before the half as they drove down the field to the Steelers 17 yard line. The Bengals had some confusion on a couple of plays and only came away with 3 to narrow the gap to 13-3 at halftime.
The second half started terrible for the Steelers when Ben connected with Santonio Holmes for a first down but the play was nullified by a penalty on Hines Ward, then on the very next play Ben and Holmes had some miscommunication and Jonathan Joseph intercepted the ball and returned it 30 yards for a touchdown making the score 13-9 Pittsburgh(Cincinnati botched the extra point). Then on the ensuing drive on third down Ben found Limas Sweed wide open in the end zone and Sweed made the catch but dropped the ball when he hit the ground. After the incomplete pass Jeff Reed missed a 52 yard field goal.
The Steelers eventually found the end zone for the last time as Roethlisberger kept the ball and snuck in from one yard out to put the Steelers up 20-9 heading into the fourth quarter. The Bengals would close the margin to 5 on a 23 yard Cedric Benson touchdown run. And with just over 5 minutes left the Bengals took the field and drove down the field to score the game winning touchdown. Carson Palmer found Andre Caldwell open in the end zone for a four yard scoring strike to put the Bengals up 21-20. They were successful on their two-point conversion and the Steelers tried a last second hail mary but came up short.
This was another game where the Steelers had an inferior opponent on the ropes on the road and they came away empty handed. As Coach Tomlin has put it this team is not winning situational football, they have in all their games given up scoring drives inside two minutes before halftime and at the end of the game and they cannot get off the field on third downs when they need to. I realize you can't win them all but when you miss opportunities to put teams away in the NFL you are going to lose. I also think the Steelers are missing Troy Polamalu more than they are letting on because in a lot of situations on the defensive side of the ball players have been out position and have been getting burnt in crucial situations. Limas Sweed is the biggest waste of roster space that I have ever seen, he has dropped 2 HUGE touchdowns in his short NFL career, the Steelers should have kept Nate Washington or they should put Mike Wallace as the third wide receiver permanently. It's no time to panic yet but it is getting close, the Steelers have home contests with the Chargers, Vikings, and Browns with a road trip to Detroit, who doesn't appear to be an easy win anymore, in between the San Diego and Minnesota games so they need to right the ship before their bye week.
GO STEELERS!
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