CINCINNATI – There was a lot of attention being paid to James Harrison this past week. The lead-up to Monday night’s Bengals game against Pittsburgh, the franchise Harrison was a major part of helping to two Super Bowl championships and a third title game
appearance over the last decade, took on a greater hype because of his presence.
When the game was over and the Bengals had finished off the Steelers 20-10 there was still interest in Harrison but it had little to do with what he did individually. Harrison was not credited with any tackles or sacks against the Steelers – he was only on the field for 14 of Cincinnati’s 57 defensive snaps according to the official game book stats as Pittsburgh used a lot of three-wide receiver sets – but the Bengals’ overall dominance on defense, particularly against Pittsburgh’s rushing attack, had a Harrison-ish attitude to it.
The Bengals didn’t allow the Steelers a single first down on seven of their first 10 possessions. Until gaining 114 yards on two final drives after the Bengals already had a 10-point lead, Pittsburgh had just 164 yards through the first three-plus quarters.
“The guys that were out there,” said Harrison, “they played stout.”
Stout is a good word for a defense, a word any defense is proud to have used to described it. The Bengals were definitely stout against Pittsburgh.
Cincinnati held Pittsburgh to 44 yards rushing on 16 carries, including just two yards on two rushing attempts in the second half.
Monday was just the fourth time since 1982 that the Bengals have held Pittsburgh to less than 60 yards rushing in a game and the first time they’d done so since 1991. Since Bill Cowher took over for Chuck Noll in 1992 through Mike Tomlin’s now-seventh season as the Steelers’ head coach Pittsburgh has had eight different players account for 24 100-rushing yard games against the Bengals.
That total is a little misleading, however, when it comes to recent history. Only Jonathan Dwyer has eclipsed the 100-yard mark individually against the Bengals in the last 10 games between the two teams and in their last two meetings, both Cincinnati wins, the Bengals have held the Steelers to under 100 yards total and less than 3.0 yards per carry.
“We know that they’re a physical team and they like to get after you, that first-and-foremost they like to run the ball,” said defensive tackle Geno Atkins. “Once you make them a one-dimensional team we’ve got the dogs up front with me, Carlos (Dunlap), Michael (Johnson), (Wallace) Gilberry, (Devon) Still, (Domata) Peko and BT (Brandon Thompson) rushing up front we can get after him.
“We corrected some things from last week at Chicago and had eight days to prepare. We had a bad taste in our mouth and we wanted to come out and play the Bengals’ way; play hard, play fast and play smart.”
Pittsburgh ran just one play inside the Bengals’ 20-yard line all game; Ben Roethlisberger’s 1-yard touchdown pass to Derek Moye with 1:54 left in the first half that sent the game to a 10-10 halftime score.
The Bengals sacked Roethlisberger twice but their pressure helped throw off the timing of Roethlisberger’s passes. The Steelers converted just three of their 12 third-down attempts and the Bengals forced two takeaways; a strip and fumble recovery by cornerback Adam Jones against tight end David Paulson in the first quarter and an interception by safety Reggie Nelson in the fourth quarter.
When the game wrapped up, Harrison was on the field. He and Roethlisberger shook hands and gave each other a quick hug. There was nothing big to make out of the meeting. The final outcome of the game was much bigger, especially with Green Bay and quarterback Aaron Rodgers coming to Paul Brown Stadium on Sunday.
“It’s just good to get that taste out of your mouth and put us back where we want to be,” said Harrison, “and that’s on track.”
