The Cincinnati Bengals wanted a win on Thursday evening, and so they bought in probably the most unlikely of how towards the Pittsburgh Steelers. Veteran quarterback Joe Flacco, having been with the staff for lower than two weeks, lit up the Steelers protection in a 33-31 win, maintaining his new staff within the AFC North race simply when it seemed like their season was going to be over.
Listed here are some key takeaways from their win.
Joe Flacco delivered for Bengals
Flacco could not have quite a bit left within the tank, and he will not be the quarterback he was in his prime when he received a Tremendous Bowl MVP with the Baltimore Ravens, however he can nonetheless sling the ball across the discipline. He nonetheless has that veteran poise. He nonetheless has the information to know what to do with the ball and when to do it.
The Bengals principally simply wanted someone to return in, shield the soccer in a means Jake Browning couldn’t and ship some passes to Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins.
Flacco did all of that on Thursday and extra.
After a troublesome opening drive, Flacco was capable of settle in and completely carved up a Steelers protection that had are available in off back-to-back sturdy efforts.
Flacco and Chase have been borderline unstoppable, with Flacco throwing for 342 yards and three touchdowns on 31-of-47 passing.
Chase was his go-to goal, catching 16 of 23 passes for 161 yards and a landing. The Steelers had no reply for any of it.
Plenty of the Bengals’ greatest flaws have been fastened for one evening
Coming into Thursday evening, the Bengals have been the NFL’s worst speeding offense, averaging a dismal 56.7 yards per recreation.
They rushed for 142 yards and 6.2 per carry.
They compelled two essential takeaways on protection that changed into scores.
Their offensive line had been permitting sacks and strain at a staggering charge, and it didn’t enable the Steelers go rush to disrupt the sport.
The whole lot simply got here collectively.
Is that this an indication of issues to return or only a determined staff that put all of it collectively for recreation? That is still to be seen, however they wanted at the very least one recreation to provide themselves an opportunity. Now they’ve the possibility, and with an upcoming recreation towards the New York Jets in 10 days, they might very simply be again to .500 with back-to-back video games towards the Chicago Bears and Steelers to observe.
Steelers waste large alternative
Whereas the Bengals have new life within the AFC North, the Steelers missed a completely large alternative to take full management of the division.
They entered the sport with a 4-1 report, the Ravens and Bengals have main accidents to their quarterbacks, and the Browns are nonetheless the Browns. Each staff within the division stored shedding apart from them. A win would have given the Steelers a four-game lead over the Ravens and a three-and-a-half recreation lead over the Bengals with the head-to-head tiebreaker for the second.
They might have been in management.
If someone had advised them they might rating 31 factors within the recreation, it most likely would have been simple to imagine that they might win simply towards a staff with out its greatest defensive participant (Trey Hendrickson) and an previous quarterback that had solely been within the constructing for 10 days.
As an alternative of taking management of the division, they let the Bengals (and Ravens) proper again in it.
