Week 7

Pittsburgh Steelers @ Cincinnati Bengals

Time: 8:20 PM

TV: NBC

Site: Paul Brown Stadium

Last Meeting: 12/04/11, W 35-7

The Pittsburgh Steelers finally see some AFC North action as they head into Bengalland to take on the Cincinnati Bengals. Despite having 10 days off since the disaster of a game in Tennessee, the Steelers are still banged up a bit. The Steelers will be without Troy Polamalu, Marcus Gilbert, Rashard Mendenhall, and Isaac Redman. At least LaMarr Woodley seems like he’ll be back, so that’s something.

For their part, the Bengals have hit a bit of a rough spot. They are coming off losses to the Dolphins and Browns and look to redeem themselves against the Steelers. The Bengals didn’t fare too well in their only primetime appearance thus far this season. Of course, the Steelers have looked foolish in both of their primetime games, so someone will have to break this battle of wills and actually win this game.

Or they will tie, in which case, we all lose.

Keys to the Game: Offense

Score touchdowns. The Steelers settled for field goals against the Titans, and wouldn’t you know it, that came back to haunt the Black and Gold. Shaun Suisham has been having a fantastic year thus far, but as we learned last week, the Steelers can’t rely on his leg and his leg alone.

The Steelers need to try to do something with the running game. That may be a little difficult with both Mendenhall and Redman out. However they can’t ignore the ground game completely.

Keys to the Game: Defense

It’s the same old, same old. The Steelers need to put pressure on Andy Dalton and they need to force the turnovers. With Woodley back (hopefully), the Steelers may be able to actually get some pressure in the backfield. I have my fingers crossed that we can actually have Woodley and James Harrison in the same game for longer than a quarter.