With the 3-3 Bengals needing a victory so desperately Sunday night at sold-out Paul Brown Stadium, the Steelers shut down their vaunted Pro Bowl passing combo of quarterback Andy Dalton and wide receiver A.J. Green in the second half of Pittsburgh’s 24-17 victory.
The Bengals went 1-for-7 on third downs in the second half with Dalton missing the last six straight passes on third down. After Green caught just one ball in the first half for a touchdown, he didn’t catch another ball the rest of the night and finished with a career-low eight yards.
With the Steelers sitting on Green with a deep zone usually consisting of cornerback Ike Taylor and safety Ryan Clark, they didn’t let Dalton go downfield. His longest throw was to rookie wide receiver Mohamed Sanu for 17 yards and he finished the night just 14-of-28 for 105 yards, his career low for a game he played all four quarters.
Dalton did try to go to Green on the last two third downs. On the first one, Taylor knocked it down at the numbers near the first down with 7:47 left. On the last one, Dalton tried to jack it between and over Clark and Taylor on the sideline about 20 yards downfield and it was too high and Green couldn’t make a one-handed grab with 4:08 left.
Meanwhile running back Jonathan Dwyer rushed for 122 yards on 17 carries in his first NFL start that boosted Pittsburgh’s last-in-the-NFL run game. And Roethlisberger carved up the Bengals with 27-of-37 passing for 278 yards while converting nine of his first 13 third downs as Dalton struggled to find first downs.
The Bengals lost a timeout in dubious fashion with 24 seconds left in the third quarter when head coach Marvin Lewis threw the challenge flag on Steelers wide receiver Mike Wallace’s two-yard catch even though he appeared to lose the ball after his knee hit the ground. The review held up setting up a third-and-six for the last play of the third quarter from the Bengals 45 with the game tied at 17.
Roethlisberger and his NFL-leading unit at converting third downs had already ripped off a 16-yard reception to wide receiver Antonio Brown (seven catches for 96 yards) on third-and-six. This time on third-and-six the Steelers sent wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders down the seam in the slot and with Roethlisberger sitting in the pocket with plenty of time he beat cornerback Leon Hall across the middle for a 31-yard gain.
That set up running back Chris Rainey’s 11-yard touchdown run with 14:16 left in the game that gave the Steelers the 24-17 lead. He followed tight end Heath Miller’s kick-out block up the middle and walked into the end zone, a backup running back behind a backup center and backup right tackle. Pittsburgh churned out 167 yards on 29 carries and two included their first runs longer than 20 yards.
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