As always, the AFC North comes down to turnovers and the Steelers won the 2014 crown Sunday night at Heinz Field when the Bengals were driving for the winning touchdown and cornerback Antwon Blake ripped the ball from wide receiver A.J. Green at the Steelers 30 with 3:51 left to preserve Pittsburgh’s 27-17 victory Sunday night at Heinz Field.
The 10-5-1 Bengals take that second place finish to Indianapolis for Sunday’s 1 p.m. Wild Card Game while the 11-5 Steelers take the North title into Saturday night’s home game against the Ravens.
Three plays after Green’s fumble, Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger hooked up with wide receiver Antonio Brown for a 63-yard touchdown play that made it 27-17 with 2:50 left in the game. Brown, who stunned the Bengals with a 71-yard punt return in the first quarter, got behind cornerback Dre Kirkpatrick down the right sideline and then safety George Iloka missed the tackle as Brown finished with seven catches for 128 yards.
After Green’s fumble, safety Mike Mitchell hit him with a helmet-to-helmet shot and Green left for the rest of the game with eight catches for 82 yards and is under the NFL’s concussion protocol. After a tough start that featured two first-half picks, quarterback Andy Dalton finished 27 of 38 for 244 yards and an 83.7 passer rating.
Trailing 20-17, the Bengals had a shot to take the lead when they blew up a Steelers fake punt with six minutes left in the game. Punter Brad Wing tried an ill-advised pass and Bengals wide receiver Dane Sanzenbacher came up with his first NFL interception at the Bengals 41. Green then fumbled at the end of a 17-yard play.
The Steelers used that age-old formula of a Dalton turnover and an Antonio Brown punt return touchdown to take control of the game with a 20-10 half-time lead.
After two big defensive stands to open the second half, the last one ending on safety Reggie Nelson’s interception, the Bengals passing game finally got off the ground against Steelers defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau’s two deep zone designed to take away the deep ball to Green.
Dalton opted to go underneath on a 15-play drive that consumed 7:29 and ended on his five-yard touchdown pass to tight end Jermaine Gresham in the flat that cut the lead to 20-17 with 11:14 left in the game.
Going into the drive Green had just two catches for 15 yards, but he had four catches in the march for 44 yards, putting him over 1,000 yards for the season. The Bengals stayed true to the running game as running back Jeremy Hill finished the drive with 95 yards on 21 carries. He ended up with 100 yards on 23 carries, five yards shy of the club rookie record.
Click here to read more of this story.
About Marion Online Sports
