Jake Fisher got the start Sunday against the Steelers.
Rallying from a pair of 14-point deficits in the first half, the Steelers defense came out of the locker room to strangle the Bengals and shut them out in the second half on 38 yards while racking up a 24-20 victory on a day both the Ravens and Pittsburgh eliminated Cincinnati from the play-off chase Sunday before 62,096 at Paul Brown Stadium.
The 9-5 Steelers didn’t take their first lead until 7:29 left in the game when quarterback Ben Roethlisberger sifted a 24-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Eli Rogers working out of the slot against cornerback Josh Shaw to make it 24-20 and send the 5-8-1 Bengals to their fourth fourth-quarter loss of the season.
The Bengals defense played brilliantly much of the day, but got worn down. Trailing, 24-20, they had Pittsburgh looking at a third-and-eight but Roethlisberger, putting the finishing touches on a 93.1 passer rating, hit tight end Ladarius Green over the middle in a zone behind linebacker Vontaze Burfict and in front of the secondary for a 28-yard play with three minutes left to end it.
But Burfict, with nine more tackles, and his guys pitched a gutty, good enough game to win. It took Roethlisberger flinging for 286 yards on 21 of 36 passing and Steelers running back Le’Veon Bell grinding out 93 yards on 23 carries, a veritable win since the Bengals snapped his four-game streak of 100-yard games after last week’s Steelers-record 236 yards.
But that go-ahead touchdown drive was helped along by four defensive penalties. If you’ve seen this movie before, turn away. There were four penalties on four snaps, two holding calls on cornerback Dre Kirkpatrick and an offsides on tackle Pat Sims on third-and-inches. Then Sims was called for roughing Bell trying to throw him back on a tackle.
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