Personal highlights reached
CINCINNATI – Some individual accomplishments went almost unnoticed when the Steelers came from ahead to lose to the Cincinnati Bengals, 23-20, Sunday. Hines Ward became the first receiver in Steelers history to catch passes worth 10,000 yards.
Mike Wallace became the first Steelers rookie to post a 100-yard receiving game since Santonio Holmes did it against the Bengals in Cincinnati in 2006.
Willie Parker brought spark to the running game. He rushed 25 times for 93 yards behind an offensive line that has been suspect all season.
Speaking of the line, it limited Cincinnati, which led the league in sacks coming into the game, to one sack. Trouble was, it came on Pittsburgh last offensive snap and allowed the Bengals’ offense to take the field for its game-winning drive.
“Right now, individual accomplishments mean nothing to me because we lost the game,” Ward said. “Someday, I’ll probably look back on my accomplishments, but today is not that day.”
Sunday’s loss was coach Mike Tomlin’s first to the Bengals after four wins. It was Pittsburgh’s first loss in Cincinnati since a 25-20 defeat in 1998 and snapped a 10-game Steelers winning streak in Cincinnati.
It became apparent nobody wanted to talk about anything positive in the wake of such a devastating, last-minute defeat.
“I really couldn’t care less how many yards we ran for today,” Tomlin said, “because we lost the game.”
IMPRESSIVE: Ben Roethlisberger had all day to throw on a second-and-21 play on their first series and he hit Ward for a 41 yards to midfield. + Two plays later, Parker ripped off a 24-yard run. + Roethlisberger passed to Wallace for 8 yards on third-and-7. + Parker started the game running well. He had 50 yards on his first eight carries. + Roethlisberger passed to Wallace to convert another third down, then passed to Parker for a 27-yard touchdown. + Wallace broke free for a 51-yard catch to begin Pittsburgh’s third possession. That gave him three catches for 65 yards and three first downs. + Carson Palmer’s 19-yard pass to Chris Henry got the Bengals rolling late in the second quarter and led to a Shayne Graham field goal from 34 yards out. + Stefan Logan returned a kickoff 56 yards. + Roethlisberger took back control of the game by engineering an 11-play, 75-yard drive and capped it with a 1-yard touchdown run to make the score 20-9. Roethlisberger was 5-for-5 on the drive for 70 yards.
INEPT: The Steelers gave up a 39-yard kickoff return to Cincinnati’s Andre Caldwell, but Cincinnati responded with an illegal motion penalty on their way to a 3-and-out. + Parker was stopped for no gain on third-and-goal from the Bengals 1-yard line. + After two possessions per offense, Pittsburgh had 152 yards of offense, the Bengals had zero. + A Casey Hampton sack on the last play of the first quarter amended Cincinnati’s total yards to minus 10. + Roethlisberger put the Bengals back in the game when his pass to Parker was intercepted and returned for a touchdown by Johnathan Joseph. + The Bengals had an errant snap on the conversion + Limas Sweed dropped a touchdown pass on the Steelers next possession and Jeff Reed missed a 52-yard field goal on the next play. + The Steelers allowed a fourth-and-3 conversion on a fake punt. Chris Crocker ran for 21 yards on the play. Shayne Graham’s 52-yard field goal attempt was wide left to end the threat.
IN CLOSING: “You saw what I saw, he dropped it.” – Steelers coach Mike Tomlin, when asked how he saw Limas Sweed’s dropped pass in the end zone.
INJURIES: Pittsburgh TE David Johnson suffered a lower left leg injury with 4:30 remaining in the first quarter. + DT Tank Johnson (right foot) and LB Rey Malualuga (left knee) were injured. Malualuga returned in the fourth quarter. + CB Leon Hall (left knee) also was injured for Cincinnati.
IN THE BOOKS: Parker’s TD catch his first since 2006 and the fifth of his career. + Hines Ward caught a 14-yard pass at the two-minute warning of the second quarter. He became the first player in team history to catch passes for over 10,000 yards. He reached 10,001 on that play. + Mike Wallace became the first Steelers rookie to catch passes worth 100 yards in a game since Santonio Holmes did it in Cincinnati in 2006.
INACTIVES: Pittsburgh designated QB Dennis Dixon as its third quarterback. Inactive for the Steelers were CB Keenan Lewis, SS Troy Polamalu, FB Frank Summers, G Kraig Urbik, OT Tony Hills, WR Shaun McDonald and DE Nick Eason. Tyrone Carter started for Polamalu and TE David Johnson started at FB for Summers. Cincinnati designated Jordan Palmer as its third quarterback. Inactive for the Bengals were CB David Jones, S Tom Nelson, G Nate Livings, OT Andre Smith, TE Chase Coffman, WR Jerome Simpson and DE Frostee Rucker. Evan Mathis started LG for Livings.