Pressure on Dalton key in rout of Bengals
PITTSBURGH — When the Steelers beat the Bengals in Cincinnati a few weeks back, they did so without the benefit of a quarterback sack.
That was a 24-17 win and the difference between that game and Sunday’s 35-7 pasting of the Bengals was due, at least in part, to a pass rush that yielded three sacks, all from James Harrison, and an interception from Ike Taylor.
The Steelers weren’t very disruptive of Bengals rookie quarterback Andy Dalton in that first game, but they turned it around in this rematch at Heinz Field in perhaps the team’s most complete game of the season.
Why were they able to do this time what they could not do the last time?
“We broke down the pocket better this time,” Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said. “We didn’t always necessarily get the sack this time, but we were disruptive in the backfield and made things happen.”
“What that means is that our interior linemen did their job,” linebacker James Farrior said. “Ziggy Hood, Brett Keisel and Casey Hampton got it going and when they get it going, it makes it easy for us to make plays.”
“We got a big lead early, then (defensive coordinator Dick) LeBeau made some great calls,” Harrison said. “Everybody did their part today. It was definitely one of our better performances, but there’s a lot of football left to be played.”
“I was telling the guys all week that it’s time we start putting complete games together in all three phases,” Keisel said after recording four tackles and a quarterback hurry. “We did that today.”
Harrison added three quarterback hurries and three tackles for losses, while Farrior had six tackles, Lawrence Timmons had seven.
The team played most of this game without LaMarr Woodley, who tweaked the hamstring that kept him out of the first game, but Tomlin said Woodley may be able to play Thursday when the Steelers take on the Cleveland Browns.
IN THE BOOKS: Mendenhall’s first touchdown run was the 27th of his career and moved him into fifth place on the team’s all-time list. He passed John Henry Johnson and Barry Foster. … Hines Ward went over 12,000 career receiving yards on a 12-yard catch late in the second quarter. He became the first Steelers player to reach that level and the 19th player in league history. He also joined Hall of Famers Jerry Rice and Art Monk as the only players in league history to reach 12,000 receiving yards and win multiple Super Bowls. … James Harrison had three sacks, marking the second time in the last four games he has had at least three sacks. He became the third player in team history with multiple three-sack games in the same season. Char Brown did it twice in 1996 and Mike Merriweather did it three times in 1984. … Roethlisberger passed Terry Bradshaw in career pass completions to assume the franchise lead. Bradshaw completed 2,025 passes in his Hall of Fame career, Roethlisberger finished the game with 2,026 career completions. Roethlisberger had a passer rating of 117.3 for the game. It marked the fourth game this season and 45th of his career in regular season games that he had a passer rating above 100.0.
INJURIES: LB LaMarr Woodley re-injured his hamstring in the second quarter and did not return. He was replaced by Jason Worilds. … G Ramon Foster suffered a left ankle injury and did not return. He was replaced by Trai Essex. … RB Mewelde Moore suffered a right hamstring injury and did not return.
INACTIVE ANALYSIS: LB Larry Foote and WR Arnez Battle were the most noteworthy of the deactivated Steelers players. Foote is a key backup and Battle is a special teams captain. Also down were QB Dennis Dixon, LB Chris Carter, DE Al Woods, OT Jamon Meredith and NT Chris Hoke. For the Bengals, starting CB Nate Clements did not dress and was replaced by Kelly Jennings. Cincinnati lost starting CB Leon Hall in the first game against the Steelers.
WORTH REPEATING: “We will move on to preparing for Cleveland,” coach Mike Tomlin said, referring to the quick turnaround for the Thursday night home game against the Browns. “Our guys have to do a good job above the neck, preparing and taking care of their bodies on this short week.”