Steelers at Bengals - Wild Card Game

• Azubuike24

  

  All of the narratives on this one will be re-hashed in the next 5 days.
  
  Steelers open as a 1.5 point favorite.
• Azubuike24

  

  Interesting narrative. 10 years ago, the Steelers came into Cincinnati as a 6-seed and beat the 3rd seeded Bengals (without their starting QB, sans 2 plays in the game).
• Ironman92

  

  I think both teams got a good draw for a postseason run.
  
  I think Cincy needs to get out early and I think Steelers need to stay within 1 of turnover differential.
  
  I believe Pittsburgh is more confident about this game.
  
  I believe this is the needed stepping stone for the Bengals. If they want respect in the playoffs then beat their nemesis.
  
  Not on here at all but if the Steelers win I'm going to layout a bunch of pricks who make my timeline and Twitter feed miserable.
  
  I don't know how much I'll be able to watch of this game.
  
  Gun to my head:
  
  Steelers 27
  Bengals 23
• Commander of Awesome

  

  Who is playing QB for Bengals?
• Ironman92

  

  Commander of Awesome;1773200 wrote:Who is playing QB for Bengals?

  Bottom line says Bengals preparing for McCarron.. I honestly don't know which I'd prefer as a fan of the opponent. Dalton more brash with more top prove. McCarron way less pressure.
  
  A good topic would be WTF do the Bengals do if McCarron plays very well in prime time in the playoffs vs the Steelers and then Dalton comes back in the divisional round and sucks.
• Commander of Awesome

  

  Ironman92;1773204 wrote:Bottom line says Bengals preparing for McCarron.. I honestly don't know which I'd prefer as a fan of the opponent. Dalton more brash with more top prove. McCarron way less pressure.
  
  A good topic would be WTF do the Bengals do if McCarron plays very well in prime time in the playoffs vs the Steelers and then Dalton comes back in the divisional round and sucks.

  Actually now that you say it, more important is will eifert play? I think Bengals win either way, Steelers would have lost to the browns had McCown or JFF played. They're not good.
• Azubuike24

  

  Eifert played and caught a TD on Sunday. He's fine. The Bengals said Dalton was unlikely to play until week 19 at the earliest. Marvin Lewis' comments today when asked about Dalton indicated the same.
  
  My biggest concern is...the Steelers offense was red hot. They have played 2 bad games in a row.
• Ironman92

  

  Eifort I thought they said could play the last two weeks if they were playoffs games (but don't quote me on that)
• Commander of Awesome

  

  Azubuike24;1773206 wrote:Eifert played and caught a TD on Sunday. He's fine. The Bengals said Dalton was unlikely to play until week 19 at the earliest. Marvin Lewis' comments today when asked about Dalton indicated the same.
  
  My biggest concern is...the Steelers offense was red hot. They have played 2 bad games in a row.

  Ahh didn't know that. Steelers def is baaaaddddd. Like real bad. I hope bengals shove down their cheating, raping fat faces.
• Ironman92

  

  Azubuike24;1773206 wrote:Eifert played and caught a TD on Sunday. He's fine. The Bengals said Dalton was unlikely to play until week 19 at the earliest. Marvin Lewis' comments today when asked about Dalton indicated the same.
  
  My biggest concern is...the Steelers offense was red hot. They have played 2 bad games in a row.

  It's been Ben on the road throwing interceptions...he has to clean those up and I'm not real sure they aren't in his head a bit...he's had some really really bad ones.
• Azubuike24

  

  I'll say this. I don't see either of these teams dominating the other.
  
  The last game had an unpredictable twist with Dalton being hurt, caused the score to get a bit out of hand.
  
  It's going to be an absolute battle on Saturday. These teams definitely hate each other as much as you can hate other players/teams in sports right now.
  
  Hopefully nobody on Cincinnati provides any bulletin board material. Thus far, only the Steelers have been talking (and they have more of a right to talk about playoff outcomes).
• Azubuike24

  

  According to Andy Dalton himself, he's confident he will be the starter on Saturday night.
• Ironman92

  

  Azubuike24;1773212 wrote:According to Andy Dalton himself, he's confident he will be the starter on Saturday night.

  Not many would doubt his competitiveness....he needs to demand on starting and leave decision up to Lewis
• like_that

  

  If Williams doesn't play, I see this being a very low scoring game.
• friendfromlowry

  Who's Pittsburgh's RB if Williams can't go?
• Automatik

  

  I'm guessing Fitzgerald Toussaint.
  
  Two weeks ago, I wanted this matchup bad, but that Baltimore loss left a bad taste in my mouth.
• mhs95_06

  When Dalton is healthy he makes way more bad throws than McCarron does. Now Dalton has a bad thumb so the proportion of bad throws will multiply.
• Ironman92

  

  mhs95_06;1773304 wrote:When Dalton is healthy he makes way more bad throws than McCarron does. Now Dalton has a bad thumb so the proportion of bad throws will multiply.

  I haven't seen as much as Bengals fans but McCarron has made some really good throws and not hung his receivers out to dry as much. Dalton has the experience but not sure if that matters or not
• SportsAndLady

  

  Rooting for the bengals. Fuck the steelers and their douchy yinzer fans.
• Automatik

  

  It's become an annual thing.
• SportsAndLady

  

  Automatik;1773312 wrote:It's become an annual thing.

  ??
• Azubuike24

  

  We still haven't quite yet see McCarron have full command. I'm sure the coaching staff has done what they can to prevent his situations where mistakes could happen. As long as they understand that it's one and done now, and losing because of an ultra conservative game plan sucks, I'm fine with McCarron as the QB.
• BR1986FB

  Commander of Awesome;1773205 wrote:Steelers would have lost to the browns had McCown or JFF played. They're not good.

  I agree with the first part and was thinking that after the game. Another starting QB and the Browns probably win that game.
  
  As far as your second comment, I agree that Pittsburgh's defense is BAD but if their offense gets on track, they are the most explosive in the league. If their defense weren't so bad, I could see them riding their offense to the Super Bowl. Of course, I'm hoping that doesn't happen.
• Tiernan

  The NFL season kinda ends for me when I don't have Clowns fans to kick in the balls daily but as a casual observer who knows more about football than most slackards on here I've seen some good things in McCarron and believe this team wants to advance and knows he needs their concentrated effort to help him do so. As far as the whole thing goes I see an AZ vs Den Super Bowl.
• superman

  This game for me comes down to the Bengals offensive line. If they can establish the run and give McCarron time to throw, the Bengals win. McCarron eats up man coverage but struggles reading a zone. If the Steelers have to blitz to bring pressure, that helps the Bengals.