Antonio Brown remembers his 67-yard punt return for touchdown in the previous meeting with the Cincinnati Bengals, mainly because it was the last time one of his returns had a game-changing impact.
Bengals punter Kevin Huber remembers the return, too, because of the impact it had on his jaw.
Brown's return came nearly one year ago in Game 14 against the Bengals at Heinz Field and gave the Steelers a 21-0 lead in what would be a 30-20 victory.
The only other punt return for touchdown in his career also came against the Bengals in 2011. Those two touchdowns are the only ones allowed by Huber in 446 NFL punts.
Brown, the NFL leader in receptions (96) and receiving yards (1,258), hopes No. 3 comes today against the Bengals at Paul Brown Stadium.
"I'm excited for each opportunity," said Brown, who has dropped to No. 17 in the league in return average (7.7 yards). "We have to continue to get better and better, and not just me. The other 10 guys who supply the blocks have to find a way to find them. As a unit, we're excited to do something big in this game."
Brown had a 36-yard punt return in the season-opening win against Cleveland -- remember his dropkick to the facemask of punter Spencer Lanning? -- but since then hasn't had a return longer than 14 yards. Not the kind of production expected of a two-time Pro Bowl return specialist.
The failure to produce any kind of lengthy return, much less a scoring return, is one of the reasons coach Mike Tomlin said the offense, defense and special teams didn't complement each other in last Sunday's loss to New Orleans.
"We just have to do it better," said linebacker Terence Garvin, who had a big -- not to mention expensive -- role in Brown's scoring return against the Bengals Dec. 15, 2013. "We see things that we can improve on, we see openings we can make. We've just got to go ahead and make them and stop coming in here and saying, 'Oh, we were close.' "
It might not get any better against the Bengals, who have one of the best punt-coverage units in the league and rank No. 1 in a compilation of 10 major kicking categories. Not only does Huber lead the AFC with a 47.5-yard average, his net average of 44.1 is second in the conference.
What's more, he leads the NFL with 12 punts inside the 10 and has had six downed inside the 5.
Part of the reason is the Bengals use two former No. 1 draft picks -- cornerbacks Dre Kirkpatrick (2012) and Darqueze Dennard (2014) -- as gunners on the coverage unit. Kirkpatrick is so good that Tampa Bay used two players to block him last week.
Brown's scoring return had an impact on Huber, too -- literally. He had his jaw broken on the return on a block by Garvin, who was fined $25,000 by the league for the hit even though he was not penalized.
Huber was taken to a Pittsburgh area hospital and had surgery. During the surgery, Garvin tried to call him and left a message on his cell phone. Huber texted Garvin back, but the two never actually talked.
Huber, whose avatar on Twitter is a picture of the hit, said in an interview on Bengals.com last week he does not expect Garvin to seek him out before the game, nor would he be upset if he didn't.
Garvin said he will go through his normal routine like he always does before the game, but if he sees Huber, "I'll say 'What's up' to him."
Brown might prefer to say goodbye to him -- on a return.
Gerry Dulac: gdulac@post-gazette.com; twitter: @gerrydulac
First Published: December 7, 2014, 5:00 a.m.
