Ben Roethlisberger had so much velocity on his passes he looked as though he could throw a soap bubble through a telephone pole.
The defense held the Cincinnati Bengals to just one touchdown, didn’t let them convert a third down in 13 opportunities and rudely treated a rookie quarterback the way they always seem to do at Heinz Field.
After a week in which three starters, including Roethlisberger, had to miss practice because of COVID-19 protocols, the Steelers delivered a positive result with a resounding 36-10 victory against the Bengals on Sunday at Heinz Field that kept them as the NFL’s only unbeaten team at 9-0.
“I tried to talk coach into taking next week off too,” Roethlisberger said jokingly.
The lack of practice certainly had no adverse effect on Roethlisberger, who had season highs of 333 yards passing and four touchdowns and repeatedly attacked the Bengals secondary with rifle throws and deep passes — a departure from the short, quick passing game he had displayed most of the season.
Rookie receiver Chase Claypool caught two of the four touchdowns, giving him nine on the season, most among NFL rookies.
“It was really, really important at this time of year, kind of the midway point, if you will, to let the arm rest,” Roethlisberger said. “It definitely felt good going into this game, and I’m hoping it’s because of the time off and a lot of icing this week.”
The Steelers bounced back from what was an ugly performance in Dallas with a victory that included big plays from the offense, defense and special teams. That it happened against the Bengals was no surprise.
It was the Steelers’ 12th consecutive victory against the Bengals (2-6-1), including postseason, and marked the sixth time the Bengals scored 10 or fewer points at Heinz Field since Mike Tomlin became coach in 2007.
Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow, the No. 1 overall pick in the draft, passed for 213 yards and a touchdown, but he completed just 5 of 15 passes for 24 yards in the second half. What’s more, the Bengals failed to convert a third down on 13 opportunities. The Steelers are now 19-2 against rookie quarterbacks who start a game at Heinz Field.
“Joe Burrow is a great young quarterbackm and we know he’s going to be in the division for a very long time, so we kind of wanted to set the tone with him,” said cornerback Joe Haden, who had three pass breakups. “We didn’t want him to think he was just going to be playing Pittsburgh and throwing it wherever he wanted to, running around. We just wanted to make sure that we put pressure on him and never let him get comfortable to know he’s going to be playing against us for a long time.”
Roethlisberger spent the week on the reserve/COVID-19 list with four other players, including linebacker Vince Williams and tight end Vance McDonald, and did not return to the team until Saturday. But it was apparent right from the start that the time off put some added juice in his throwing arm. He threw for 240 of his 333 yards and two touchdowns in the first half when the Steelers built a 22-7 halftime lead and finished with a 110.1 passer rating — the seventh time in nine games he has a 100-plus rating.
JuJu Smith-Schuster, who had a team-high nine catches for 77 yards, including an 8-yard touchdown, was not surprised.
“Not Ben, just because Ben’s been doing this for a while, going 15-plus years being in the league and doing what Ben does,” Smith-Schuster said. “For him, it’s more like backyard football being out there and calling the plays. And, as you can see, there are series we’ll go no-huddle down the field and put points on the board.”
The Bengals, who had been averaging 30.4 points in their previous three games, didn’t put up much of a fight. They managed just one touchdown — a 2-yard pass from Burrow to rookie receiver Tee Higgins on fourth-and-goal in the second quarter — and failed to convert a third down on 13 opportunities. They even appeared to give up in the second half.
For a team that has nothing to lose, they didn’t pull any type of gadget play until a fake punt when it was 36-7 with less than eight minutes remaining. Then they disdained going for a touchdown from the Steelers 19 to settle for a field goal with 5:05 left. Even on their final possession, the Bengals ran out the clock with five consecutive running plays.
“We’re really proud of the guys,” said coach Mike Tomlin. “It was a really trying week. There was a lot of anxiety about just feeling good about the prep. It’s good to kind of face that and persevere and have that kind of performance.”
It certainly didn’t affect Roethlisberger, who said he threw 50 passes on Friday away from the facility and a limited number on Saturday when he participated in an extended walk-through practice with his teammates.
But when the Bengals starting piling players in the box in attempt to take away his short, quick passes, Roethlisberger started going down the field and attacking the Bengals secondary — something he hadn’t done on a consistent basis all season. He even connected on a 46-yard pass to wide receiver Diontae Johnson to set up his first touchdown — a 12-yarder to Johnson that gave the Steelers a 12-0 lead. It was Roethlisberger’s longest completion since his 84-yard touchdown to Claypool against Denver in Week 2.
“It kind of became the game plan,” Roethlisberger said. “Just the looks they gave us kind of dictated we had to start doing that.”
So did the look of the running game, which managed just 44 yards on 20 rushes — and that included a 16-yard run by James Conner. It forced Roethlisberger to abandon that aspect of the offense and throw 46 times — his second most attempts this season — in a game the Steelers never trailed.
It was the third consecutive game in which the Steelers failed to rush for more than 48 yards.
“We can give it to however you want it,” Tomlin said. “If you want to pack a bunch on the line of scrimmage, we’re going to throw it. You play two high safeties, we’re capable of running it. We want to be able to move it however we choose.”
Kicker Chris Boswell added three field goals, but he wasn’t the only special-teams contributor. Jordan Berry had punts of 53, 58 and 62 yards, Ray-Ray McCloud had a 42-yard punt return to set up the final touchdown and linebacker Ola Adeniyi forced a fumble on the Bengals’ first punt return that led to a field goal.
“Right now, we’ll take a win any way we can get it,” said linebacker T.J. Watt, who had two of the four sacks on Burrow to raise his season total to nine. “The train keeps rolling.”
Gerry Dulac: gdulac@post-gazette.com and Twitter @gerrydulac
First Published: November 16, 2020, 12:49 a.m.
Updated: November 16, 2020, 3:17 a.m.
