Both sides of the ball were very sluggish to start with and it was not the first time we have seen this.
The defense seemed confused to start with how the Bengals were lining up the fullback, tight end and extra tackles. Once they got that sorted out after the first drive they calmed down.
LaMarr Woodley got of to a rough start starting with the first 3rd down, but he more than made up for it.
I do not harp on non-calls that much in these recaps, but the missed holding calls on Woodley and James Harrison were VERY noticeable. I might try to clip gifs of all of these as the week goes. They had no problem calling Jonathan Scott and Flozell Adams for holding. Also how many cheap shots do they really want Ben Roethlisberger to take. Amazing no-calls.
Looked like the Steelers started with some man on man coverages as Ike Taylor chased Chad Ochocinco across the field. I will look more closely at the film the first time back through.
Good thing Rashard Mendenhall is so good after first contact. Imagine if we had a healthy line not full of backups at left tackle and right guard.
As far as the offensive line play went. It looks like Jonathan Scott and Ramon Foster had some struggles once again. Chris Kemoeatu had a little better game, but not great. He did have a few monster blocks. Saw a few mis-communications on the line of who had what on blitzes. That needs to stop.
Not a banner first game back for Matt Spaeth. He seemed timid. David Johnson had a few great run pops. Team really missed Heath Miller today.
Great pop by Ryan Clark early on in the secondary.
Hines Ward and Mike Wallace had some big catches today. Not surprising at all.
Carlos Dunlap had a few batted balls of Roethlisberger that would surely of been completed.
Emmanuel Sanders is still not afraid to hit or block. That remains very refreshing. He was also smart to hobble off the field under 2 minutes to save the timeout. Glad to see him return to the game.
Roethlisberger got away with a few forced throws down in the redzone.
That Antwaan Randle El catch might have been the best of any Steelers receiver this season. Great one hand grab.
New punter Jeremy Kapinos had 3 punts inside the 20 and a long of 53. Do not let the average of 30.6 fool you.
Shaun Suisham has yet to miss. Enough said and all you need to know.
Antonio Brown gets a little too excited at times I think. That poison punt decision was bad. Good thing Anthony Madison was there to clean up the spilled milk.
Terrell Owens caught just one pass today from Carson Palmer while Troy Polamalu caught two. Hopefully Troy continues to rest as he was real gimpy after that pick 6, but stayed in the game like a warrior. I could go on and on about Troy, but you know how good he is already.
They let Ochocinco have his underneath. No big deal. He stayed out of the endzone and never had a game changing play.
A few more missed tackles are creeping in on defense, but it is not killing us.
I like the El option play call by Bruce Arians, but did not like the flip pass call to Ward on 3rd down late in the game. Speaking of Ward, he quietly had 8 catches for 115 yards. That is strong.
Brett Keisel continues to make a big return in just his 2nd game back from injury. Good pressure and knocked down another pass.
Carson Palmer made a ton of bad decision and we thank him.
Lawrence Timmons and James Farrior were great inside. Timmons has that burst back from the hip pointer he suffered a few weeks back. Very noticeable.
Just 34 yards rushing by the Bengals. WOW!
