NFL 2016 Game of the Week Preview, Week 2: Steelers vs Bengals

(photo credit: post-gazette.com)

In a week of football slated with seven inter-divisional games, none looms larger than the Cincinnati Bengals traveling to Pittsburgh to take on the Steelers. One of the most intensely competitive matchups in the league over the last few years ratcheted up the hostility a couple notches.

In their first meeting in 2015, the Bengals headed into Pittsburgh with a 6-0 record, ready to take advantage of the fact that Steelers' quarterback Ben Roethlisberger was playing his first game in four weeks due to an injury. The Steelers took a 10-6 lead into the the 4th quarter, but two interceptions by Big Ben in the final frame allowed Cincinnati to put 10 points on the board and earn the 16-10 victory, giving the Bengals their first 7-0 start ever, and dropping Pittsburgh to 4-4. During the game, Bengals linebacker Vontaze Burfict made an awkward tackle of Steeler star running back Leveon Bell, knocking Bell out of the game and ending his season.

In their second meeting, Pittsburgh (7-5) went to Cincinnati (10-2) to exact some revenge. And they got it. The Bengals previous two margins of defeat were by four points and three points. The 33-20 score in this game blew those out of the water. Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton suffered a broken thumb in the first quarter, removing him from the game and forcing A.J. McCarron to step up in his absence. While McCarron wasn't dreadful (22 for 32, 280 yards and 2 TDs), his two interceptions helped seal Cincinnati's fate. Pittsburgh did plenty to help themselves, as Roethlisberger went 30 for 39 for 282 yards, and running back DeAngelo Williams ran for two scores. It was Pittsburgh's fifth-straight 30-point performance.

Their final meeting of 2015 was in the Wild Card round of the playoffs. Having won the division, the Bengals were the home team. Under a deluge of rain, and with McCarron at the helm again, the Steelers were able to string together a few field goals and a somersaulting, between-the-legs catch by Martavis Bryant to take a 15-0 lead late in the 3rd quarter. The Bengals stormed back, putting up 16 straight points to take a 16-15 lead with two minutes left in the game. A flurry of play that involved a turnover by both teams, a 4th-down conversion, and 30 yards in penalties on a single play allowed Pittsburgh to get in field goal position and convert for the 18-16 victory.

Across those three games, some coaches got into it with players on the field, while other coaches pulled the hair of opposing players. Star players took big hits and were out for long stretches of the season, with unsportsmanlike conduct penalties flying left and right. Referees were forced to stand at midfield before the start of the playoff game to ensure nothing happened. Talk about a rivalry game!

That is the stage as the two teams prepare to face off on Sunday. Both teams enter Week 2 with 1-0 records; Pittsburgh with a 38-16 throttling of the Washington Redskins, while the Bengals managed 1-point victory over the New York Jets. Both teams will be pushing hard to upend the other to achieve the coveted 2-0 record.