Cheat Sheet: Steelers vs. Bengals

HOW TO WATCH/LISTEN

• TV coverage: Broadcast nationally on the NBC Network (WPXI-TV locally in Pittsburgh).
• Steelers Radio Network - Game coverage begins at 4:30 p.m. ET; Pregame programming begins at 12:15 p.m.; Postgame coverage starts immediately following the game.
• Don't miss a minute of the action... check out all of the ways that you can watch, listen and follow along on gameday. Click here >>>

INJURY UPDATE

The Steelers will host the Cincinnati Bengals at Acrisure Stadium.
Check out the most updated Injury Report: Click here >>>

SERIES HISTORY

This series began in 1970 and Pittsburgh leads, 69-39. Two of those games occurred in the postseason, in 2006 and 2016, with the Steelers winning both. Cincinnati has won four of the last six meetings, but the Steelers won in Cincinnati Week 12 of this season. Before that, Pittsburgh was on an 11-game winning streak. Cincinnati has won just 13 of the 49 games between these divisional rivals that have been played in the 2000s. Mike Tomlin is 25-11 vs. Cincinnati, including a playoff win in 2016. Over the past ten seasons, Cincinnati is 3-2 with Joe Burrow as their starting quarterback against the Steelers and 2-13 without Burrow.

MATCHUP OVERVIEW

• The Bengals have won three in a row while Pittsburgh has dropped their past three. For the year, Cincinnati has been outscored by four points compared to minus-57 for the Steelers. Pittsburgh is .500 at home as are the Bengals on the road this season.
• When these teams met last, Cincinnati had just 10 first downs compared to 22 by the Steelers. Pittsburgh was eight of 17 on third downs compared to two of 10 for Cincinnati. The Steelers produced 199 more yards of offense and averaged 6.2 yards per play compared to 5.4 for Cincinnati. Pittsburgh possessed the football for 37:17 in that game.
• For the season, Cincinnati averages 29:43 in time of possession and they are at 30:21 over their past three games. Pittsburgh is at 28:48 for the season and 29:54 over their past three.
• Cincinnati's plus-13 turnover differential is second-best in the league behind only the 49ers. Pittsburgh now sits at plus-7. The Bengals have 23 takeaways compared to 21 by Pittsburgh and their 15 interceptions is third-best in the league. Cincinnati's 12 giveaways are tied for best in the league. Pittsburgh has 14 giveaways. The Bengals have fumbled eight times, but have only lost two of those, which is the fewest in the NFL. Pittsburgh has lost just five fumbles.
• With every team now finished with their bye weeks, each division has 56 games played in the books and there hasn't been a tie. The combined record of the AFC North is 35-21, best in the league. No other division has more than 29 wins and if you eliminate the nine games within the division, the AFC North's record moves to 26-12. The AFC North as a whole has a point differential of plus-118.
• The Bengals opponents have produced 845 more yards from scrimmage than Cincinnati. The Steelers opponents have produced 851 more yards from scrimmage.
• Cincinnati's opponents are rushing for 43.9 yards per game more than the Bengals, the worst differential in the league.
• The Bengals are fourth (76.8%) and the Steelers are fifth (75.4%) in their usage of 11 Personnel (1 RB/1 TE) on offense. Only two defenses are seeing a lower percentage of 11 Personnel used against them than Pittsburgh at 54.1%.
• Since these teams played in Week 12, the Bengals are sixth in the NFL in scoring on 48.6% of their drives.
• The Steelers have a 5-4-1 record with Mason Rudolph as their starting quarterback, including being 2-0 against Cincinnati.
• Based off current EPA, the Steelers face the league's sixth-most difficult schedule the rest of the way and Cincinnati faces the eighth-most difficult. Just based off current winning percentages, the Steelers face the third-most difficult remaining schedule, and the Bengals face the fourth. The Bengals are slated to face the most difficult run of opposing defenses the rest of the way in the league. Per DVOA, Cincinnati has faced the NFL's toughest schedule.

WHEN PITTSBURGH HAS THE BALL

• The Steelers offense averages 4.8 yards per play for the season, but just 4.5 over their past three games. The Bengals 6.0 yards allowed per play is the highest in the league, but they are down to 5.5 over their last three. However, Minnesota averaged 6.3 yards per play in Cincinnati last week.
• The Steelers have only run 160 offensive plays this season with a lead. Only the Jets (106) and Panthers (96) have snapped the ball less often when ahead on the scoreboard.
• The Bengals defense is 29^th in EPA per play on early downs and 31^st over the past three weeks. Pittsburgh's offense is 23^rd in this metric and 28^th over the past three weeks. Cincinnati is allowing 6.7 yards per play on first down for the season, the highest in the league. The Bengals are allowing 5.0 plays per game of 20-plus yards, also the highest in the league.
• In terms of EPA per play, only the Commanders, Cardinals, and Eagles have been worse than Cincinnati's defense this season, and only the Cardinals have been worse in success rate.
• Cincinnati's opponents are attacking them out of 13 Personnel (1 RB/3 TE) at the league's fourth-highest rate.
• The Bengals allow 8.0 yards per pass attempt, 31^st in the NFL. Cincinnati also allows a league high 286.3 passing yards per game over their past nine games. No defense is facing a higher average depth of target (9.39) than Cincinnati this season.
• The Steelers threw for just 142 yards last week. Nick Mullens threw for 303 yards against Cincinnati in Week 15.
• In Rudolph's 387 career pass attempts, he has 16 touchdown passes against 11 interceptions and averages 6.1 yards per pass attempt with a career 61.5% completion percentage.
• Diontae Johnson has finished with 62 or fewer yards in five straight games. However, last week he became the first player in Steelers history with 500-plus receiving yards in each of his first five seasons. Johnson has also scored a touchdown in three-straight games, the longest streak of his career. In 16 career games with Rudolph under center, Johnson averages 7.3 targets, 4.8 receptions, and 58.2 receiving yards per game.
• The Bengals are giving up the fifth-most yards per route run (2.21) and second most yards per reception (14.8) to receivers aligned on the perimeter. Johnson has aligned on the perimeter for 79.6% of his snaps and George Pickens has for 83.5%.
• Since his touchdown catch in Week 3 against Las Vegas, Calvin Austin has six catches for 81 yards.
• When these teams met last, Pat Freiermuth had by far his best game of the season catching nine passes for 120 yards. However, in the eight other games in which Freiermuth has appeared, he has been targeted just 30 times, catching 18 of those for only 123 yards. Freiermuth has three catches in each of his last three games, but he's fallen below 30 receiving yards in each of those games since facing the Bengals. Cincinnati allows a league-high 6.9 catches, 8.5 targets, 72.3 receiving yards per game to tight ends - all last in the league - and 8.5 yards per target to the position, which is 31^st. Still, Freiermuth's 22% targets per route run is only behind five tight ends in the league and Kyle Pitts is the only qualified tight end that aligns in the slot a higher percentage (71%) than Freiermuth, who has run a route on 85% of Pittsburgh's drop backs over the past two games.
• Here are how the Steelers wide receivers stack up in several categories: Average depth of target: Pickens 13.3, Johnson 12.8, Austin 10.9, Allen Robinson 7.6. Target per route run: Johnson .25, Pickens .21, Austin .14, Robinson .13. Yards per route run: Pickens 1.86, Johnson 1.83, Austin .93, Robinson .76. Yards after catch per reception: Pickens 4.98, Austin 4.41, Johnson 3.73, Robinson 2.13.
• Pittsburgh gave up four sacks last week in Indianapolis. Trey Hendrickson leads the Bengals with 15 sacks. No one else on the team has more than five. Hendrickson has six games in a row with at least half a sack and he has at least a sack in every road game this season.
• Cincinnati has six different defenders with multiple interceptions.
• The Steelers rushed for 153 yards in Cincinnati earlier this season, 99 of those from Najee Harris. The Steelers averaged 2.8 yards per carry in Indianapolis last week and produced just 74 rushing yards, but the Bengals allowed 143 yards on the ground to Minnesota last week. Only five defenses have surrendered more rushing yards this season than the Bengals, and only the Broncos allow a higher yards per carry. 29.9% of rushing plays against Cincinnati have resulted in a first down or touchdown, the highest rate in the league. 13.4% of the rushing attempts have gained 10 or more yards, the third highest rate in the NFL.
• Harris and Jaylen Warren have accounted for 1,375 of the Steelers 1,540 rushing yards. Warren received a 69% snap share in Indianapolis, by far the highest of his career. 53% had been Warren's previous high. He also set a career high with an 83% route participation. Warren has created an explosive run on a league-high 16.8% of his rushing attempts. He also leads all running backs in yards after contact (3.74) and avoided tackles (.34) per attempt. Harris and Warren are the only pair of AFC running backs with 850-plus yards from scrimmage each.
• Bengals DT DJ Reader is out for the season. On the 109 running back rushing attempts this season with Reader off the field, Cincinnati has allowed 5.6 yards per carry with 28.4% of those carries going for a first down or touchdown. Both are worst in the league.
• Cincinnati's defense has been on the field for 929 snaps this season. Safety Dax Hill leads the way with 923 snaps played followed directly by linebacker Logan Wilson at 922. Linebacker Germaine Pratt has played 840, but no one else is over 750 defensive snaps played.
• Over the course of the season, only five offenses have started their drives with worse average starting field position than the Steelers.

WHEN CINCINNATI HAS THE BALL

• Cincinnati's offense averages 5.2 yards per play but that jumps all the way up to 6.3 over their past three games. The Steelers give up 5.4 for the season and 5.2 over their last three.
• The Bengals are 27^th in the league in their usage of 12 Personnel (1 RB/2 TE), using this grouping just 10.6% of their snaps.
• Pittsburgh's opponents are attacking them out of 13 Personnel (1 RB/3 TE) at the league's second-highest rate.
• Pittsburgh's defense uses a nickel package with five defensive backs on the field just 37.2% of the time. Only one defense utilizes nickel less.
• Only two offenses operate under center less than Cincinnati, who use it just 11% of its snaps.
• Only the Commanders and Jets are throwing the ball this season at a higher rate than Cincinnati (64.3%). However, the Bengals are only throwing the ball on 57% of their snaps over the past three weeks.
• Over their past three games, Cincinnati's offense has put out 85^th percentile, 65^th percentile, and 73^rd percentile EPA/play performances and Jake Browning had a positive EPA/play in each of those games and is second among all quarterbacks in EPA/play during that time behind only Brock Purdy since Week 13.
• Of quarterbacks this season with at least 100 passing attempts, Browning (8.67) is second only to Purdy (9.88) in yards per attempt and passer rating (119 for Purdy and 107.1 for Browning). Browning is completing 70.7% of his pass attempts 10-plus air yards downfield.
• Browning threw for 227 yards, his first start, against the Steelers in Week 12. Last week, he threw for 334 yards against Minnesota and went 16 of 17 when throwing to running backs and tight ends. Browning was 20 for 27 for 243 yards with two touchdowns and an interception in just the second half. Browning has nine total touchdowns (two rushing) in his four starts. He is only the fifth quarterback since 1950 to have a quarterback rating of 95 or better in each of his first four career starts.
• The Bengals have the lowest average depth of target in the league by a significant margin. Their average pass travels 6.43 yards downfield. Kansas City is next at 6.83. Just isolating on Browning, his average depth of target comes in at 6.3 yards downfield over his six games played. Just 8.5% of Browning's pass attempts have traveled 20-plus yards over his four starts, the third-lowest rate in the league, and 25.6% of his passes have been behind the line of scrimmage, also the third-highest rate.
• Only five defenses have a lower completion percentage allowed this season than Pittsburgh, but the Steelers have allowed three touchdown passes in each of the past two games.
• Ja'Marr Chase has 581 receiving yards than any other Bengals player this season, but while battling injury, he has just 93 receiving yards over the past two weeks. Chase left last week's game early with a shoulder injury, which will keep him out of this game.
• Because of injuries, Tee Higgins was limited early in the season. Between Weeks 3 and 14, he made seven appearances, but averaged just 3.4 receptions and 49.6 yards in those seven games. Over the past three seasons, Higgins averages 2.45 yards per route run with a 24.2% target share when Chase isn't on the field, compared to 1.81 and 20.1% when alongside Chase. In the four full games without Chase, Higgins has averaged 2.8 receiving yards per game. Higgins didn't play in these team's first meeting this season.
• Tyler Boyd has posted three or fewer catches in six of his last eight games and caught just three passes for 23 yards in Week 12 against Pittsburgh. He hasn't scored a touchdown since Week 6. In the four games Boyd has played without Chase, he averages 35 receiving yards per game.
• The Steelers are giving up the fifth-most yards per game (89.8) to receivers aligned in the slot.
• Cincinnati has four different tight ends this season that have played between 178 and 362 offensive snaps.
• Tanner Hudson is fourth in the league in yards per route run (1.97 yards) among tight ends that have run 100+ routes this season. While Hudson has only run 151 routes this year, his route participation did climb to 46.8% of Cincinnati's drop backs last week, his highest rate since Week 4. Hudson reeled off five straight games from Weeks 9-13 with four or more receptions. The Steelers have allowed five touchdowns to tight ends over the past four games.
• Twelve different Bengals receivers were targeted last week. Browning's target distribution this season: Chase 30, Boyd 21, Hudson 19, Joe Mixon 17, Higgins 15, Trenton Irwin 7 and Chase Brown 6.
• Joey Porter Jr. has allowed just a 43.5% completion rate and one touchdown on the 45 passes thrown his way, the lowest percentage in the league (minimum 40 targets).
• Only the Jets and Raiders have fewer rushing yards this year than Cincinnati. The Bengals are also 31^st in yards per carry.
• When these teams met a few weeks back, Cincinnati could only muster 25 yards on the ground. Mixon was the only running back to carry the ball. He finished with eight carries for 16 yards.
• T.J. Watt's five two-sack games this season came last week as well as in the first meeting against Cincinnati. He now has 21 games with at least two sacks in his career. Watt now has 16 sacks this season and at least one sack in eight of his 12 matchups against Cincinnati.
• Eleven different Steelers defenders have an interception this season, but no one has more than two.
• Over his past three games, Brown has 109 of his 115 rushing yards. The Bengals' second-leading rusher, Brown is still 700 yards behind Mixon. Last week, Mixon received 52% of the backfield touches, by far his lowest rate in a game this season, and his percentage has dropped now in three straight games as Brown has received 26.5%, 30.6%, and 40% of the backfield touches. Over the past three weeks Brown has received 29% of the team's rushing attempts and has averaged 10 touches per game. Mixon has scored a touchdown in seven of his last eight games and has three or more catches in eight of his past 10 contests. Mixon leads the NFL in carries (10) within the 5-yard line.
• Only three defenses have given up fewer rushing touchdowns this season than Pittsburgh. Only 2% of the rushing attempts against the Steelers have resulted in touchdowns.
• The Bengals starting offensive line consisting of Orlando Brown, Jonah Williams, Cordell Volson, Alex Cappa and Ted Karras have combined to miss just 21 total snaps this season.

SPECIAL TEAMS

• Pressley Harvin has a gross punting average of 44.4 yards. Only two qualified punters are worse, but one of those two is Cincinnati's Brad Robbins at 44.0.
• Chris Boswell has made 92% of his field goal attempts this season and has just one miss inside of 60 yards. Evan McPherson has made 82.1% of his attempts with all five of his misses coming in the 50–59-yard range.

Most Memorable Moment:

AFC Wild Card Game, Jan. 10, 2016: Steelers 18, Bengals 16, at Paul Brown Stadium

Cincinnati was without their starting quarterback Andy Dalton for this playoff game, but had been to the postseason in five of the previous six years and were very talented. It was AJ McCarron that started this Wild Card matchup in Cincinnati and after a Ben Roethlisberger shoulder injury, the Steelers had to turn to Landry Jones. Jones' first pass was intercepted by Vontaze Burfict. That interception gave the Bengals the ball with 1:36 to play with a 16-15 lead and the ball at their own 26-yard line. But Ryan Shazier stripped the ball from Jeremy Hill, the Steelers recovered, and Roethlisberger returned to the game. After moving the team down the field, a 15-yard Burfict penalty put the Steelers in field goal range to win the game. But then, Adam Jones was called for his own 15-yard unsportsmanlike penalty and the ball was moved to the 17-yard line. Boswell sealed the deal and the Steelers moved onto the next round of the playoffs in Denver.

KEY MATCHUPS

Bengals WR Tee Higgins vs. Steelers CB Joey Porter Jr. - Porter has shown lockdown capabilities against the opposing team's best wide receiver. This week he will get Higgins. Both players have great size and do their best work in contested catch situations. This should be an excellent one-on-one battle and pivotal to the outcome of this game. Higgins caught two touchdowns, one in spectacular fashion, last week.

Steelers LT Dan Moore vs. Bengals DE Trey Hendrickson - Moore had a rough outing in Indianapolis last week, and it doesn't get any easier in Week 16 against Hendrickson, Cincinnati's best pass rusher and edge defender. Hendrickson had a sack and a half last week