Playing for a torch

By Magoo
With the exception of the Denver Broncos the Pittsburgh Steelers have faced every AFC playoff bound team at least once this season. The one team they played twice, the Cincinnati Bengals, will be their opponent next Sunday when the Steelers make their 4th post-season appearance in the past 5 years. The Bengals will be making their first playoff appearance in 15 years.

After the Steelers fell to the Bengals 38-31 in December the media made some references that the torch had been passed... meaning the Bengals now controlled the AFC North. As it has played out the real AFC North title game will be played next Sunday. The game will be the rubber match as the teams split in their regular season meetings. One team will move on in the playoffs the other will go home without a torch.

Neither the Steelers nor the Bengals played like champions yesterday. The Bengals were white washed 37-3 by the Kansas City Chiefs. The Steelers 35-21 win over the Detroit Lions was not a particularly impressive performance. Both teams however did manage to escape Sunday's contests without any significant injuries.    

The Bengals, who have lost 4 straight against the Steelers at Paul Brown Stadium, are looking forward to the match up with their division rivals.

 "I’m getting goose bumps just thinking about it," said Bengal quarterback Carson Palmer, who played in just two series against the Chiefs. "Those guys love playing us and we love playing them."

"We're fired up about the opportunity. This is going to be a great game," Palmer said. "We love the match up with Pittsburgh. We love playing those guys and those guys love playing us. It's always a great, competitive game. It gets your minds ready. When you've got Pittsburgh coming in you've got to get your mind focused, you've got to get your mind prepared.

"We're going to come out firing."

In the Bengals 38-31 win the Steelers had difficulty stopping the Bengals passing attack as Palmer completed 22 of 38 passes for 222 yards and 3 TDs. Most of those completions went to the Bengals wide receiving tandem of T. J. Houshmandzadeh (5 catches for 88 yards 2 TDS), rookie Chris Henry (5 catches for 52 yards) and the colorful Chad Johnson (5 catches for 55 yards). 

Johnson discounted yesterday’s loss.

"Have you seen our offense? That's the answer," said Johnson after he caught four balls for 55 yards against the Chiefs. "What did (Sunday's game) mean? It didn't count against anything, it didn't affect anything. I'm ready to go play."

In fact it did! It meant that the Steelers defense would get a new opportunity to try and stop the NFL's 5th ranked passing attack.

"We're playing Pittsburgh, it's not rocket science," Johnson said. "Our offense is going to have to execute and we're going to have to do what we do. Throw it all over the place."

The Steelers are well aware of what the Bengals bring to the table.

"They’re playing at a high level. This will be our third time playing them." Steeler coach Bill Cowher told the media after the Steeler's 35-21 victory over the Lions." They’re explosive.  There will be a lot of excitement in that stadium, their first playoff game in a long time. It’s a big, big challenge for us. We certainly have to play better than the last time we played them and better defensively than how we played today. It’s going to be a big challenge for us."

Going into the game on Sunday the Steelers will have a 4 game winning streak. During that stretch each game had playoff implications and each time the Steelers have come away successful. Asked if he thought the Steelers might look past the Bengals Cowher told reporters.

"I don’t think so. We’re in [the playoffs]. We all understand it. It will be easy because we’ve been kind of (been) in the playoffs for a while now. It’s what today was. If we didn’t win today we were going home. We knew it. To me it’s just the next game. We understand it. We’re going on the road. It will be a big challenge for us."

The fact that the Steelers have remained focused, and withstood the pressure the past 4 weeks, in fact may be what the team will try and build upon.  

 "I feel great about our chances," Steeler running back Jerome Bettis said. "We’re a good football team, the special teams are playing well, the defense is playing well, and the running game is going well. All of those facets give us a really good chance."

Bettis probably remembering that the Steelers commited 7 penalties and 4 turnovers in their last meeting with the Bengals, clarified his point.

"It’s going to be a tough game. They came into our place and beat us, and we beat them there. That gives us a lot of confidence, we know we can win there. We just have to go in there and play a mistake-free football game."

If the Steelers can do just that the Bengals will have to pass the torch back to the Black and Gold.