The Pittsburgh Steelers will play their 6th game of the 2025 season, a Thursday night tilt, against the division rival Cincinnati Bengals. The Bengals are without their stud quarterback Joe Burrow and have replaced him with well-traveled veteran Joe Flacco. The Bengals come in with a 2-4 record, placing them in second place in the AFC North.
Below are five key things I believe the Steelers will need to do to come away with their fifth win of the year.
Run The Damn Ball – The Steelers want to run the ball. They make the effort to run the ball. What started out as less than successful early in the season has shown improvement over the last two weeks. Pittsburgh has been able to hit the century mark in rushing yards in each of the last two games. They have relied on Jaylen Warren and Kenneth Gainwell primarily. Rookie Kaleb Johnson has been more successful in recent weeks, and even Jonnu Smith got a carry last Sunday.
The Bengals enter this game as the fourth-worst team in the NFL when it comes to run defense. They have allowed 814 yards and 8 rushing touchdowns, and they have allowed 153 yards per game in the last five games.
With Pittsburgh’s improvement, their running attempts have increased with 29 and 28 rushes in games four and five. They have averaged 24.8 attempts per game this season.
They should be able to run the ball successfully, and I expect the running attempts to top 30 on Thursday night.
Limit Chase and Tee – Teryl Austin has stated that the reason they built their defensive backfield to its current state was about playing against the Bengals. Cincinnati has one of the best wide receiver duos in the league, and playing them twice a year will have that effect.
Ja’Marr Chase is going to get his share regardless of coverage. If you saw the Bengals game last week, he was blanketed by Keisean Nixon and still caught a touchdown. He has a 29.4 percent target share so far this season.
Tee Higgins is a big receiver at 6’4”, is more of a deep ball threat, and a killer in the red zone. The veteran Flacco is no dummy, targeting the pair a total of 20 times in his first start with the team.
The additions of Darius Slay and Jalen Ramsey, coupled with Joey Porter, Jr., give the team three experienced corners to attempt to slow down the tandem. But it’s going to take a village. Double teams, bracket coverages, and keeping the safeties deep will limit the big plays. Keep those two in check, and their chances of winning increase.
Attack the Backers – We have watched the Steelers linebackers this season and overall, their coverage skills have not been great. Teams have worked the middle of the field with success against Pittsburgh.
But this section is to talk about the Cincinnati linebackers. They, too, have not had success in coverage. Barrett Carter has allowed a 100 percent reception rate on seven targets for a total of 142 yards. Demetrius Knight has surrendered 13 receptions in 16 attempts for 132 yards. Veteran reserve Logan Wilson joins them, allowing 18 catches on 23 targets for 184 yards.
The Steelers have thrown the ball inside the numbers 45 percent of the time this season. Fifty-two of those 64 passes were within ten yards of the line of scrimmage.
We saw an increased usage of Darnell Washington last week. This week, they should get the other tight ends more involved. Additionally, using Warren and Gainwell out of the backfield should also be beneficial. Putting the running backs in one-on-one situations can yield some big plays.
The linebackers will already have their hands full against the run. Attacking the linebackers in coverage should be heavily involved.
Keep Up the Pressure – Don’t look now, but the Steelers are tied for second in the league in sacks. They are still 10 behind the ridiculous pace at which the Denver Broncos are currently. Seventeen of Pittsburgh’s 20 sacks have come in the last three games.
Flacco has over 200 career starts, including the playoffs, so he isn’t going to fluster easily. But that doesn’t mean he won’t make mistakes.
Over his last eight starts, going back to last year, he has been sacked 19 times and lost four fumbles. Through the air in that same time span, he has thrown multiple interceptions in half of those games. Overall, he has eleven passes intercepted in those eight games.
Last week, Pittsburgh did an excellent job of applying pressure and finishing the play. Five different players were credited with at least half a sack, with Ramsey and Nick Herbig each recording two.
Cincinnati has allowed 16 sacks this season, and Flacco himself has been sacked ten times. Force Flacco to make quicker decisions, and there is a good chance he will make mistakes.
All Gas, No Brakes – The 2025 Steelers are off to a great start. Part of that success has been the ability to finish in the red zone. They’ve scored touchdowns on ten of 14 drives through their first five games. That is a 71.4 percent clip. That ranks them sixth in the NFL.
In recent seasons, finishing the drive in the end zone has been a bugaboo. The last time they were even over 60 percent was in 2020.
Coincidentally, the Bengals’ defense is at the same percentage, 71.4, when it comes to allowing touchdowns in the red zone. They are ranked 30th overall. The Bengals offense, however, is producing as well. They are ranked second in the NFL, scoring touchdowns 76.9 percent of the time.
Flacco still throws a nice deep ball, and with Chase and Higgins, Cincinnati can score from anywhere on the field. The Steelers have struggled to play on short rest within the division. Settling for field goals was okay last week against a rookie quarterback. Against the Bengals, they will need to finish with touchdowns.
Related Items:Barrett Carter, Cincinnati Bengals, Darius Slay, Darnell Washington, Demetrius Knight, Ja'Marr Chase, Jalen Ramsey, Jaylen Warren, Joe Flacco, Joey Porter Jr., Jonnu Smith, Kaleb Johnson, Keisean Nixon, Kenneth Gainwell, Logan Wilson, Nick Herbig, Tee Higgins, Teryl Austin
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