The Steelers insist they didn’t do much different against Ja’Marr Chase and the Bengals yesterday, they just did it better. In their last matchup, Cincinnati’s offense dominated, producing 33 points. Chase set a franchise record, catching 16 passes on 23 targets for 161 yards and a touchdown.
Suffice it to say that he didn’t come close to those numbers in yesterday’s game. Despite the Bengals offense remaining hot in between the two games, the Steelers suddenly cooled things down. Joe Flacco still had 40 pass attempts, but he only completed 23. He targeted Chase 10 times, but the Steelers held him to three catches for 30 yards.
And that wasn’t idle defense, either. The Steelers broke up three passes intended for Ja’Marr Chase, including one each by Joey Porter Jr. and James Pierre. T.J. Watt broke up a third at the line of scrimmage on a batted pass. So how did they completely flip the script?
“I don’t know that we changed anything of any significance”, HC Mike Tomlin said about why they defended Chase better, via the Steelers’ website. “I just thought we were more solid today, to be honest with you”.
Elsewhere, Tomlin did praise the safety tandem they put in place after the last Bengals game. Following DeShon Elliott’s injury, they moved Jalen Ramsey to safety and acquired Kyle Dugger. Dugger had a pick-six in yesterday’s game, which certainly helped. And Ramsey and Chase, let’s say, exchanged a little more than words. One or the other might earn themselves a little timeout, in fact.
“Sometimes on some downs and distances we played a little different, but for the most part it was the same stuff,”, Patrick Queen told Christopher Carter about what the Steelers did differently in yesterday’s game against Chase and the Bengals. “Everybody trusted each other. We understood the offense. Everyone played football and understood, situations, formations and tendencies”.
Chase, of course, made a comment after their previous win over the Steelers that the Bengals knew what they were doing. Suffice it to say that Steelers players took notice of that. “Guys understood what they’d get on certain downs and distances”, Queen said. “When we play like that and everyone understands what’s going on, we can really run whatever we want on defense and make it work. … We kept it simple and understood”.
Odds are, the Steelers won’t see Ja’Marr Chase again this year. The Bengals are now 3-7 on the season and it would take a minor miracle for them to turn things around at this point. Now three games back in the AFC North, the postseason is looking like a pipe dream. And they already knew their only legitimate path to the playoffs this year was through the division.
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