Kovacevic: Don't take the Bengals' bait

Brief and to the Point ...

The Steelers would do well to zip their Cincinnati-loathing lips.

Oh, they haven't mouthed off just yet about the upcoming playoff re-rematch with the Bengals, at least not for public consumption. Will Allen and Darrius Heyward-Bey, good soldiers to the bone, were sent to the podium Monday on the South Side and said all the right stuff. But both teams will get their first real chance to pipe up over the next 24 hours when we media types descend on the Rooney Sports Complex, all looking for quotes that match the rabid energy shown between these two teams in recent meetings.

"It won't be coming from me," Marcus Gilbert was telling me Sunday in Cleveland, this before it was known the Bengals would be the opponent. "I've got a job to do."

We'll see. Gilbert was far from the only one among the Steelers gleefully gloating after that 33-20 bullying Dec. 13 at Paul Brown Stadium and, honestly, I couldn't blame them. The Bengals had blathered all week long and, once kickoff came, they got their tails kicked.



Gilbert got in the greatest dig of all when he told our site this: "We knew we had to rise to the occasion, and we play better December playoff football than anybody. It’s in our DNA. It’s not in theirs.”

Oh, my.

It's as satisfied as I'd seen the Steelers in a long time.

And it's over.

To be in that stadium that day was to have the sense that one team had it all over the other. Whether that was the deplorable Vontaze Burfict backing off James Harrison in the brief warmup skirmish, or the overwhelming physical edge the Steelers enjoyed -- and I do mean enjoyed -- or the righteous indignation afterward that the opponent jabbered away all afternoon without backing it up ... it was a triumph of the will in every way.

Why let that advantage disintegrate?

So people like me can pen more colorful columns?

Hey, with all due respect to our profession, that shouldn't mean a thing to this football team. Maintaining that upper hand should. The most dangerous opponents in life, whether in a business negotiation or at a poker table, are those who stay silent, stay focused and strike when ready.

There will be plenty of time to chatter on the flight to Denver.

• Yes, the Steelers will win this game.

Marvin Lewis has been head coach in Cincinnati for 13 years. He has yet to win a playoff game. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Fool me 13 times, and shame on one who can't recall that the Bengals' most recent playoff victory came in 1990. Against the Oilers. When they were in Houston.

This is what the advanced metrics crowd would call a continental sample size.

• The usage of Antwon Blake all season long in the face of overwhelming evidence that he cannot play has been one of the mindblowingly stubborn decisions of Mike Tomlin's tenure. Now, add to that overwhelming evidence Pro Football Focus announcing Monday that, per its internal measurements, Blake allowed more passing yards (1,024) and missed more tackles (28) than any cornerback since they began tracking in 2008.

You know he'll start in Cincinnati. You just know it. Even after Tomlin had finally seen enough scorching in Cleveland to bench him in the second half for Ross Cockrell.

• Jarvis Jones should start ahead of James Harrison.

That sounds nuts, and I'm aware of that. I'm also aware that Jones couldn't play in the second half in Cleveland and, once he was out, Harrison was a force. But the Steelers will get enough of a push up front from Cam Heyward and man-is-this-guy-getting-good Stephon Tuitt, and most of Jones' duty involves dropping into coverage. Even with Jones out Sunday, Keith Butler had Harrison dropping into coverage.

That actually is nuts.

The fact that Harrison came away with a pick shouldn't mask the unlikeliness of a sequel. For the scheme the Steelers run, Jones will prove more valuable in getting more snaps.

• Wait, Sidney Crosby's still great? At age 28? At full health? With a head coach who knows how to handle both a hockey team and a power play?

Unthinkable!

• David Perron just had a puck passed right to the blade of his stick. In the time it takes to read the rest of this column, he will have gotten off a shot. Maybe.

• Want to know how Mike Sullivan has instituted his system in such a hurry?

Well, the breakout actually has some layers, and he's continuing to implement them in the neutral zone. But in the attacking zone, it's been this simple: If a player is high in the zone -- meaning out by the blue line -- and he's got no teammate anywhere near him, dump the puck back down low. Don't try to make a play. If there is another teammate nearby, either dish the puck or go ahead and try to create.

That's it. And that's how he's explained it to the players, too, in clear, stark terms they can turn into instinctive behavior in short order.

This guy's good.

• Unless he becomes John Tortorella at some point, as more than one outside hockey observer has shared with me that he might. Right now, I just don't see it.

• Here's how it works when Kris Letang struggles: Someone, usually a coach, tells him he needs to simplify his game. Letang flatly rejects any such thing. He then takes the ice, simplifies his game, looks great in the process ... and denies he changed a thing.

Hey, whatever works, right?

• Give it up for the truly great Jarome Iginla:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQtz5d3PLOo

Get a good look. You won't see many more 600-goal scorers in your lifetime.

• Too bad. He'd have made a fine left winger.

• Rankings don't mean as much in college basketball as in football, but Duquesne's women are 13-1 and can't crack the AP Top 25. The most recent rankings emerged Tuesday and the Dukes had only two votes.

One doesn't need to be a women's hoops guru to appreciate how silly it is that 10-5 DePaul is ranked No. 24, with its most recent loss coming to 5-7 Loyola of Chicago, this while the Dukes' last three games have brought blowout victories over No. 25 St. John's, local rival Pitt and the Atlantic 10 opener against Dayton.

Dan Burt, who's done a wonderful job in taking over for Suzie McConnell-Serio, had every right to be ticked off when meeting with reporters Sunday:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-mIaI10yiI

I get that our city isn't exactly a hotbed for women's basketball, and that voters tend to be influenced by school histories far more than they should. But fair is fair.

• Jamie Dixon has three players scoring in double figures: Mike Young leads Pitt at 16.9 points per game, Jamel Artis is next at 15.6, and James Robinson is the other at 10.2

Young and Artis will stay in those ranges all through ACC play. I don't think Robinson will, based on how he's shot through his first three seasons with the Panthers. But if I'm wrong -- and I'd welcome that -- and Robinson can finally show a consistent shooting touch in conference play, this will be one of the surprise teams in the country.

The depth, as Dixon was telling me recently, is definitely there. But Pitt will need three guys, not two, to stand out.

• When was the last time a local lad left a college early for the NFL Draft accompanied by as much upbeat sentiment as what Tyler Boyd has received?

The times certainly are changing in that regard. And for the better. Boyd and his family have earned everything they have coming to them.

• There are few things in the world of sports that turn my stomach like the annual angst over Baseball Hall of Fame voting. The national writers produce about 1,000 times more content on this topic than they do on the sport's increasingly obscene revenue divide, and the Internet as a whole has developed this witch-hunt mindset about weeding out all the non-conforming voters. You know, because all ballots should be identical.

And of all these people who preach with such passion, here's betting less than .0001 percent have ever made the trek to Cooperstown to support what's sadly become a sinking business up there.

Get fired up about that.

• I filled out my ballot last week. I'll share it with subscribers Wednesday.

• Perron didn't shoot that puck, after all. Just spun around a little and dropped it back to a trailing defenseman.