My 10 thoughts on the Steelers' 29-14 victory over the Bengals on Sunday at Heinz Field:
1. HOW MUCH MORE?
Le'Veon Bell has been working on his boxing skills and, on Sunday, the Steelers' star running back put some of those skills on display against the Bengals.
While Bell carried the ball 35 times for 134 bruising yards, it was the stiff-arm he put on Cincinnati cornerback Dre Kirkpatrick in the open field on one of his three receptions that had everyone talking, even if a lot of his offensive teammates didn't see it.
"We had two guys out deep and Le'Veon was right in my vision, right where he was supposed to be. I got him the ball and let him do the rest of the work," Ben Roethlisberger said. "I couldn't see much. ... You just see him keep running. It's just fun to watch him work."
It wasn't for the Bengals, especially for Kirkpatrick. Bell caught the ball just a couple of yards from the line of scrimmage and juked linebacker Vincent Rey. Then he turned on the jets and made Vontaze Burfict whiff on a tackle attempt before turning his attention to Kirkpatrick, all 6-2, 185 pounds of him:
"I had no idea," Bell replied when I asked if he was aware of the wake of defenders he left in his path. "I remember seeing a seam and I just hit it as hard as I could. I ended up breaking through and I didn't know how many guys were around me. I must have had tunnel vision at the time. I just hit the hole. I ended up breaking the tackle and got a big gain."
Bell not only caught Kirkpatrick squarely in the chin with his stiff-arm, but he also shoved him to the ground, continuing along his way until Rey finally ran him out of bounds at the Cincinnati 17.
"That's why he's the best running back in the NFL," said fullback Roosevelt Nix. "He can make plays like that at any time."
The play seemed to symbolize what was coming for the Bengals.
At that point, Bell had gained 47 yards on 10 carries.
"Tackling was something I said at halftime we had better do better going into the second half," said Cincinnati head coach Marvin Lewis.
It didn't matter.
Bell ground out 87 yards on his next 25 carries, even though the Bengals knew what was coming. It wasn't a big number. But it was effective.
Bell has now carried the ball 35 and 32 times in the past two games after saying the Steelers hadn't run the ball enough in a 30-9 loss to Jacksonville three weeks ago.
How many more times can Bell continue to carry the ball 30-plus times per game?
"How many more games do we have?" said Bell. "No, for real. How many more games do we have? Nine? At least nine."
Does he perhaps have another stiff-arm or two in him?
"I've been working on my boxing skills," Bell said. "Maybe that's helping. That was one of my better stiff-arms. I don't know what came over me that play."
2. ARE THEY THAT MUCH BETTER?
The Steelers have now won seven of their past eight games against the Bengals, and it's not because their talent is that much better. For whatever reason -- read: coaching -- Marvin Lewis and staff seemingly give up on their running game against the Steelers time and again, even when it is working.
That happened again Sunday as rookie Joe Mixon didn't get a single carry in the second half after having seven carries for 48 yards in the first half.
Part of the reason is because they don't trust the rookie to pass-block. But for much of the second half, the Steelers really hadn't put this game away because they were 1 for 6 in the red zone. Yet the Bengals ran the ball just five times in the second half, with two of those being Andy Dalton scrambles.
The game was largely reminiscent of what the Steelers did at Heinz Field against Jacksonville a couple of weeks ago -- without the interceptions returned for touchdowns.
In this one, the Steelers had interceptions to end back-to-back possessions in the third quarter. And the Bengals quit running the ball after that
3. JUST LOG OFF
Martavis Bryant isn't a happy camper. He got just two targets in this game and now has five in the past two games, both wins.
Certainly you don't want a player complaining, in this case on Instagram. That's especially true after a win.
But Ben Roethlisberger does seem to be looking elsewhere. A lot.
Bryant was open in the front of the end zone on Roethlisberger's right in the second quarter with the game tied at 14-14. Roethlisberger never looked at him until Antonio Brown came across the field from his left. Roethlisberger followed him all the way across and threw an incompletion into coverage.
Bryant did get open later on a deep pass, but he appeared to lose the ball in the lights as it landed harmlessly to the outside while he had inside leverage.
Note to NFL players: Stay off of social media after games.
That was driven home to me a few years back when Emmanuel Sanders began retweeting all of the nasty posts he was getting after he dropped a game-tying two-point conversion pass in Baltimore. Most of what was directed at Sanders wasn't fit for public consumption. He handled it well.
But it leads to frustration, which is not a good thing when a player is already feeling that way. Bryant deleted the above message from his Instagram account, then posted this:
Bryant is right about working hard with no help and little support. That's what the NFL rules dictate happens to a player who is suspended for violation of the league's substance abuse policy. It's not right, in my opinion. Players in that situation shouldn't be cut loose and left on their own.
But he put himself in that situation.
4. STILL SEEKING RECEIVER.
All of that said, the Steelers need to find a consistent target opposite Brown.
Brown had four receptions for 65 yards and a touchdown Sunday, modest numbers for the league's leading receiver. And that was on 10 targets.
The Steelers didn't throw the ball a lot. But Roethlisberger was 12 of 15 targeting anyone other than Brown. That gives you an idea of exactly how much the Bengals were blanketing Brown.
One of the incompletions Roethlisberger had throwing to anyone other than Brown was a drop by Vance McDonald in the back of the end zone. Another was the deep ball to Bryant.
Roethlisberger was incredibly sharp in this game. He looked like vintage Ben.
5. THIS DEFENSE IS FOR REAL.
Whether it's because of an improved pass rush or improved coverage, we might never know. They do, after all, work hand in hand.
I do know this: Andy Dalton came out matching Roethlisberger pass for pass in this game -- until he started getting consistent pressure in his face.
6. LINEBACKER ROULETTE?
The Steelers largely used Bud Dupree and T.J. Watt at outside linebacker, but they were replaced by Anthony Chickillo and James Harrison when the Bengals got inside the 10. The reason is that Harrison is their best run defending outside linebacker and Chickillo has better football instincts than Dupree.
But man, are Dupree and Watt athletic. Of course, that's what you would expect out of first-round draft picks at outside linebacker not named Jarvis Jones.
7. THIS COUNTS.
The Steelers have placed themselves in the pole position to not only win the AFC North, but for home-field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs.
It's still way too early to start thinking about those kinds of things for the players inside that locker room ... which is why we do it here.
The Steelers are 5-2 for the first time since 2011. Over the second half of the past four seasons, they are 25-6. This has been a strong second-half team. And the second half doesn't officially start until they come out of their bye after playing Detroit next week. They have three road games in the second half. One is at Indianapolis, which they have owned in recent years and which will likely still be without Andrew Luck. Another is at Cincinnati, where they have lost just twice with Roethlisberger at quarterback.
This thing is setting up nicely for a team that stunningly lost at Chicago and at home to Jacksonville but seems to have righted the ship.
8. LEARN FROM ELWAY.
In his final two seasons, John Elway attempted more than 40 passes just three times. The Broncos lost all three of those games for Denver, which won the Super Bowl in each of those seasons. In fact, in Elway's final season, he never threw the ball more than 36 times.
Point is, the Steelers don't need a lot of passes from Roethlisberger at this point in his career. But they do need him to be efficient and effective, as he was Sunday.
9. LAY OFF LE'VEON?
Can Bell survive carrying the ball 30-35 times each week?
He says yes. But the more I see of James Conner out there, the more I think that number should be 25-30 touches for Bell, with Conner getting 5-10. I wouldn't even mind seeing Terrell Watson sprinkled in a little more.
10. THE X FACTOR.
McDonald had two very nice catches in this game, and by nice, I mean athletic catches down the field. But he is still prone to the occasional drop.
It was nice to see Xavier Grimble step in when McDonald suffered a minor knee injury and do a solid job blocking while also catching a 12-yard pass. Grimble had been inactive the past couple of weeks. That seemed to bring out a little hunger in him. Either that, or the way everyone else around him was blocking was contagious.
MATT SUNDAY GALLERY
Steelers vs Bengals, Heinz Field, Oct. 22, 2017. - MATT SUNDAY / DKPS