CINCINNATI -- Every morning on game day all through the NFL season, I'll tee up 10 Takes offering final, mostly fleeting thoughts on the Steelers' matchup at hand.
Here we go, as they say ...
• Here's a reality: The Bengals just reached the Super Bowl, and the Steelers needed a truckload of luck to squeak into a playoff embarrassment.
Here's another: The Bengals swept both meetings in 2021 by an aggregate score of 65-20.
Here's yet another: The Bengals are favored by 6.5 in these teams' season opener here today, 1:02 p.m. kickoff, at newly rechristened Paycor Stadium.
Add those up, and it'd appear one franchise is on the way up, the other on the way down. And it'd appear that way, I'm guessing, principally because the Bengals' rightly ballyhooed offense is way ahead by a million measures, with Joe Burrow and the dynamic younger two-thirds of his wide receiving corps in Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins proving unstoppable in the closing stages of last season. It's even led, I dare say, to some terribly unsightly Cincinnati Envy from the southwest corner of our own commonwealth.
Well, that's fine. They're all beyond legit, as is the Bengals' collective offense, maybe now more than ever given the offseason efforts to fortify a long-leaky line.
But hey, let's look at the ages and pedigrees of the Steelers at the offensive skill positions:
• Mitch Trubisky, 28, first round
• Najee Harris, 24, first round
• Diontae Johnson, 26, third round
• Chase Claypool, 24, second round
• George Pickens, 21, second round
• Pat Freiermuth, 23, second round
And of course, I'd be remiss if not mentioning that Kenny Pickett's next up at age 24 after being a first-rounder himself.
Now, it couldn't be more glaringly obvious that I've omitted literally the entire offensive line -- been there, blasted that -- but that only adds weight to the comparison, right?
• Focusing on the Steelers' post-fortified-line future is fun. The present ... not so much.
Any excitement about the bona fide young talents listed above has to be responsibly tempered by how the line will drag them all down. No amount of snap-releases or quick-strike passes will compensate for a general failure to block. Can't pass. Can't run. Can't possess the ball long enough to keep the defense from wearing down.
• Not to belabor it further, but I'm infinitely more worried about the left side of the line -- Dan Moore and Kevin Dotson -- than Mason Cole, James Daniels and Chuks Okorafor on the right. But show me an imbalanced line, and I'll show you a corresponding imbalanced defensive front. Might as well have the holes illustrated on the blimp.
• Simplify the schemes. Simplify the instruction. Tell 'em all to get mad, to get mean, to get dirty if needed. Use the AFC North environs.
• T.J. Watt's $6.75 million restructuring concession this week should see all that money put in a transparent pot out on South Water Street for any passing offensive lineman to accept.
No, really, I can't be convinced that there aren't available replacements anywhere on this planet superior to the left side of this line. Not with an eight-digit count on cap space.
• I've got trust in Trubisky. I don't have trust that he'll avoid being booed in home games, even if he isn't responsible for a blessed bad thing that happens to him.
• Much rain coming here today, beginning with the morning. Maybe that'll help. Equalizer 'n' at.
• Everyone's favorite player after this game, regardless of outcome, will be Pickens.
But not far behind will be ... Claypool?
I mean it. Out of the slot, he'll be a frequent valve for Trubisky on those quick-strike passes, and I can't overstate how comfortable he's looked upon executing those catches across the middle. A different player. A whole different look, to an extent, for an offense that hadn't so much as tiptoed on that part of the field under Matt Canada.
• Is there such a thing as excessively focusing on a player who almost singlehandedly wrecked your defense a year ago?
Umm ... maybe?
Look, as several players made crystal-clear to me over the past two weeks, the defense will be after Joe Mixon, with ample cause, considering he rushed for 255 yards over the two meetings in 2021. And I get that. If Mixon runs wild again -- or anything close to that -- the Bengals will score at will, and it'll be another farce.
But the key variable, I'd say, is how effectively T.J. and Alex Highsmith seal off the rushing/scrambling edges on both Mixon and Burrow.
Important as it is for one or both to pursue the quarterback, it'll be that much more important to do so while additionally ensuring neither breaks that contain area. That'll force Mixon to the inside, where he'll have to get through Cam Heyward and a line that's far stronger than the one from last season, and it'll keep Burrow from engaging in his trademark rollouts to buy time for all the deep threats.
Something to bear in mind before simply tracking sacks or even hurries.
• No one on this roster can cover Chase. But no one on that roster can cover Pickens.
See what I mean?
• Personal note of nuisance to announcers and others: Tyler Boyd isn't 'from Pittsburgh.' He's from Clairton. He's proud of it. So's his family. Use it.
• The Bills are walking away with this anyway, aren't they?
• Before anyone takes my above prediction too seriously, I've also got the Ravens losing to the Jets today in East Rutherford, N.J., if only because I don't believe that an NFL team can win a game in 2022 with an empty depth chart at wide receiver. And it blows my mind that John Harbaugh thinks he can.
• Here's hoping Deshaun Watson loses every game he doesn't play.
• Most pronounced difference between Ohio's two NFL fan bases: Clevelanders show up in any and all situations. Half of the Cincinnati fans with tickets to this one will have needed GPS help to find the place.
• Always, always, always acknowledge this date for what it is, for what it'll forever represent. Notably, from this perspective, that we were so much stronger as a nation for having been so much more unified.
• Football. For real.
THE ESSENTIALS
• Who: Steelers vs. Bengals
• What: Regular-season opener
• When: 1:02 p.m.
• Where: Paycor Stadium, Cincinnati
• Weather at kick: 75°, 43% chance rain
• TV: KDKA-TV, CBS (national)
• Radio: 102.5 WDVE, ESPN Pittsburgh
• Streaming: Steelers Nation Radio
• Satellite: Sirius XM 383, online 826
• Boxscore: DKPS
• Team media guides: Steelers | Bengals
• Official game notes: Steelers | Bengals
