Most of the focus today will be on Bengals linebacker Vontaze Burfict, who ended the seasons of both Pittsburgh running Le’Veon Bell and wide receiver Antonio Brown last year. His Week 7 tackle the shredded Bell’s knee was legal, but Burfict’s celebration as the running back lay writhing in pain drew the ire of the Steelers.
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Then in the wild-card game, Burfict’s shot to Brown’s head left the receiver concussed and unable to play the following week in the divisional round loss at Denver. The day after Burfict’s hit, which also moved the Steelers into position for a game-winning field goal, the NFL suspended him for three games, forcing him to miss this year’s first meeting in Week 2.
Bell was suspended the first three weeks for violating the league’s substance abuse policy, so this will be their first meeting since Week 7 last year.
Burfict has been playing at Pro Bowl level the last five weeks and only has one penalty for 5 yards this season. But anytime he’s on the same field with the Steelers it bears watching.
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Here are six other things to watch for when the rivals kick off at 1 p.m. today at Paul Brown Stadium:
Speedy start
The Bengals have scored on their first two possessions each in the last two games (first six, actually, two weeks ago against Philadelphia) and have gone on to win both of them.
“We’ve improved,” Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton said. “We ran the ball well last week. We were converting on third downs. In the last couple of weeks, our third down percentage has gone up from where it was. It just comes down to our mentality. We want to get a lead early and try and carry that momentum.”
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Another fast start Sunday will be important against a Pittsburgh offense that not only can put up in points in a hurry, but has a knack for jumping on the Bengals early.
The Steelers have scored first in each of their last eight games against Cincinnati and 11 of 12.
The Bengals are 4-1 this year when scoring first compared to 1-6-1 when the opponent does.
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Burkhead boost
Rex Burkhead has played an important role for the Bengals offense since the loss of Giovani Bernard on Nov. 20, averaging 9.7 touches and 55 yards per game, and he could be especially key Sunday.
Bernard always played a bigger role against the Steelers, mainly because of his ability to pick up blitzers. And that increased playing time led to more chances to run the ball and catch it, and Bernard always found a way to produce against Pittsburgh, including the Week 2 meeting when he caught a career-high nine passes for 100 yards and a touchdown.
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In seven career games against the Steelers, Bernard had five touchdowns while averaging 61.2 scrimmage yards.
Look for offensive coordinator Ken Zampese to get Burkhead involved with a lot of screens and a handful of runs.
Youth on youth
The Bengals are expected to be without Pro Bowl wide receiver A.J. Green for a fourth consecutive game, which means the trio of rookie receivers will need to be a big part of the offense once again. As will James Wright, who is expected to return after missing last week’s game with a knee injury.
Wright isn’t a rookie, but his limited experience is on par with first-year guys Tyler Boyd, Alex Erickson and Cody Core.
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A few of the Pittsburgh players assigned to cover the young Bengals receivers are inexperienced themselves. Rookie Artie Burns, this year’s first-round pick, moved into a starting role six weeks ago, and third-year corner Ross Cockrell is in his first full season as a starter.
“The two young corners are doing a great job for them in the secondary, and the guys are doing a good job of putting pressure up front on the opposing offense,” Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis said.
Rookie second-round pick Sean Davis took over the starting strong safety job four weeks ago and has recorded his first career sack and interception in the last two games.
Digging deep
As much as the Bengals defense prides itself on not giving up explosive plays, Pittsburgh quarterback Ben Roethlisberger has been able to hit a few of them in the last three meetings.
Roethlisberger victimized Darqueze Dennard twice on deep shots of 53 and 44 yards to Sammie Coates in the Week 2 game, with both bombs setting up Pittsburgh touchdowns in a 24-16 win. A 60-yarder to Antonio Brown led to a touchdown in the wild-card game in January. And a 31-yard pass to Markus Wheaton set up a touchdown in the 33-20 win at PBS last December.
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But after giving up 13 pass plays of at least 30 yards through the first eight games, the Bengals have allowed just three in the last five.
And they also have a history of capitalizing on deep attempts by Roethlisberger. Dre Kirkpatrick and Adam Jones each had interceptions on deep balls in Week 2. In the last four games against Roethlisberger, the Bengals have picked off seven passes, many of which have been deep shots.
Finger fortress
Dalton wore a glove on his throwing hand for the first time in his career last week at Cleveland and played well in snowy conditions.
It certainly can be debated whether a bad Browns defense had more to do with Dalton’s performance than the glove, but he said he felt comfortable using it and would consider doing so again.
“If I feel like I have a good enough grip, I will,” he said. “With the cold weather, your hand gets dry. You put a glove on it, and that eliminates some of it. It will be a feel thing.”
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The predicted temperature at kickoff is 28 degrees.
Dalton is 3-1 when the temperature is below 32 degrees, with the lone loss being a 30-20 decision at Pittsburgh in 2013.
PAT party
If newly signed kicker Randy Bullock makes his first extra point attempt, it could produce one of the largest cheers of the day.
The fan base ran out of patience with former kicker Mike Nugent long before the team finally did with Tuesday’s release. Nugent had missed extra points in each of the last four games, so Bullock no doubt will elicit a louder than usual roar if he puts his first through.
Or if he makes his first field goal attempt.
It will be interesting to see what kind of trust Lewis will have in Bullock if the Bengals are facing fourth down somewhere around the Pittsburgh 35. Bullock is 5 of 11 from beyond 50 yards in his career and hasn’t made one from that distance since 2014, but if the game follows the recent Bengals-Steelers trend of low-scoring contests, Lewis might be forced to take the risk.
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Next game
Pittsburgh Steelers (8-5) at Cincinnati Bengals (5-7-1)
When: 1 p.m. Sunday
TV: Ch. 7, 12
Radio: 700-AM, 1530-AM, 102.7-FM, 104.7-FM
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