Steelers vs. Bengals, Week 4: Knee-Jerk Reactions to the Steelers’ 27-3 victory over Cincinnati.

Here we go! The Steelers have had a horrendous start and their season could be said to be on life support already. However, a win here could jump start things and have the Men of Steel a game out of first in the AFC North. This is a must win. Let’s see if they can pull this off.

Nonetheless, a simple reminder, a knee jerk reaction is an immediate and unthinking, emotional reaction. It’s basically shooting first and apologizing later. I can safely say that’s a true definition of your’s truly and a good lot of Steeler Nation. Here’s my real-time reactions during the Steelers’ chance at redemption as they desperately look for their first win of the new season.

Quarter 1

• Here we go this is “Threat Level Midnight for both teams. But I don’t care about Cincy. It’s TLM for the Steelers.
• Dalton is really passing on them well. Keeps moving the sticks.
• Bush is pure speed. Untouched and a huge sack.

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• Let’s hope there’s some innovation on offense shown here.
• Absolutely no room for Conner to run.
• It drives me crazy that National commentators can’t pronounce Randy Fichtner’s name.
• Wait! What? Johnson fumbled.
• Predictable offense.
• Haden had nice coverage on a 6’5” receiver.
• Eifert beat Mark Barron. But No. 26 rebounded to knock that ball away.
• Got away with only three there. Phewww!.
• Some play-action. Nice.
• Good to see a first down.
• And another.
• Dionte Johnson with a talented play.
• They’re going for it? Might as well.
• Except they can’t run. Absolutely ridiculous.
• Devin Bush sniffing out the screen. They need that.
• Mike Hilton slapped that ball away like it was naughty. Big defensive play.
• Haden should have picked that ball off. But it was a huge third down stop that Stephon Tuitt made happen.
• Gotta capitalize now.
• Conner isn’t getting any room at all to move.
• Wow. Gotta throw the red flag there. I see no pass interference whatsoever. But these rarely get overturned.
• Of course.
• Mason finding his way out of trouble with a big completion to the big guy.
• Conner on the screen!
• End of Q1. 3-0, bad guys.

Quarter 2

• Third and four. No clue who he was throwing to there.
• Bush doing well against the run with a huge stop of Mixon.
• And against the pass.
• Defense is making stops.
• It’s weird to see play action.
• Good to see the chains moving a bit. Samuels makes a difference.
• Another third and short. Gotta convert.
• That touchdown to Conner was a sweet athletic play by both thrower and receiver. Good drive.

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• Ross is turning in to a quality option for Cincy.
• The Bengals are targeting Nelson. Not the boy duo from the 90s.
• I thought Bud Dupree was getting held. Beautiful sack.
• Convert here for some comfort.
• I’m liking Mason’s patience.
• Samuels could be the man soon.
• I love the moving of the chains, but would love to see them go a little more vertical.
• Best run by Conner all year.
• Nowhere to go on that big third down for Samuels. Missed opportunity on that drive for the Steelers.
• Which Boswell are we gonna see?
• The one we like.
• Can’t let them get in field goal range.
• Watt and Heyward with a huge sack. They are the heart and soul.
• 10-3...good guys at the half.

Quarter 3

• Getting the ball first in the second half is important. Gotta get a big cushion.
• Great run by Conner. Great blocks too. But he’s limping.
• This high percentage stuff is working. But I’d love to see them stretch this defense with the long ball.
• Conner is back in with a huge pinball play for 21 yards. I kept thinking...please hold on to it.
• The crowd is alive.
• Loving the wildcat. Loving Samuels.

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• Mason was lined up wide and didn’t move a muscle.
• The defense is alive with sack number four.
• Put the game away here fellas.
• That’s what they just did possibly. Diontae Johnson was all alone on a scary-great deep ball. 24-3. Awesome.
• Could somebody tell Booger McFarland that the Bengals are not the Rams.
• Watt Again. Yessssssssss!!!!!!
• Loving this pass rush with a sixth sack. Hargrave in on the action.
• Third and three...can’t convert. Strange throw by Rudy.
• They are moving the ball now, but the defense is playing looser and there is no sense of Cincy urgency.
• Hilton is having a pretty good game.
• End of three. 24-3

Quarter 4

• I can’t argue the PI by Nelson. I knew it right away.
• Have seen very little of Minkah tonight. But Dalton hasn’t been really connecting too much.
• Oh! Ross got cleanly slammed by Haden.
• Keep them out of the end zone. This is probably four-down territory.
• Edmunds and Barron with good coverage there.
• Wow! Didn’t expect that offsides to go against Cincy.
• Mark Barron had a bad game last week. This week he’s valuable. Nice INT.
• DJ 18 has rebounded nicely. He’s a nice player.
• Has anybody ever said, “Hey, I gotta get me a B.W. Webb jersey”?
• I would really love to see the Steelers drain clock here.
• Wow, On third and nine. Jaylen worked for that first down.
• A fight? Yep, that’s Cincinnati/Pittsburgh.
• I thought there would be offsetting penalties with a Pouncey and Billings, but I’ll take it.
• Despite the fight, there still doesn’t seem like the terrible tension exists with a Burfict-less Bengal team.
• 49-yarder from Boz was very true. I think he’s back. 27-3.
• Not that it matters, but I wanted to see a stop on fourth and one.
• Hilton is all over the place.
• Cam just leveled Dalton.
• If that was a fumble out of bounds, then Cam should get another sack.
• PI on Haden. I guess I see it. Kind of.
• Michael Jordan is not living up to his name.
• Bush is having a solid game.
• Alualu. Ishtar sacks for the defense.
• And that’s it. Finally. 27-3.

Once again, I just shot first and I’ll apologize later. All reactions were in real time. Basically, it is the equivalent of watching me do the highlights if I hadn’t been blacklisted by the major networks. Now time to watch it again and see what really happened. Make sure you get your voice heard in the comments below.

On a side note, Bryan was away this weekend and had to watch the game on delay. Therefore Dave Schofield had to be tapped in to help out. If things seemed a little off that is why. Bryan will be back next week for Monday Night Football.