the Steelers<\/a> pulled out a 30-27 thriller.<\/p>\n\u201cI think resilience is critical to any, any type of success, whether it\u2019s playing one division game (or) overcoming a loss last week,\u201d McCarthy said.<\/p>\n
Pittsburgh (2-1) did both by showcasing the kind of explosiveness Rodgers has said was possible if everyone just settled down and did their jobs.<\/p>\n
Rodgers completed 19 of 34 passes, including a 47-yard catch-and-run to massive tight end Darnell Washington that helped set up Chris Boswell\u2019s go-ahead, 33-yard field goal with 2:18 remaining.<\/p>\n
The Steelers (2-1) rolled up 411 yards on a revamped Cincinnati defense that had fueled the Bengals\u2019 promising start. Jaylen Warren, dealing with a shoulder injury that limited him in practice, had 176 total yards (127 rushing, 49 receiving), numbers that could have been a little bit higher if he hadn\u2019t tripped over his own feet while running free inside the Cincinnati 10 in the late going.<\/p>\n
Pittsburgh was forced to settle for Boswell\u2019s third field goal, giving Burrow and the Bengals plenty of time to respond.<\/p>\n
Cincinnati made its way into Steelers territory in the final minute and was on the fringe of kicker Evan McPherson\u2019s range when Steelers defensive lineman Derrick Harmon crashed into Burrow. The ball squirted free, and Pittsburgh\u2019s Sebastian Joseph-Day fell on it to spoil the Bengals\u2019 chances at the franchise\u2019s first 3-0 start since 2015.<\/p>\n
\u201cTrying to take a shot at the end zone, trying not to take the sack, trying to get the ball out, (and I) fumbled it,\u201d Burrow said.<\/p>\n
Bengals lament their missed opportunities<\/p>\n
The Bengals\u2019 opportunity to stamp themselves as front-runners in the AFC North disappeared with some self-inflicted wounds.<\/p>\n
A roughing-the-punter penalty in the third quarter extended a Pittsburgh drive that ended with a touchdown pass from Rodgers to DK Metcalf. Cincinnati\u2019s Ke\u2019Shawn Williams later muffed a punt deep in Bengals territory to set up the second of Boswell\u2019s three field goals that tied the game at 27 with 8:45 remaining.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome games, you just go get your butt kicked and there\u2019s not much to say about it,\u201d Bengals coach Zac Taylor said. \u201cThis one, we had our chances. Pittsburgh took advantage of theirs. We didn\u2019t take advantage of ours.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cincinnati backed up Pittsburgh deep in its territory late in the fourth, but the Steelers responded even after a run of 80-plus yards by Warren was wiped out by a holding penalty on Metcalf. <\/p>\n
Rodgers, playing behind a new-look offensive line that included rookie first-round pick Max Iheanachor at right tackle, guided the Steelers 77 yards anyway. Boswell\u2019s winner helped Pittsburgh improve to 10-2 in its last 12 games following a loss of 15 points or more.<\/p>\n
It also gave the Steelers a dose of belief following an ugly performance against the Patriots in which Rodgers was sacked four times and the line struggled to protect him.<\/p>\n
The 42-year-old four-time MVP insisted it was not time to panic. Iheanachor\u2019s promotion added a dose of physicality on the line, and Pittsburgh was dynamic. Rodgers hit nine receivers and Warren cut loose for field-flipping runs that were hard to come by during the opening two weeks.<\/p>\n
Warren\u2019s shoulder was so tender on Saturday that McCarthy advised Rodgers not to throw it to him during a walkthrough. There were no such issues 24 hours later, when Warren\u2019s punishing approach helped ignite the Steelers on a day the offense needed to pick up the slack for a defense that let Burrow play pitch-and-catch with Ja\u2019Marr Chase and Tee Higgins.<\/p>\n
Yet with the clock ticking down, Harmon provided Pittsburgh\u2019s only sack. He wasn\u2019t trying to strip Burrow. It just kind of happened, and Joseph-Day fell on it.<\/p>\n
McCarthy had jotted down in his notes this week that Pittsburgh would need 31 points to win. The Steelers fell one shy, not that it mattered.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got to play more sound football than we did today to beat a team like that,\u201d Burrow said.<\/p>\n
Injuries<\/p>\n
Bengals: LB Demetrius Knight left in the first quarter \u2026 WR Colbie Young (knee) exited in the first half with a knee injury.<\/p>\n
Steelers: CB Brandin Eichols was evaluated for a concussion after colliding with Williams during the botched second-half punt return.<\/p>\n
Up next<\/p>\n
Bengals: At Jacksonville next Sunday.<\/p>\n
Steelers: Visit Cleveland on Thursday night.<\/p>\n
___<\/p>\n
See AP\u2019s full NFL coverage here<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By WILL GRAVES PITTSBURGH (AP) \u2014 Mike McCarthy and Aaron Rodgers have been around each other a long…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":295235,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[1418,73,75,74,726],"class_list":["post-295234","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh","tag-nfl","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-headlines","tag-pittsburgh-news","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295234","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=295234"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295234\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/295235"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=295234"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=295234"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=295234"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}