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BENGALS DEFENSE: OVERALL (30), RUSH (31), PASS (20), SCORING (21). TURNOVER DIFFERENTIAL: Steelers plus-11; Bengals plus-10. STEELERS PLAYER TO WATCH: QB Kenny Pickett.
The Cincinnati Bengals get an extra week to figure out why their offense has been so confoundingly inconsistent. The bye week is arriving at a good time for the Bengals, who managed to hold off Seattle 17-13 on Sunday — mostly because of a superlative effort by the defense late in the game. Among them is an offense struggling to produce for an entire game.
The Seattle Seahawks failed to take advantage of two late scoring opportunities in a frustrating 17-13 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday. Four times in the second half, Geno Smith took the Seahawks into the red zone and came out of it with just a field goal. “All the red zone stuff is where they got us, where we needed touchdowns,” Seattle coach Pete Carroll said.
When Joe Burrow couldn't get the ball in the end zone in the second half Sunday, the Cincinnati defense made sure the Seattle Seahawks didn't either. The Bengals defense intercepted Geno Smith twice. The Bengals won two in a row for the first time this season and improved to 3-3 going into their bye week.
Joe Burrow still wasn't fully healthy when he took the field for Monday night's win over the Rams. Short, quick passes mostly kept him out of the crosshairs of Aaron Donald and the Rams pass rush. “I was pretty cautious,” Burrow acknowledged.