The Cincinnati Bengals travel to Pittsburgh to face the Steelers in Week 11 looking for a sweep on the season.
Cincinnati (3-6) beat the Steelers (5-4) 33-31 on Oct. 16 at Paycor Stadium.
Quarterback Joe Flacco won in his second start for the Bengals and Ja’Marr Chase reset his own franchise record with 16 receptions on 23 targets in the game.
Cincinnati is coming off its bye while Pittsburgh is coming off a loss to the Los Angeles Chargers.
Here are the keys to victory for the Bengals in Week 11:
Follow the example the Chargers made
The Bengals didn’t register a sack or hit against the Steelers last month and quarterback Aaron Rodgers had plenty of time to carve up Cincinnati’s defense. Los Angeles registered five hits and three sacks on Rodgers on Nov. 9 en route to a 25-10 victory.
Cincinnati will be without defensive ends Trey Hendrickson and Shemar Stewart, which means they’ll need to get creative in finding ways to get to Rodgers.
If the Bengals can’t pressure Rodgers and disrupt his timing, it’ll mean the offense will need an even bigger Herculean effort than the past two games where Cincinnati scored 80 points against the New York Jets and Chicago Bears and still lost.
Run the ball, control the clock and utilize play action
Winning a track meet is possible for the Bengals’ offense, but it’s best to avoid being in those positions, as they saw in the losses to the Jets and Bears.
Yes, Flacco and the offense can score from anywhere on the field, but it’d be best to control the game by running the ball and not forcing the defense to go back out on the field in less than two minutes in the second half.
Chase Brown needs to have a big game and keep the Bengals ahead of the sticks at Acrisure Stadium so Flacco isn’t having to throw the ball 50 times against what’s likely to be a different defensive look from the Steelers.
Zone busters for everyone
Flacco threw for 342 yards and three touchdowns without an interception in the Bengals’ Oct. 16 win and the Steelers played man coverage for the most part.
Expect the Steelers to move more to zone looks to limit big play potential for wide receivers Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins. Chase had 16 catches for 161 yards and a touchdown and Higgins had six catches for 96 yards and a score.
This means Flacco will need to find the soft spots in the zone coverage via a variety of route concepts and possibly get Brown more involved catching the ball out of the backfield.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: How Bengals can beat the first-place Steelers and sweep season series
