The Pittsburgh Steelers were looking to secure their position in first place in the AFC North and they were also looking for revenge against the Cincinnati Bengals. The Steelers were successful in both ventures as they earned a 34-12 victory over their long-time but troubled rivals. The Bengals fell to 3-7 with the defeat, while the Steelers are 6-4. After the game, Bengals superstar wide receiver Ja'Marr Chase defended himself from charges that he spit at Jalen Ramsey of the Steelers.
“I never opened my mouth to that guy … I didn't spit on nobody,” Chase said with defiance.
Ramsey and Chase were exchanging in trash talk throughout most of the game. They were both flagged for unsportsmanlike penalties while the Bengals were driving in the fourth quarter. The two men continued to go after each other after the penalty was called, and that's when Ramsey said the Bengals receiver spit in his direction. While the referees did not see anything that fit that description, there was some video evidence that gave some credibility to Ramsey's accusation.
Ramsey eventually threw a punch at Chase and was thrown out of the game. “I’m sure the NFL, they'll do their due diligence,” Ramsey said. “They got a hundred cameras out there. They can investigate. They can see everything, I just told y’all, it’s facts.”
Steelers had strong defensive effort against Joe Flacco
The Steelers lost their first meeting with the Bengals, dropping a 33-31 decision. Joe Flacco threw for 342 yards and 3 touchdowns in that game. The Bengals offense was unable to match that effort in this meeting. Flacco was held to 199 yards and 1 touchdown this time around.
Mason Rudolph stepped in at quarterback for the Steelers in place of Aaron Rodgers, who left the game after injuring his left wrist. Rudolph completed 12 of 16 passes for 127 yards with 1 touchdown. Rodgers completed 9 of 15 passes for 116 yards and 1 touchdown before he suffered his injury.
