Mike Tomlin, a graduate of the College of William & Mary, an erudite man of many words, invoked one tiny adjective three times in a 19-minute news conference in reference to the Steelers' game Sunday: big. "Got a big AFC North matchup this week vs. the Cincinnati Bengals, who, of course, are atop the division," the Steelers' coach said yesterday, barely eight hours after returning from a 28-10 road triumph against Denver. "A very hot football team. Respect those guys."Tomlin later reiterated that this upcoming Heinz Field collision with similarly 6-2 Cincinnati is a "critical matchup" and another instance of "classic AFC North warfare." Sure, it partly was a motivational ploy to rally his spent troops so soon after they recorded their first road victory this season against a team with a winning record, the heretofore 6-1 Broncos. "That was a big win for our football team. Something that's absolutely necessary," Tomlin said, measuring a team that won at Detroit but lost at Chicago and at Cincinnati. "You've got to be able to go on the road and win games vs. quality opponents. That's something we hadn't done until [Monday] night." Source: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Both teams at 6-2 and with 1st place in the AFC North on the line, yeah i'd say this is a big game for both teams too.
Pretty much every game from this point on is Big. But this one is bigger with the Division lead on the line. a loss for the Steelers puts them 2 games behind since the Bengals swept them and could finish no worse than 5-1 in the division where the Steelers would be 4-2 and would have to have the better record at the end.
can't wait for this game. this could possibly be 2nd out of 3 games between these two teams I look at the Bengals scheadule and I see 3 tough games left to go through this game is the first of those 3, the other two, Min, and SD all other games we have left are Detroit, KC, Jets, Oak, and Cleveland
we need this bad, the division is in good shape with a win. they will be damned if they let Cincinnati sweep them, no way they are prepared to let that happen
If the bengals sweep the ravens and steelers that would be a huge. No one expected them to be good this year i picked them as my sleeper team :icon_cool:
