Oct 13, 2018 6 min read

Death, taxes and the Steelers beating the Cincinnati Bengals at Paul Brown Stadium. Those are life’s three constants.

At least, they have largely been true.

When the Steelers face the Bengals at Paul Brown Stadium Sunday, it will mark the 21st meeting of the two AFC North rivals at that venue. The Steelers have won 17 of the previous 20.

That would be a good record if Paul Brown Stadium was located in Pittsburgh. The trouble for the Bengals is that it’s located in Cincinnati.

In the NFL, the home team – any home team – typically wins between 55 and 60 percent of the time. Good teams win even more regularly at home.

And that’s the rub for the Bengals. They have had some good teams since Paul Brown Stadium opened in 2000. But for whatever reason, they just can’t seem to beat the Steelers there with any regularity.

It’s a source of frustration to be sure. And it’s a big reason why the Bengals seem to lose their minds at times when playing the Steelers.

They view the Steelers as the big brother who pushes them around. They want to prove they can be just as tough, if not more so, than their neighbors to the east.

That’s why the vitriol has constantly ramped up in this game.

Not that the Steelers have been innocent bystanders. They have dealt out their share of big – and sometimes illegal – hits in these games. They are big reasons why many of the most memorable things that have happened in the Steelers-Bengals series have occurred in Cincinnati.

The Bengals are trying to show how tough they are in their own house. They’re just not very good at it.

• Ryan Shazier will go back to Cincinnati and set foot in Paul Brown Stadium for the first time since his injury there last Dec. 4.

We have seen a lot of emotional things when it comes to Shazier, from his first visit to Heinz Field to pictures of him standing to him walking across the stage at the NFL Draft to announce the selection of Steelers first-round draft pick Terrell Edmunds.

But returning to the scene of his injury is going to be very emotional, not only for Shazier, but for his teammates.

• Thoughts that the Steelers will use their running backs in some kind of timeshare when, or if, Le’Veon Bell comes back next week are a little misguided.

What exactly in Mike Tomlin’s history as head coach has shown that he won’t use Bell almost exclusively when he gets up to speed?

It’s what he has done any time he’s had a true lead running back.

James Conner’s play to this point has been a nice revelation. He’s thrust himself firmly into the conversation as the Steelers’ lead running back next season – assuming Bell is gone.

Tomlin will use Bell as he has throughout the running back’s career. It’s one reason Bell has demanded what he has in contract negotiations. It’s also the reason why he has chosen to sit out the first part of this season to try and preserve his body.

Bell knows once he reports, Tomlin will use him heavily. And he will do so because Bell is his own short-yardage and third-down back. He never wants to come off the field.

• The Steelers are allowing opposing running backs to gain only 3.4 yards per rushing attempt.

The reason? They have shifted back to having their defensive linemen stuff blockers as they did during their heyday of stopping the run.

When Keith Butler took over as defensive coordinator a few years ago, the Steelers wanted their linemen to penetrate more and rush the passer. It paid off for Cam Heyward, especially last season when he had 12 sacks, the most for a Steelers defensive lineman since the 1980s.

Without Shazier late last season, the Steelers didn’t have a linebacker capable of cleaning things up if the linemen missed a running back on their way to the quarterback.

So they have adjusted. It’s working thus far. The Steelers lead the league with 19 sacks, putting them on pace for a team-record 61. Just as importantly, most of the sacks (14 1/2) are coming from the linebackers, which is how it’s supposed to work.

This week’s picks

Steelers plus 2 ½ over Bengals: The Steelers getting points at a stadium where they have won 17 of 20 games? Yes please. None of the Bengals’ statistics suggest they are a team that should be 4-1. They’re in the bottom half of the league in total yards both on offense and defense and they’re allowing opponents to convert 52.7 percent of third downs. Only Atlanta, whose defense we saw last week, has been worse. That should lead to the Steelers winning, 27-24.

Chargers plus 1 over Browns: As I predicted last week, the Browns would beat the Ravens because the Ravens acted as if they had won the Super Bowl following their win in Pittsburgh the previous week. Same theory here. The Browns are better. But can they handle a little success? Plus, all of the overtime games have to catch up with them at some point. The Chargers typically don’t play well in 1 p.m. games in the Eastern time zone. But they’ll win this one, 23-20

Ravens minus 2 over Titans: This could be a real snoozefest. The Ravens converted their first 13 red zone trips into touchdowns, a streak that ended against the Steelers. Now, they’re 13-for-20. But Tennessee’s offense is nonexistant. It won’t be pretty, but the Ravens will win, 16-13.

Bears minus 3 over Dolphins: At some point, when the Dolphins are somewhere around 3-10, people will look back whimsically at their 3-0 start and wonder what happened. There won’t be any question about what happened in this game. The Bears’ defense will dominate in a 24-10 win.

Patriots minus 3 over Chiefs: For whatever reason, the Chiefs usually beat the Patriots, the Steelers beat the Chiefs and the Patriots beat the Steelers. Maybe it will be different this season. After all, the Chiefs already beat the Steelers. Bill Belichick has had extra time to prepare for this game, which should add up to a 37-31 win.