The Steelers’ 34-12 redemption win over the Bengals has settled, and the team’s focus has moved forward to the Chicago Bears, but with such an impressive victory, I decided to take yet another look. Below are five pivotal plays from the week 11 victory that I felt needed additional highlighting.
Kenneth Gainwell’s Touchdowns
Gainwell was heavily involved in the offensive game plan from the start, increasingly so due to the injury to Jaylen Warren. The scoring started with a swing pass from Aaron Rodgers..
Gainwell beats Bengals linebacker Barrett Carter cleanly to the flat for the walk-in touchdown. His second touchdown of the day came in similar fashion..
Although the linebacker recognized the route quickly, he trailed Gainwell, leaving him out of position to complete the play, allowing the second touchdown of the day on a similar play.
Arthur Smith and staff clearly saw the Bengals’ linebackers as a weakness and decided to take advantage of them horizontally. Gainwell finished the day with 8 targets, catching 7 of them for 81 yards, and a pair of scores.
Sawyer on Higgins
Much was made on social media about the Bengals’ lone touchdown of the day, which came on a 28-yard reception by Tee Higgins, who was seemingly covered by edge rusher Jack Sawyer.
Sawyer was never assigned to cover Tee Higgins at all. It’s a zone defense with a four-man rush, a rush that never touched Flacco and allowed him almost 5 seconds from snap to throw. In that time, Higgins runs a drag route across the field, finds the weakness in the zone defense, and exploits it, with Sawyer left in chase.
A combination of lack of pass rush and the perfect play call is what allowed the Bengals only touchdown, not Jack Sawyer.
Darnell Washington
Darnell Washington has made quite a name for himself in Pittsburgh this season, and now, outside of it.
Washington was featured on Kyle Brandt’s weekly “Angry Runs” segment and also appeared on the “St. Brown Podcast“, where he revealed his true weight of 311 pounds, only 47 pounds heavier than his listed weight on the Steelers’ official website. The unofficial weight came as no surprise, as it would take every ounce of it to bounce professional athletes around as only he can..
We have all seen this play at least a dozen times by now, but it’s not enough, so it had to be included. This highlight is here to stay, much like Mt. Washington.
Rodgers does Russell Wilson
While watching Aaron Rodgers in recent weeks, it takes me directly to 2024 – some of the worst parts of it. Russell Wilson started strong last season, adding elements to the offense that had not been seen – until defenses bucked the trend.
In 2025, the Steelers’ pass attack featured the quick game early, presumably to mask the faults of the offensive line. Defenses began to adjust, and the offensive line meshed into a solid unit, allowing more time and space for Aaron Rodgers to stand in the pocket and find an open receiver; however, he has not been using that time or space.
Rodgers, like Wilson last season, appears to flush the pocket prematurely to avoid hits or pressure that, at times, are non-existent.
The play above a play action pass is called with a rolling pocket, which shuffles the offensive line with the quarterback, creating ample time to read the defense and make a downfield throw. Although the play is designed to move the QB away from the rush, he still outruns his protection and rushes a bad throw to a covered receiver, despite having 3 wide open targets if he plays on time.
Wilson open on the fly route, Freiermuth open on the deep crosser, Gainwell open in the flat, yet Jonnu Smith is forced the ball working to the opposite side of the field.
The offensive line has improved, the receivers do get open, but it’s all for not if the quarterback will not let the play develop.
Pierre’s Big Day
James Pierre‘s big day against one of the NFL’s best receiving duos has been well documented. He played physical, fast, and smart, leading to questions among Steelers Nation as to who should start at corner when Darius Slay returns from injury.
Right on queue, Mike Tomlin stated at his weekly press conference that Slay would start when he returned, but Pierre would receive elevated playing time, as he should. I simply cannot fathom taking this off of the field in favor of Slay..
In a game of impressive defensive plays, this is the most impressive yet, the one nobody is talking about. James Pierre, who was cut by the Steelers after training camp, jams Ja’Marr Chase, the best receiver in football, then proceeds to run step for step with him before deflecting the pass, all while making it look easy.
Pierre’s playing time should be significant, as he has earned it.
