‘TNF’ takeaways: Unstoppable Joe Flacco stuns Steelers, saves Bengals season

The Cincinnati Bengals wanted a win on Thursday night time, and so they bought in probably the most unlikely of the way in opposition to the Pittsburgh Steelers. Veteran quarterback Joe Flacco, having been with the workforce for lower than two weeks, lit up the Steelers protection in a 33-31 win, retaining his new workforce within the AFC North race simply when it regarded like their season was going to be over.

Listed below are some key takeaways from their win. 

Joe Flacco delivered for Bengals 

Flacco could not have so much left within the tank, and he might not be the quarterback he was in his prime when he gained a Tremendous Bowl MVP with the Baltimore Ravens, however he can nonetheless sling the ball across the discipline. He nonetheless has that veteran poise. He nonetheless has the data to know what to do with the ball and when to do it. 

The Bengals principally simply wanted any person to return in, defend the soccer in a manner Jake Browning couldn’t and ship some passes to Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins. 

Flacco did all of that on Thursday and extra. 

After a troublesome opening drive, Flacco was capable of settle in and completely carved up a Steelers protection that had are available in off back-to-back sturdy efforts. 

Flacco and Chase had been borderline unstoppable, with Flacco throwing for 342 yards and three touchdowns on 31-of-47 passing.

Chase was his go-to goal, catching 16 of 23 passes for 161 yards and a landing. The Steelers had no reply for any of it. 

A number of the Bengals’ greatest flaws had been mounted for one night time

Coming into Thursday night time, the Bengals had been the NFL’s worst dashing offense, averaging a dismal 56.7 yards per sport.

They rushed for 142 yards and 6.2 per carry. 

They compelled two essential takeaways on protection that changed into scores. 

Their offensive line had been permitting sacks and stress at a staggering fee, and it didn’t enable the Steelers cross rush to disrupt the sport. 

All the things simply got here collectively. 

Is that this an indication of issues to return or only a determined workforce that put all of it collectively for sport? That is still to be seen, however they wanted no less than one sport to provide themselves an opportunity. Now they’ve the prospect, and with an upcoming sport in opposition to the New York Jets in 10 days, they might very simply be again to .500 with back-to-back video games in opposition to the Chicago Bears and Steelers to comply with. 

Steelers waste large alternative

Whereas the Bengals have new life within the AFC North, the Steelers missed a completely large alternative to take full management of the division. 

They entered the sport with a 4-1 document, the Ravens and Bengals have main accidents to their quarterbacks, and the Browns are nonetheless the Browns. Each workforce within the division stored dropping aside from them. A win would have given the Steelers a four-game lead over the Ravens and a three-and-a-half sport lead over the Bengals with the head-to-head tiebreaker for the second.

They’d have been in management.

If any person had instructed them they might rating 31 factors within the sport, it most likely would have been straightforward to imagine that they might win simply in opposition to a workforce with out its greatest defensive participant (Trey Hendrickson) and an outdated quarterback that had solely been within the constructing for 10 days.

As an alternative of taking management of the division, they let the Bengals (and Ravens) proper again in it.