The Bengals have lost starting strong safety Roy Williams for the remainder of the season after he re-fractured his forearm.  Williams played in 4 games for the Bengals this season and he made 28 tackles and defensed 2 passes.  Chinedum Ndukwe will start the rest of the year at strong safety for the Bengals.  Ndukwe has played in 8 games for the Bengals this season and he has 35 tackles, 2 tackles for a loss, he has defensed 2 passes and has 1.5 sacks.  The Bengals shouldn’t miss Williams too much as Ndukwe is a pretty solid player himself.

This should be a very interesting ball game.  The last time these two teams played the Bengals stormed back from a 20-7 deficit to beat the Steelers 23-20 in Cincinnati.  The Bengals won’t be intimidated by Heinz Field as they are 3-0 away from home this season with all of the game being close.  The Steelers are 4-0 at home this season so in the famous words of ring announcer Michael Buffer, “Someone’s O must go”!  The Bengals will try to mix it up on offense as Cedric Benson has been a big key for them this year.  The Steelers are only allowing 70.4 yards rushing and 3.7 yards per carry this season so Benson will have to earn every yard this Sunday.  With the exception of OLB James Harrison (8 sacks) the Steelers have not been getting a lot of pressure on opposing QBs.  That could be a huge problem this week as I like Chad Ocho Cinco, Andre Caldwell and Laveranues Coles a lot better than the corners of the Steelers.  If Carson Palmer has time to throw the ball he should have a lot of success against a Steelers’ D that is allowing 214.5 yards passing per game this season.

The Steelers would like to mix things up on offense but Rashard Mendenhall could have a tough time finding running room against a Bengals’ D that is allowing only 83.9 yards rushing and 3.8 yards per carry this season.  The Bengals will be without starting linebacker Keith Rivers due to injury so that should help out the Steelers a little bit.  Ben Roethlisberger has been very effective throwing the ball this season (105.4 QB Rating) but he’s going up against a couple of corners (Jonathan Joseph and Leon Hall) who are having Pro-Bowl seasons so he will have to be careful with the football.  This is the kind of game that TE Heath Miller could dominate. 

PREDICTION:  STEELERS 23, BENGALS 20

27-year old DE Jonathan Fanene hadn’t done too much in his career until now for the Bengals.  With Antwan Odom out of the season they needed someone to step up and Fanene has been that guy lately.  He has played in all 8 games for the Bengals this season and he has 15 tackles and 3.5 sacks.  In his first four years with the Bengals, Fanene played in 37 games in which he had 42 tackles, 1 pass defensed and 1 sack.  The Bengals are glad now that they held onto Fanene and they need him to keep playing well the rest of the season.

WR Chris Henry fractured his left forearm yesterday against the Ravens and it will end his season.  Henry caught 12 passes for 236 yards (19.7 avg) with 2 TD grabs this season.  The Bengals will miss Henry’s speed and ability to make the big play.  With that in mind the Bengals will need Laveranues Coles to step up the rest of the way.  He has caught 22 passes for 227 yards (10.3 avg) with 3 TD grabs so far this season.  Coles might not have Henry’s speed anymore but he can still get down the field so he might do a decent job for the Bengals  the rest of the way.

The Bengals rushed out to a 17-0 lead at the half and then they made it stand up in the 2nd half.  The Bengals pushed the Ravens around like they were their little brother today.  Carson Palmer was very efficient as he completed 20 of 33 passes for 224 yards with 1 TD pass and 0 INTs.  Cedric Benson did the heavy lifting for the Bengals in this game with 34 carries for 117 yards (3.4 ypc) with 1 TD run.  Laveranues Coles led the way in the passing game for the Bengals today with 6 catches for 72 yards (12.0 avg).  Chad Ocho Cinco pitched in with 5 catches for 66 yards (13.2 avg) but he lost a fumble.  The Bengals rolled up 369 total yards of offense today (146 rushing, 223 passing) as they had possession of the football for a staggering 40 minutes!

CB Jonathan Joseph led a very spirited Bengals’ effort on D with 4 tackles, 5 passes defensed and a interception.  Safety Chinedum Ndukwe was also busy with 6 tackles, 1/2 a sack, 1 tackle for a loss, 2 passes defensed and 1 QB hit.  Linebacker Brandon Johnson really had a good game too for the Bengals with 5 tackles, 1 tackle for a loss, 1.5 sacks, 1 pass defensed and 2 QB hits.  The Ravens finished up with only 215 total yards on offense (55 rushing, 160 passing) in this game.  The Bengals are now 6-2  on the season and they are in first place in the AFC North.

It looks as if the Bengals found themselves some solid players in last April’s NFL Draft.  OT Andre Smith (1st round, #6 overall) might not be one of them as he has not got onto the field yet this season.  He has bust written all over him.  LB Rey Maualuga (2nd round, #38 overall) makes up for the pick of Smith.  He has 30 tackles, 1 sack, 3 tackles for a loss, 2 forced fumbles and he has defensed 1 pass.  The best is yet to come from Maualuga who is a very solid inside linebacker.  DE Michael Johnson (3rd round, #70 overall) will start getting more playing time with Antwan Odom out for the year so he will have to show what he can do.  Johnson has 12 tackles and he has defensed 3 passes so far this season.  TE Chase Coffman (3rd round, #98 overall) has been a bust so far this season as he hasn’t caught any passes despite the need for a TE that can catch some passes.  C Jonathan Luigs (4th round, #106 overall) has played in 5 games (0 starts) so far this season.  He looks like he will be a decent backup for now and maybe more down the road.  Punter Kevin Huber (5th round, #142 overall) has started since the day he became a Bengal.  He didn’t have to go to far to play in the NFL as he was a Cincinnati Bearcat in college.  Huber has punted the ball 37 times for 1,604 yards (43.4 avg) this season.  He has only 2 touchbacks (5.4%) and he has pinned the opposing team inside the 20-yard line 12 times (32.4%) this season.  Huber has also carried the ball 1 time this season and he has 1 tackle.  CB Morgan Trent (6th round, #179 overall) has 10 tackles, 1 tackle for a loss and he has defensed 1 pass this season.  RB Bernard Scott (6th round, #209 overall) has been solid as a rookie for the Bengals.  He has carried the ball 16 times for 62 yards (3.9 ypc) and he has also caught 1 pass for 14 yards.  Scott has also returned 2 kickoffs for 55 yards (27.5 avg) and he has 1 tackle.  RB Fui Vakapuna (7th round, #215 overall), DE Clinton McDonald (7th round, #249 overall) and WR Freddie Brown (7th round, #252 overall) have not played for the Bengals this season.  Maualuga, Huber and Scott make this draft a success for the Bengals.  But, Smith, Johnson, Trent and Luigs could make this a outstanding draft if they help the Bengals down the road.

The Bengals had a lot of problems with snaps early this season resulting in the release of Brad St. Louis.  This should improve things on special teams for the Bengals as Shayne Graham was off to a rough start this season through no fault of his own.  Graham has made 6 of 9 field goals this season and he is 17 of 18 on extra points.  The Bengals have left a lot of points on the field this season but that will likely change starting this week against the Ravens.

The Ravens will have their hands full as they travel to the Jungle to take on the much improved Cincinnati Bengals.  In the first game between these two teams (17-14 win for Cincy) the Bengals pushed them around especially in the running game with Cedric Benson.  That had to hurt the Ravens’ pride on defense as they are only allowing 87.6 yards rushing per game and 3.5 yards per carry so far this season.  Still, look for the Bengals to attack them with Cedric Benson (720 yards rushing, 4.4 ypc) to set up some play action passing.  The Ravens had better be blitzing often this week because if Carson Palmer has time to throw the ball they are in big trouble.  The Ravens are allowing 226.1 yards passing per game and they will have trouble containing Chad Ocho Cinco, Chris Henry, Andre Caldwell and Laveranues Coles. 

The Ravens will have to keep the offense balanced in this game to be effective.  They will be tempted to throw the ball more than usual against a Bengals’ D that is allowing 253.3 yards passing per game.  But, they also have to remember that Ray Rice is the best player on the offense.  The Bengals are only allowing 88.0 yards rushing per game and 3.9 yards per carry so Rice will have to get all of his yards the tough way.  Joe Flacco must be smart with the football as Johnathan Joseph, Leon Hall and Chris Crocker have 8 interceptions between them. 

PREDICTION:  BENGALS 20, RAVENS 17