Notes: - All games will be available Friday
- Green highlight indicates plus matchup (top eight)
- Red highlight indicates negative matchup (bottom eight)
- Injury notes, Lines and Totals updated Sunday morning
With Warren back in action, Gainwell slid into his customary
reserve role once again. He still got a dozen touches, though,
including six receptions, making him the leading pass catcher
for the Steelers versus Cleveland. The yardage failed to impressive
-- those 12 combined touches resulted in just 36 yards -- but
the team clearly trusts him, and on a short week against a Bengals
club that has struggled to stop the run (135.7 yards/game; 28th
in the NFL) we could see an increased workload in an effort to
keep Warren fresh after just returning from injury. There is a
bit of a last stand element at work for the Bengals, so an inspired
effort is possible, it’s just far from clear they have the
horses to hold up over a full 60 minutes. Gainwell is an interesting
flex play.
Rodgers’ season-to-date stats aren’t bad, and he
made some throws against the Browns that reaffirmed he still has
elite arm talent. All that being said, the veteran has averaged
just 194 yards and 1.5 TDs per game since the opener. He doesn’t
run anymore, either, meaning his value derives entirely from his
passing exploits. Make no mistake, this is a positive matchup
for Pittsburgh’s passing game with Cincinnati sitting 31st
in pass defense (258.5 yards/game). This just feels like a game
where the Steelers will look to protect Rodgers, who will be playing
his second game in five days at age 41. While not unplayable,
he’d be a risk.
PIT FPts Allowed vs. QBs: No.8
PIT FPts Allowed vs. RBs: No.17
PIT FPts Allowed vs. WRs: No.16
PIT FPts Allowed vs. TEs: No.3
We saw signs of life from the Bengals offense under Joe Flacco
this past Sunday as they scored on three of their final four drives
in Green Bay. Brown didn’t get a ton of work, actually setting
a season low with 11 touches (compared to eight for Samaje Perine),
but he averaged 4.7 yards per carry, which was easily his best
mark of 2025. The Steelers currently sit 16th against the run,
though neither the Vikings nor Browns got a lot down on the ground
in Pittsburgh’s two most recent outings. Further clouding things
was the emergent use of Perine against the Packers, which was
a far cry from the early weeks when Brown was literally the only
back getting any touches. Things remain a work in progress with
Flacco, but Brown looks usable as a risk/reward flex.
While early returns suggest that Flacco will run the offense more
effectively than Jake Browning did, we’re still miles from
Joe Burrow territory, and as such only Chase can be considered
a no brainer at this point. Higgins had his moments with Flacco,
catching five of eight targets for 62 yards. As it happens, that
62-yard effort represents a new season high -- for comparison,
he averaged 76 yards per game in 2024. The Bengals could find
themselves in a spot where they need to throw to catch up, but
then Pittsburgh can pin their ears back and get after the immobile
Flacco, which is less than ideal. If you want to roll the dice
on Higgins as a WR3, you can, but even in that capacity he can’t
be viewed as a sure thing.
