Bengals’ Jake Browning Fires Message on Steelers Defense After Week 16

Entering Week 16, Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Jake Browning held an undefeated record and had thrown more touchdowns than interceptions against every team except the Pittsburgh Steelers. But the Steelers, again, had their way with Browning on December 23.

In the 34-11 Steelers victory, Browning experienced his worst day as a starter. While he completed 66.7% of his passes for 335 yards, he threw only 1 touchdown and 3 interceptions.

Prior to Week 16, Browning had 3 interceptions in his other four starts combined.

After the Steelers win, Browning argued that Pittsburgh’s defense didn’t do anything unexpected but that the unit just simply dominated.

“I didn’t feel like it was something that they snuck up on us or anything like that,” Browning told reporters in his postgame press conference. “They kicked our ass, and I made some dumb decisions with the ball in my hand, and I need to do better.”

In addition to 3 takeaways, the Steelers defense held the Bengals to 59 rushing yards. The Steelers also recorded 3 sacks and kept the Bengals out of the end zone on all 3 of their red zone drives.

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Bengals’ Jake Browning Throws 3 Interceptions vs. Steelers

The Steelers offense received a bulk of the criticism for the team’s 3-game losing streak to begin December, and rightfully so. But the defense didn’t played particularly well in a few key areas during that losing streak either.

In the losses to the Arizona Cardinals, New England Patriots and Indianapolis Colts, the Steelers had 1 total takeaway. During their blowout victory against the Bengals, the Steelers defense had 3 interceptions.

Pittsburgh scored 17 points off those takeaways. That was more points than the Steelers had in four of their past five games.

During his postgame press conference, Browning lamented his turnovers, calling all of them “dumb.”

“I’ve got to find a way to make those three throws incompletions,” he told reporters.

Browning threw 2 of his interceptions in the first half, which helped the Steelers build a 21-0 lead.

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Steelers Pass Rush Dominated Bengals

The Steelers had a two-score lead early against the Colts in Week 15, but the pass rush wasn’t able to take advantage of that. Even with practice squad running backs, Indianapolis still managed to continue running the ball and finished with 30 unanswered points.

However, the Bengals couldn’t generate anything on the ground. Trailing by multiple touchdowns, Cincinnati had no choice but to pass, and T.J. Watt and Alex Highsmith took over the game.

Both pass rushers recorded a sack. Watt also had 4 quarterback hits, which was more hits on Browning than the entire Bengals defense had against Mason Rudolph.

Browning connected with wide receiver Tee Higgins for an 80-yard touchdown early in the third quarter. But outside of that play, Browning often appeared unsure about where to deliver the ball.

“I think they just kind of know that if they can get you to just hesitate for a second, they feel good about their pass rush,” said Browning.

Even with 3 interceptions, the Bengals had opportunities to put pressure on Pittsburgh in the second half. But other than Higgins’ long reception, the Bengals couldn’t reach the end zone.

“It felt like when we weren’t turning the ball over, we were moving the ball well,” Browning added. “Then we just couldn’t finish in the red zone. Credit to them. That’s a good defense.”

Cincinnati started a drive or drove into Pittsburgh territory on 6 of its possessions. The Bengals scored 3 points on those drives.

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