The Pittsburgh Steelers left a lot of pundits impressed with their Week 3 upset victory against the Cincinnati Bengals. Don’t count Bengals defensive lineman Dexter Lawrence among them.
Lawrence blamed Cincinnati mistakes, not Pittsburgh successes, for the Steelers 30-27 win.
“A lot of what was going on was self-inflicted,” said Lawrence, via Bengals insider Mike Petraglia. “You watched the game. You know what happened. I don’t think it was anything special that they had going on. We just didn’t do well on our end.”
Lawrence received a follow-up question about giving credit to the Steelers offense for scoring 30 points in Sunday’s win. The defensive lineman stopped well short of doing that, shaking his head before answering.
“I think we made a lot of mistakes and that’s what kept the game close, and then ultimately helped them win.”
Lawrence was playing in his first Steelers-Bengals matchup. Cincinnati acquired Lawrence in a blockbuster trade from the New York Giants during the offseason.
On Sunday, Lawrence posted one quarterback hit and no other statistics for the Bengals.
Bengals’ Dexter Lawrence Fails to Give Steelers Credit
The Steelers experienced one of their best offensive days in recent memory Sunday. The team snapped a 69-game streak of not scoring more than seven points in the first quarter. Pittsburgh’s offense finished the afternoon with 30 points and 411 yards.
That was after only having 23 points combined in the first two weeks.
Lawrence isn’t wrong — the Bengals defense made mistakes. But quite frankly, so did the Steelers offense. There was opportunities for the Pittsburgh offense to score even more.
From the Steelers perspective, Lawrence failing to give the Steelers offense any sort of credit comes across as sour grapes. In the NFL, the teams that make the fewest mistakes almost always win.
From other angle, it’s a welcome to the Steelers-Bengals rivalry moment for Lawrence. Over the years, Pittsburgh has beaten Cincinnati a lot because of Cincinnati’s inability to avoid game-costly errors.
Steelers Offense Comes Alive Against Bengals
The Steelers will have to prove they can repeat their offensive success from Week 3. But head coach Mike McCarthy now has a blueprint for how the unit can have success.
Behind changes at right guard and tackle, the Steelers offensive line blocked better in the running game and pass protection. As a result, the offense averaged seven yards per play.
Rodgers completed 19 of 34 attempts for 292 yards with three touchdowns. The veteran quarterback achieved those numbers with more time to throw and a higher emphasis of getting the ball downfield.
“Rodgers had a 3.19 second time to throw today, his highest as a Steeler,” wrote ESPN’s Benjamin Solak on X. “On drop backs longer than 2.5 seconds: 11/21, 213 yards (10.1 yards per attempt), 3 touchdowns + 1 pick.
“15 attempts at least 10 yards downfield — most as a Steeler!”
That success wasn’t all the result of Bengals mistakes. The Steelers made changes to their lineup and played much better Sunday.
Bengals’ Dexter Lawrence Refuses to Give Credit to Steelers for Upset Win