Steelers back in first place in the AFC North

The start to winning the AFC North Division is getting your first division win.

The Steelers accomplished that as they traveled to Cincinnati and beat the Bengals 24-17 at Paul Brown Stadium.

“We are just excited about having an opportunity to come out and get our first AFC North win,” said Head Coach Mike Tomlin. “If you are going to win the division, you’ve got to win some division games.”

The game flowed similarly to last year’s game in Cincinnati. The Steelers jumped out to a good lead, the Bengals made a comeback and the Steelers defense slammed the door for the win.

Up seven points with 2:27 left in the game and the Bengals driving, cornerback William Gay intercepted Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton to seal the win.

“We played some good defense, that’s the bottom line,” said Gay. “I just played Dick LeBeau defense, everybody across the board did and we came out with a ‘W’.”

Before the game, the Steelers defense only had four turnovers through the first nine games of the season. Today they got two more.

“Good to get those, man,” said linebacker James Farrior. “We’ve been lacking in that department all year long. Those plays helped change the game.”

Ben Roethlisberger hit Jerricho Cotchery for a 16 yard touchdown in the first quarter, while Rashard Mendenhall scored two touchdowns and had 44 yards rushing.

The win puts the Steelers back in first place at 7-3, with the Ravens and the Bengals only ½ game back at 6-3.

The Steelers have a much needed bye week coming up this weekend.

“It’s perfect timing for guys that are banged up,” said Roethlisberger. “We’ll get some guys back, so it’s a good time for us. You definitely want to have this long time off after a win. When you go into it with a loss, you are ready to play again. For us, it’s a good time.”

Notes: Hines Ward played very sparingly catching just one ball for 10 yards… The Steelers outgained the Bengals 328-279… Defensive Coordinator Dick Lebeau improved to 13-1 against a rookie QB since 2004.. The last rookie quarterback to beat LeBeau was Ravens quarterback Troy Smith in 2007

Steelers Remaining Schedule:

Bye
Su, 11/27 – at Kansas City (4-5)
Su, 12/4 – Cincinnati (6-3)
Th, 12/8 – Cleveland (3-6)
M, 12/19 – at San Francisco (8-1)
Sa, 12/24 – St. Louis (2-7)
Su, 1/1 – at Cleveland (3-6)

Image Source – (Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images)

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