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Venue: Paycor Stadium — Cincinnati · Time: 8:15 p.m. ET, Thursday · TV (national): Prime Video. Steelers, in market: ABC channel 4 (WTAE); Bengals In the Week 7 edition of "Thursday Night Football," the Cincinnati Bengals play host to the division rival Pittsburgh Steelers.
Cincinnati has lost four in a row since starting the season 2-0. The Bengals last week traded for Joe Flacco, who got the start last week against the Green Bay Packers but wasn't able to pull Cincy out of its slide. They need to start stacking wins, quickly, if they want to salvage their season and still be in contention if and when Joe Burrow is able to return to the lineup.
Pittsburgh, meanwhile, is riding high with a 4-1 record and sits atop the AFC North with several games' worth of cushion. The Steelers came out of their bye and rather easily dispatched the Browns, and they're set up here to extend their division lead even further. The schedule toughens up a bit after this, so it's important to capture the victory before that happens.
Will the Steelers continue to roll, or will the Bengals finally get back in the win column? We'll find out soon enough. But before we break down the matchup, let's take a look at how you can watch the game.
Where to watch Bengals vs. Steelers live
Date: Thursday, Oct. 16 | Time: 8:15 p.m. ET
Location: Paycor Stadium (Cincinnati)
When the Steelers have the ball
Did you know that the Steelers are 29th in the NFL in yards per game? Look it up, it's true.
They're 14th in scoring because they have the third-best average starting field position in the NFL and have rarely turned the ball over (only 5.7% of their possessions, per Pro-Football-Reference), but the underlying metrics on their offense aren't all that encouraging.
They're 30th in plays per drive and 28th in yards per drive. They're 22nd in success rate, via TruMedia, 20th in negative play rate and 25th in the share of plays that gained 10 or more yards. They're 20th in third-down conversion rate and don't go for it on fourth downs. They've only kicked nine total field goals.
So how on earth are they scoring? Some of it is just the Jets game in Week 1 skewing things. They've scored a touchdown on just 21.4% of their possessions over their last four games after doing so on four of their 10 non-kneeling trips in the opener. They also have five scoring drives (three of which resulted in touchdowns) that started in opposing territory.
And yet! They're about to play the Bengals, who might have the worst defense in the NFL, and might be without their best defensive player in Trey Hendrickson. Cincinnati is 31st in yards allowed per game and 30th in points allowed per game. The Bengals are 30th in both EPA per play against and opponents' success rate. Opponents have scored touchdowns at the league's third-highest rate and punted at the 10th-lowest. They don't do anything well: They're 30th against the pass and 25th against the run.