First Call: Bengals anger Ravens coach with late bomb; Steelers now need help from Chiefs; Browns favored at Heinz Field
In Monday’s “First Call,” the Steelers just got thrashed by the Kansas City Chiefs. Now they need the Chiefs to do the same thing to the Cincinnati Bengals next week.
Meanwhile, the Bengals appeared to anger Baltimore Ravens coach John Harbaugh at the end of their game Sunday. Antonio Brown had quite the return performance. And the Cleveland Browns are still behind Baker Mayfield.
Well, at least their coach is.
Don’t need that
After absorbing a 36-10 beat down from the Kansas City Chiefs, the Steelers need to turn around and root for K.C. to win in Cincinnati next weekend.
For as bleak as things look right now, the Steelers can win the AFC North if they beat the Cleveland Browns and Baltimore Ravens over the last two weeks of the season. But they’ll also need the Bengals to lose to the Chiefs next week and to the Browns on Jan. 9.
The Chiefs endured a blow along the way in their rout of the Steelers. Running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire suffered a collarbone injury. Fortunately, according to Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network, x-rays indicate that the injury is not a fracture.
X-Rays on the collarbone of #Chiefs RB Clyde Edwards-Helaire were negative. He’ll have an MRI tomorrow to determine how serious it is.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) December 27, 2021
Darrel Williams (11 carries, 55 yards) and Derrick Gore (12 carries, 43 yards) handled the bulk of the rushing duties after Edwards-Helaire left the game.
Rub it in, why don’t ya?
The Bengals are now 9-6 after destroying the 8-7 Baltimore Ravens 41-21 Sunday. Former Pitt Panther Tyler Boyd had 85 yards on three catches, including a touchdown.
OH BOYD. #RuleTheJungle
????: #BALvsCIN on CBS
????: NFL app pic.twitter.com/btD5z2fNxV— NFL (@NFL) December 26, 2021
Up 20 points, on the first snap following the two-minute warning, Joe Burrow threw a 52-yard bomb to running back Joe Mixon. That gave him 525 yards passing on the day. After the game, it appeared that Ravens coach John Harbaugh was upset with Bengals coach Zac Taylor for allowing that play to happen with the game so far out of reach.
When asked about the exchange in the postgame press conference, Harbaugh merely said, “They call their plays, we call our plays.”
If Harbaugh was upset, he has no room to be. After all, back in Week 4, didn’t he run the ball with Lamar Jackson in the waning seconds of a decided contest in Denver in order to extend a streak of 100-yard rushing games?
Yeah. I’m pretty sure he did.
A.B.’s big day
In his first game since Oct. 13, former Steeler Antonio Brown was a star for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
En route to a 32-6 win over the Carolina Panthers, the wide receiver caught 10 passes for 101 yards on 15 targets from quarterback Tom Brady.
Brown had been plagued by an ankle injury and was suspended three games for faking a covid-19 vaccine card.
Meanwhile, recently acquired running back Le’Veon Bell did get on the field for Tampa Bay. But he only had two carries for minus-1 yard. And former Pitt Panther Jordan Whitehead had an interception for the Bucs.
“I’ll take that.” -@jwhite_333, probably
????: #TBvsCAR on FOX pic.twitter.com/bTB7vtxFJF
— Tampa Bay Buccaneers (@Buccaneers) December 26, 2021
The win clinched the NFC South Division crown for the Bucs (11-4).
Behind Baker
Despite a four-interception performance on Christmas Day, the Cleveland Browns are sticking with Baker Mayfield as their quarterback.
Three of those interceptions came in the first half of a 24-22 loss to Green Bay.
“He’s our starting quarterback,” Stefanski said. “Yes.”
Even the Browns players themselves were questioning why their offense was throwing the ball as much as it was. Cleveland ended the game with 219 rushing yards despite 41 passing drop backs. Five sacks of Mayfield accompanied the four interceptions.
Injured safety John Johnson III sent out a tweet during the game, questioning why Cleveland was getting away from its ground attack.
According to BetOnline.ag, the Browns are 2.5-point favorites at Heinz Field against the Steelersfor “Monday Night Football” on Jan. 3. That could be Ben Roethlisberger’s last home game as a Steeler.
Tim Benz is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Tim at tbenz@triblive.com or via X. All tweets could be reposted. All emails are subject to publication unless specified otherwise.
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