Monday’s “First Call” features some Bengals fans wagging their fingers at Steelers linebacker Bud Dupree after their team lost at Heinz Field. The New England Patriots spring another trick play on the Baltimore Ravens. The Cleveland Browns ruined a bet. And the Jacksonville Jaguars gave the Steelers a few things to think about heading into their battle next Sunday.

Bengals fans mad at Bud

Bengals fans are livid at Steelers outside linebacker Bud Dupree after the Steelers’ 36-10 victory. And they may have a reason to at least be agitated.

Dupree did get away with a bit of a late shove on Bengals rookie quarterback Joe Burrow during a scramble in the second quarter.

Eh, let’s just say I’ve seen less draw a flag. Particularly that late. Particularly on a quarterback. Particularly on the QB’s own sideline.

Bengals fans are essentially treating Burrow like Penguins fans treated Sidney Crosby during his rookie year in Pittsburgh. Any “offending” hit is dirty, malicious and cause for five alarms.

Now Dupree is public enemy No.1 in Cincy, it appears, as there was mass caterwauling online from those in Cincinnati when the play failed to draw a flag and Burrow appeared to tweak an ankle.

Credit Burrow, though. He wasn’t one of those complaining.

“I didn’t think there were too many (late hits) today,” Burrow told reporters via Cincinnati.com. “I think Pittsburgh did a good job of not hitting me too late and if they did they kind of held me up and didn’t fall on me.”

Now, then, if you want to talk about “dirty” hits on the quarterback, how about Cincinnati’s Sam Hubbard going low on Ben Roethlisberger’s knees?

I know. At least that one was flagged. But it is ironic a penalty like that one was given to a Bengals defender. This after former Cincinnati wide receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh said during a recent interview that Kimo von Oelhoffen’s 2005 hit on Bengals quarterback Carson Palmer was intentional. It was an extremely similar kind of play.

Houshmandzadeh said, “If they didn’t purposely hurt Carson, in my opinion, they wouldn’t have beat us in the playoffs.”

Does this help?

The Steelers have managed to avoid “that typical bad Mike Tomlin loss” so far this year.

Specifically, in these last two games against the 2-7 Dallas Cowboys and 2-6-1 Bengals.

But next on the schedule? The 1-8 Jacksonville Jaguars. Before the division rival Baltimore Ravens on Thanksgiving.

It has all the making of a classic “trap game.” Except maybe on Sunday, the Jaguars did enough to wake up the Steelers and make them realize they aren’t chopped liver.

After all, the Jags hung with the 7-2 Green Bay Packers. Rookie running back James Robinson was excellent for Jacksonville. The Illinois State product had 109 yards on 23 carries. He’s averaged exactly 109 yards per game over his last three contests.

For the season, Robinson has lost just one fumble in 159 touches.

And the Jacksonville defense held the Packers to a measly 80 yards rushing.

But if quarterback Ben Roethlisberger can come close to replicating what Aaron Rodgers did for Green Bay, the Steelers will be just fine.

.@AaronRodgers12 lets it fly to Marquez Valdes-Scantling for a 78-yard @packers touchdown! @MVS__11 #GoPackGo

: #JAXvsGB on FOX: NFL app // Yahoo Sports app: https://t.co/6yCTrUNGY8 pic.twitter.com/9Tb7gTNcKl

— NFL (@NFL) November 15, 2020

The Packer’s QB was 24 of 34 for 325 yards. He threw two touchdowns and had a rating of 108.1. He was only sacked once.

Now they are just messin’ around

Rare are the times that Pittsburghers enjoy seeing the Patriots get by with a trick play.

But when it is against the Ravens? Well, that can be fun.

Like, remember when the Patriots busted out the “ineligible, eligible” receiver formation in the 2014 playoffs? And when Julian Edelman threw a trick touchdown pass to Danny Amendola in that same game?

Well, the Patriots did it to the Ravens again on Sunday night as receiver Jakobi Meyers threw a touchdown pass to running back Rex Burkhead.

High school QB, NFL WR out here throwing TD passes on SNF. @jkbmyrs5 | #GoPats

Watch live: https://t.co/hYp83EW2oK pic.twitter.com/AyYTZ5k8hm

— New England Patriots (@Patriots) November 16, 2020

Like Edelman, Meyers had some throwing in his background. A high school quarterback, Meyers made the transition to wide receiver at N.C. State. Edelman was a quarterback at Kent State.

I know. I know. Seeing Bill Belichick pulling a fast one — again — is maddening. But if it burns John Harbaugh and the Ravens, that’s plenty of fun, right?

The Patriots ended up winning 23-17. They improve to 4-5. And the Ravens are now three games back of the Steelers with a 6-3 record.

Winning play, losing bet.

Nick Chubb did the right thing on Sunday.

The Cleveland Browns running back ran out of bounds before scoring a late touchdown. Up 10-7, the Browns coaching staff told Chubb to pick up the first down and then go down so they could run out the clock.

Well, he did a lot better than that, sort of.

Nick Chubb ripped off a 59-yard run and stopped at the 1-yard line

(via @thecheckdown)pic.twitter.com/IK5Pbpyyi1

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) November 15, 2020

Chubb took a pitch on a third-and-3 with 1:07 to play and bolted up the left sideline heading toward the end zone. The Texans had no timeouts, so Chubb just ran out of bounds instead of scoring and giving Houston the ball back.

That allowed Cleveland to kneel out the clock on the next two plays.

Now maybe he should’ve just given himself up inbounds. And scoring a touchdown plus an extra point would’ve put the game essentially out of reach with a 10-point margin and less than a minute left.

But Chubb did what he was told.

For some gamblers, though, that wasn’t a good thing. The Browns were favored by 4.5. So those who had big money on the game were clearly pulling their hair out as a result because the three-point margin allowed the Texans to cover.

Via ESPN.com, “At William Hill sportsbooks around the nation, 89% of the money bet on the point spread was on Cleveland, according to data reported by the bookmaker an hour before kickoff.

“Jeff Stoneback, sportsbook book director for BetMGM in Nevada, said the Texans covering the spread produced a mid-six-figure swing in favor of the house.”

That has to hurt.

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