A closer look reveals some interesting changes .
Could it possibly be that the roles have reversed a bit ?
Cincinnati closed out the year in 2008-2009 with 3 straight victories , and while the level of opposition was rather weak ( Washington , @ Cleveland , and vs Kansas City ) the scores reveal the transformation this team has gone though .
a 20-13 win , a 14-0 win , a 16-6 win
Hardly Bengal-like scores
These all amount to giving up an average of 6.3 PPG to close out the year .
Coincidentally , Cincinnati ...a team that only won 4 games the entire year won 3 on the strength of its defense .
The Bengals began the 2009-2010 campaign giving up 18 points on average to the Denver Broncos and Green Bay Packers .
A freakish play at the end of the Denver game is all that separates this team from having won their last 5 regular season games .
It is widely believed that with the leadership of a healthy and of the best quarterbacks in the league, the Cincinnati's offense will continue to improve .
Perhaps , it won't light up the scoreboard as they did on a weekly basis prior to Carson Palmer's injury , but then again , they won't have to !
This defensive unit is perhaps the best that the Bengals have had in a very long time .
As it is , only 2 spots separate Pittsburgh and Cincinnati on yards given up ( Pittsburgh 9th & Cincinnati 11th )
The other categories :
Cincinnati 11th , Pitt 8th against the rush
Cincinnati 16th , Pitt 19th against the pass
Cincinnati 12th , Pitt 6th in points allowed
Cincinnati's defense is credited with a qb rating of 87.22, while
Pittsburgh's defense is credited with a qb rating of 92.61 for the opposition .
Cincinnati again lands in the upper tier stopping 3rd down conversions at 36.0 % , while Pittsburgh has given up 40.7 % of third down plays to the opposition thus far.
And perhaps the biggest surprise thus far :
Cincinnati leads the league in sacks with 9 , far ahead of the 2 that the stellar defensive unit of the Steelers has been able to create .
Yes, this is early in the season , and Pittsburgh faced a tough Tennessee team and had to go to chicago to play the Bears .
Cincinnati faced what is begginning to prove a tougher than expected Denver Broncos team , and then played @ Green Bay .
Noone is to argue that this victory was surprising ( Bengals were 9 point dogs ) and legitimate .
What the Bengals accomplished is what this team' s defenses could not do in the past , and that is get stronger and play better in the second half .
Cincinnati gave up 3 points to Green Bay in the second half , and should have only given up 3 points to Denver in week 1 .
This ability to play through the 4 quarters is what gives the Bengals a chance this sunday .
Meanwhile , the offense showed balance in both passing and running the ball for nearly the same amount of yards .
Cedric Benson and all 220 pounds of him gives this team a tougness that they will need come Sunday .
The former Bears running back bruised his way to 141 yards , while Carson Palmer distributed the ball to 8 different receivers making this team far from one-dimensional .
On defense Antwan Odom ( 5 ) and Ray Maualuga ( 1 ) combined for 6 sacks causing havoc on every play .
This defense now swarms to the ball , and puts pressure on the quarterback with hurried throws and hits .
Pittsburgh comes in with more interceptions than touchdowns and a QB rating of 85.6 .
Ben was sacked 5 times in the game against Tennessee and once vs the Bears .
While Tennessee' s defense is notoriouslty tough to run on , Pittsburgh only managed 23 yards on 36 rushes ( 1.56 ypr) , while against Chicago they managed to eclipse the 100 yard mark ( a solid 4.77 ypr ) , the Steelers have become more of a passing team perhaps getting away from the identity of the team that has given fits to Bengals team for so long .