Steelers Rely on Old Formula

Jerome Bettis and Pittsburgh’s defense made quite a posse.

Bettis ran for 129 yards and the Steelers’ blitzing defense created havoc Sunday, setting up a 19-14 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals that kept the NFL’s longest winning streak intact.

Rookie quarterback Ben Roethlisberger played like one, so the 32-year-old running back and the old-style defense bailed him out in Pittsburgh’s eighth consecutive win. The Steelers are 9-1 for the first time since 1978, when they won their third Super Bowl in five years.

“Everybody expects us to be flawless,” Bettis said. “Sometimes you’re not going to have your best game. That’s when you have to find a way to win.”

They took an old, familiar path: Run the ball and let the defense do the rest, taking the pressure off the kid quarterback.

Roethlisberger has earned comparisons to Terry Bradshaw during his remarkable introductory season with eight starts, all wins. This time, he looked much more like a green rookie than a black-and-gold legend.

The Bengals (4-6) came at him from all sides, had a season-high seven sacks and forced him to make poor decisions. Three times, he scuttled scoring chances by taking sacks, grounding the ball or fumbling.

“On a lot of the sacks, I take the blame,” said Roethlisberger, who completed 15 of 21 passes for 138 yards but lost 54 yards on sacks. “I wasn’t flustered, just disappointed in my play. But it’s a sign of a good team when you can win when you don’t play well.”

With Duce Staley sidelined a third consecutive game because of a sore hamstring, Bettis came through with his third triple-digit game in a row. He repeatedly bowled over tacklers during his 11th 100-yard performance against the Bengals, and he moved ahead of Tony Dorsett for fifth place on the NFL’s career rushing list.

After Roethlisberger put the Steelers up, 17-14, with an eight-yard touchdown pass to Dan Kreider in the third quarter, the defense did the rest, stifling Carson Palmer’s passing and Cincinnati’s playoff hopes.

Linebacker James Farrior had a 14-yard interception return that blunted the Bengals’ momentum in the first half.

In the second half, Cincinnati’s offense managed only 42 yards and two first downs. Everything imploded: Cincinnati had seven second-half penalties for 75 yards.

The clinching play came with 2 minutes 38 seconds left and Palmer under pressure in his end zone. He threw the ball away, drawing a grounding call and a safety. Fans tossed three beer bottles onto the field in disgust.

Palmer completed 13 of 25 passes for 165 yards.