Bengals make strides on offense and defense against Steelers
The Cincinnati Bengals improved to 7-4 following a 41-10 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers that marked the first time the Bengals have swept the season series since 2009.
The Bengals are now 3-1 in the AFC North.
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Cincinnati went into halftime with a 31-3 lead after a pick six by Mike Hilton with 0:07 left.
Quarterback Joe Burrow's day was done with 10:36 to play in the fourth quarter.
Here's what we learned from the Bengals' Week 12 win:
Mixon sets new career-high
In a Week 11 win over the Raiders, the Bengals ran Joe Mixon 30 times, and he rushed for more than 100 yards.
Against the Steelers, the Bengals followed a similar blueprint. Mixon rushed for 165 yards and two touchdowns on 28 carries. This topped his previous careerhigh of 162 yards in a game.
Pittsburgh's head coach Mike Tomlin saidprior to the game his team couldn't let Mixon get going. Although the Steelers clearly knew he was coming, they couldn't stop him.
Higgins has his best game of 2021
Tee Higgins was Joe Burrow's main target. He finished with six catches for 114 yards and a touchdown.
The eye-popping 32-yard score was one of the more impressive plays of the season.
"I saw the safety was cheating towards Chase so I knew I was about to get single coverage, one-on-one. Joe gave me a chance, and I came down with it," Higgins said.
Cincinnati's defense was
disruptive
Hilton, Trey Hendrickson and Eli Apple were all given game balls for forcing turnovers.
Apple's came when he picked off Steelers' quarterback Ben Roethlisberger in the first quarter. He now has interceptions in back-to-back games.
Hilton's pick-six on Roethlisberger essentially put the game out of reach heading into halftime, and the Bengals' bench area erupted to celebrate Hilton making a statement against his former team.
Hendrickson, who now has a sack in each of the last seven games, took Roethlisberger down and forced a fumble on the play.