Steelers Now
Cincinnati Bengals head coach Zac Taylor told reporters on Monday that defensive end Trey Hendrickson (hip_ is doubtful to return for Sunday’s game against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Hendrickson was also inactive for the Steelers’ first meeting against the Bengals in October. He re-injured his hip in the Bengals’ Week 8 win over the New York Jets and has been out since.
Hendrickson has proven to be one of the Bengals’ defense’s few bright spots, posting back-to-back 17.5-sack seasons in 2023 and 2024, and he looked like he was picking up right where he left off with four sacks, three tackles for loss, eight QB hits and one forced fumble through the first six games this season.
If Hendrickson can’t go, that’s a massive break for the Steelers. The Steelers’ two young offensive tackles — Troy Fautanu and Broderick Jones — struggled mightily in Sunday night’s loss to the Los Angeles Chargers. Rodgers was sacked three times, one of which went for safety after he held onto the ball too long.
First-round pick Shemar Stewart and Myles Murphy will have to step up in Hendrickson’s absence.
The Steelers have opened up as 5.5-point favorites for their Week 11 game against the Bengals, according to odds posted by DraftKings Sportsbook. Pittsburgh has a-245 money line, and the over/under total for the game is 50.5 points.
The Bengals eked out a 33-31 win over the Steelers in their first meeting in Cincinnati on Oct. 16.
The Bengals arguably have the worst defense in the NFL, so this could be a bounce back game for the Steelers’ offense that took one on the chin against the Chargers’ defense. Cincinnati is coming off their bye week.
The Steelers’ offense was an abysmal 2 of 11 on third down on Sunday nigh. The two third down conversions came in garbage time, also.
Over the last three games, the Steelers are 5 of 33 on third down (15%). The league average is 39%.
“We as an offensive collective were off and certainly, he’s a component of that,” head coach Mike Tomlin said of quarterback Aaron Rodgers and the offensive performance. “I’ll let him speak for himself, but we certainly got to be better. Didn’t feel like they did anything unanticipated, but certainly they outperformed us particularly in possession-down play.”
Tomlin gave a simple answer when asked what needs to be worked on from an offensive consistency standpoint.
“Third down,” Tomlin replied.
This article originally appeared on Steelers Now: Steelers Likely to Receive Massive Break vs. Bengals
