The Pittsburgh Steelers (6-2) will have their defensive line at full strength for the biggest game of their season so far. On Saturday, the team activated defensive tackle Derrick Harmon from injured reserve and waived cornerback Terell Smith to make room. Pittsburgh flew to Cincinnati that afternoon for Sunday night’s game against the 6-2 Bengals at Paycor Stadium (8:20 p.m. ET, 3:20 a.m. Monday in Cairo), with first place in the AFC North on the line.
Harmon: “We’ll see by tomorrow”
Harmon had been on injured reserve with a foot injury and was listed as questionable on Friday. At his press conference that day, he would not commit to playing. Asked whether he expected to play on Sunday, he said, “We’ll see by tomorrow.” A day later the Steelers made the move.
He said the four weeks on injured reserve were about his head as much as his foot. “You got to sit down those four weeks, so just four weeks is focus on mental and physical,” Harmon said. His goal in practice this week, he said, was to “make sure my foot feel good, I can still strike blocks,” and to get back up to speed. “I got the playbook down, of course, but still just fine-tuning that part of things.”
Harmon also had an injury last year, and he said that helped him this time. “The mental part, just staying mentally engaged in everything I do. That was my biggest concern,” he said.
Asked whether he had bragging rights over Cam Heyward, an Ohio State alum, after the Oregon-Ohio State game, the former Oregon lineman listed several teammates. “Cam, Jack, Will, a few people,” he said. “Yeah, most definitely. Come on.”
The Steelers posted the full Friday press conference with Harmon, T.J. Watt and Asante Samuel Jr.
Watt on Burrow: “A clear-cut challenge”
T.J. Watt leads the Steelers with 7.5 of their 26 sacks. He called Joe Burrow and the Bengals’ offense “a clear-cut challenge.” “Everybody knows offensively what they bring to the table,” Watt said. “I feel like we’ve had a great bye week to get our bodies back and a great week of prep this week, but as you know, it’s all about the performance on Sunday night.”
“It’s pretty obvious what Joe’s capable of. I mean, you have so much film on him now over the years,” Watt said. “Joe’s playing elite football at a high level, and it’ll bring the best out of us.”
He said the timing of the Steelers’ schedule worked out. “The Thursday night game came at a good time, and then the bye came right around the halfway point, so no complaints for me,” he said. Asked how he feels physically compared with past seasons, he said: “I feel great.” Watt said the rotation with the other edge rushers has been “really beneficial” and has “absolutely kept me more fresh, no doubt about it.”
On the Steelers’ red-zone defense, Watt pointed to “resiliency, being able to bow up,” and to a group of veterans and young players who “trust in the process.” “Nobody trying to do too much,” he said.
Samuel Jr.: “Been circling this since the last game”
The first meeting, on September 27 in Pittsburgh, was a 30-27 Steelers win that ended with Harmon’s strip-sack of Burrow. Before that, Tee Higgins caught a 28-yard touchdown pass just before halftime against cornerback Asante Samuel Jr., who was in tight coverage on the play.
“He made a great play,” Samuel said. “I feel like if it would have happened again, I probably would have made the play.” Asked whether he had circled the rematch, he said: “Oh, for sure. As a competitor, you definitely want to put your best foot forward every time, so, you know, been circling this since the last game.”
Samuel called Burrow “very poised, very confident” and “consistent.” He said the Bengals “thrive off of explosives.” “That’s their MO,” he said. “We just got to control that and just make our plays that come to us.” Going against the league’s top passing offense, he said, is what a defensive back wants: “This is the best, so don’t get no better than this.”
He said safety DeShon Elliott has brought “a lot of energy, a lot of knowledge” since he came back. Asked about seeing former Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin on television this season, Samuel said: “Great guy, great coach, and I’m happy for him.”
McCarthy: “This is a Ford 350 game”
Head coach Mike McCarthy previewed the game on the team’s weekly show, posted on Sunday. He said he gave the players two days off on top of the four required during the bye. “You truly want to make sure the men have a chance to get away,” he said. He said the coaches spent Monday and Tuesday of the bye on self-scouting, including a trip to “the boneyard,” where plays that did not make earlier game plans are kept.
McCarthy said he watched the Bengals’ Madrid game live. “They’re playing extremely well on offense,” he said. “It’s most important for us to go down there, exercise our game plan, tilt the field the way we want to play.”
On Burrow, he said it starts with “his time clock, discipline in the pass game. The ball is coming out on time.” “The way he slides and buys time in the pocket, still able to get the ball accurately,” McCarthy said. “This game is about time clocks.”
Asked for his key to the game, McCarthy said, “This is a Ford 350 game,” and picked special teams. “We need the production in the return game,” he said. “We got to be spot on in our coverage components of it and be clean in our protection part of it. I’m looking for a big play in special teams.”
Freiermuth questionable with an illness
The Steelers added tight end Pat Freiermuth to the injury report on Saturday with an illness. He is questionable for Sunday night.
For the September game play by play, the AFC North standings and the history of the series, see our step-by-step preview.
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