Pittsburg, PA
Keys to how the Bengals can sweep season series against the Pittsburgh Steelers
Zac Taylor on Flacco after win against Steelers
Bengals Head Coach Zac Taylor speaks at a press conference on Monday October 20, 2025.
The Cincinnati Bengals travel to Pittsburgh to face the Steelers in Week 11 looking for a sweep on the season.
Cincinnati (3-6) beat the Steelers (5-4) 33-31 on Oct. 16 at Paycor Stadium.
Quarterback Joe Flacco won in his second start for the Bengals and Ja’Marr Chase reset his own franchise record with 16 receptions on 23 targets in the game.
Cincinnati is coming off its bye while Pittsburgh is coming off a loss to the Los Angeles Chargers.
Here are the keys to victory for the Bengals in Week 11:
Follow the example the Chargers made
The Bengals didn’t register a sack or hit against the Steelers last month and quarterback Aaron Rodgers had plenty of time to carve up Cincinnati’s defense. Los Angeles registered five hits and three sacks on Rodgers on Nov. 9 en route to a 25-10 victory.
Cincinnati will be without defensive ends Trey Hendrickson and Shemar Stewart, which means they’ll need to get creative in finding ways to get to Rodgers.
If the Bengals can’t pressure Rodgers and disrupt his timing, it’ll mean the offense will need an even bigger Herculean effort than the past two games where Cincinnati scored 80 points against the New York Jets and Chicago Bears and still lost.
Run the ball, control the clock and utilize play action
Winning a track meet is possible for the Bengals’ offense, but it’s best to avoid being in those positions, as they saw in the losses to the Jets and Bears.
Yes, Flacco and the offense can score from anywhere on the field, but it’d be best to control the game by running the ball and not forcing the defense to go back out on the field in less than two minutes in the second half.
Chase Brown needs to have a big game and keep the Bengals ahead of the sticks at Acrisure Stadium so Flacco isn’t having to throw the ball 50 times against what’s likely to be a different defensive look from the Steelers.
Zone busters for everyone
Flacco threw for 342 yards and three touchdowns without an interception in the Bengals’ Oct. 16 win and the Steelers played man coverage for the most part.
Expect the Steelers to move more to zone looks to limit big play potential for wide receivers Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins. Chase had 16 catches for 161 yards and a touchdown and Higgins had six catches for 96 yards and a score.
This means Flacco will need to find the soft spots in the zone coverage via a variety of route concepts and possibly get Brown more involved catching the ball out of the backfield.
Gas prices continue to sit near the $5 mark for the better part of the Pittsburgh region. Not only is it impacting people’s wallets, but it’s also hitting the bottom lines of first responders’ operations.
While gas prices are not impacting day-to-day operations, budgets are always tight, and if prices stay high, it could have some long-term impacts. First responders say they’ll still come when you call 911, so there’s no need to panic, but there is some concern behind the scenes.
“We can’t charge more for our services. The only way to weather the storm is to become more efficient,” Regional Emergency Support Quick Response Service director Mike Gallagher said.
RESQRS said gas is normally about $2,500 to $3,000 a month. From March to April, it was $5,500. The ambulance they wanted to get this year is now on hold as costs go up.
“It definitely has affected other parts of the business and how we operate,” Gallagher said over Zoom.
It’s the same for volunteer firefighters. Southern Allegheny Valley Emergency Services had its bill go from $300 to $400, up to $1,000 last month. This price spike was, of course, never anticipated when making the budget last year.
“It absolutely wasn’t. We just have to take money from other things and reprioritize,” SAVES fire chief Mike Daniher said.
Medic Rescue in Bridgewater, Beaver County, covers that county and takes patients to Wexford and Pittsburgh hospitals. They easily rack up hundreds of miles a day driving. Insurance doesn’t cover gas spikes, and fuel reimbursements are set from the prior year.
“I don’t see how it would be sustainable in the long term without some changes in financing,” Medic Rescue director of operations Bill Pasquale said.
An immediate impact for many services is putting new equipment on the back burner. While grants can be used for that, there’s no guarantee it’s accepted.
Pittsburg, PA
Pittsburgh will have afternoon storm chances on Wednesday with gusty winds and lightning
It will be stormy this afternoon, and then cooler for the rest of the work week.
Temperatures then warm up with record-setting temperatures possible early next week. It’s going to be a busy stretch of weather. Let’s get right into it.
Rain chances today are low overall. The headline is the storm chance that occurs this afternoon. Gusty winds, frequent lightning, and isolated but intense downpours are expected as a narrow line of storms develops and rolls through Western Pennsylvania. The line of storms will be intensifying as it moves from the west to the east.
Right now, it looks like the storms will roll through between 1 p.m. and 4 p.m.
By the time you see this blog, our best chance for morning rain should have come and gone. Rain totals will not be very impressive today; most will see less than 0.05 inches of rain.
That excludes rain coming from afternoon storms.
Afternoon storms could add another fifth of an inch of rain for those who see the most ‘intense’ cells sliding through their areas. Temperatures in the morning are in the 50s. We will quickly rise up to the mid-60s for temperatures this afternoon ahead of storms. Temperatures will then dip back down to the 50s for the rest of the day, with brisk winds coming in from the northwest at around 15 mph.
Thursday highs will only hit the mid-50s.
We stay cool through Friday morning. We’d have to worry about frost on Friday if it wasn’t for the cloud cover that’s expected. Friday highs will be near 70°. Saturday and Sunday highs are expected to hit the low 80s both days.
A perfect ‘storm’ of low humidity levels, plenty of sunshine, and a strengthening sun angle will allow us to potentially see record highs early next week. I have high temperatures in the 90s on both Monday and Tuesday next week.
The record high for Monday is 91°, and that is what I am forecasting for a high.
A small kitten was tied up in a bag and thrown from a moving pickup truck in Warren County, Pennsylvania State Police said.
State police posted on the PSP Tips Facebook page on Tuesday, asking for help figuring out who threw the kitten out of a moving vehicle on Conewango Avenue in Glade Township around 6:45 p.m. on May 4.
Troopers said the kitten, estimated to be six to eight weeks old, was tied up in a black disposable bag. The kitten wasn’t hurt. Police shared a photo of the tiny gray kitten perched on a trooper’s shoulder.
Investigators described the vehicle involved as a white, single-cab Chevrolet pickup truck with no registration plate and rust on the body of the truck. It was seen heading north on Conewango Avenue around 6:45 p.m. on May 4, so anyone with cameras in the area is asked to check their footage between 6:30 p.m. and 7:15 p.m. that night.
Anyone with information is asked to contact state police in Warren at 814-728-3600 and ask for Trooper Holsopple or Corporal Koebley. People can also call the PSP Tips line at 1-800-472-8477 or submit a tip online.
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