McCarron to Deliver for Bengals

2.5 Pts Cincinnati Bengals to beat Pittsburgh Steelers (13/10 Betway)

After looking at all the matchups in Wildcard weekend we have made a selection in what we see as the marquee match. The Cincinnati Bengals play at home against the Pittsburgh Steelers in an AFC North rivalry game. To put it lightly, these teams don’t like each other and we have already seen things boil over earlier in the season in this matchup. These two matches were split in the regular season with the Bengals taking the early matchup on the road, whereas the Steelers got the job done in Cincinnati. Importantly however Andy Dalton was injured during their home match against the Steelers leaving an inexperienced A J McCarron to be thrust into the action.

Since their latest matchup McCarron has taken up the starting quarterback role for the Bengals and Dalton’s return is uncertain. The young quarterback has played solidly and his confidence seems to be growing each week. He isn’t afraid of throwing the deep ball, and displays confidence in third down situations. All in all we would say that aside from the experience factor, having to use McCarron at QB isn’t a huge loss for the Bengals. We easily could have been looking at Cincinnati being the AFC number 1 seed if a few long passes had connected against the Broncos two weeks ago, and they are undoubtedly one of the top all round teams in the NFL. Everybody is well aware of Cincinnati’s recent struggles in the playoffs, but this team and season somehow feels different. The Bengals look as ready as ever for a strong post-season run.

The Steelers managed to limp in to the playoffs courtesy of a failure by the Jets, but it would be foolish to ignore them. They are an offensive powerhouse and rank highly in the league across most offensive criteria. What they lack however, is any kind of solid pass defence. This is problematic as they might not be able to put pressure on the inexperienced McCarron, who will be nervous playing his first postseason match.

Another factor that will count against the Steelers is predictability. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to work out that they will go to the air heavily against the Bengals. DeAngelo Williams left the game in week 17 with an ankle injury and is doubtful for Saturday. Most reports indicate that there isn’t a fracture of any kind, but the recovery time will be longer than a week. His running game is vital and consistent for the Steelers so he will be a huge miss if he isn’t fit to start. That being said Ben Roethlisberger is experienced and knows how to get all of his offensive weapons involved so you can never write off this Steelers unit.

The Steelers haven’t been at their best in the last couple of weeks with a loss against the Ravens and a sometimes shaky performance in a win against the Browns. Given they are on the road against the Bengals we are surprised to see them go off as favourites even with Dalton out for Cincinnati. We are happy to side with the Bengals to finally get that postseason win. As far as the other games go, we will enjoy these happily as a neutral.