On Thursday Night Football two quarterbacks over the age of forty faced off. The Bengals newest addition to the team, quarterback Joe Flacco, faced the offseason signing, quarterback Aaron Ridgers for the Steelers. Both familiar faces on new teams looking to help their new team to victory showed flashes of their prime selves.
The game kicks off with the Pittsburgh Steelers getting the ball. The Steelers get held to a third and eleven but Rodgers finds wide receiver Dk Metcalf forty yards down the field for a first down. The Steelers march into the ten yard line looking to score and Rodgers delivers a pass to tight end Jonnu Smith for the touchdown! Then with the extra point being good it makes the score 7-0, Steelers. Now for the Bengals turn on offense. The Bengals get held to a third and fourteen, it was looking unpromising for a first down but Flacco throws a perfect pass to wide receiver Tee Higgins for the first down. However, the Bengals luck runs out and gets stopped on another third down, making them punt the ball back to the Steelers. The Bengals and Steelers go back and forth punting to each other until It’s Steelers ball which ends the first quarter.
Starting off the second quarter with the Steelers having possession,hey marched down into Bengals territory to kick a field goal to make the score 10-0, Steelers. With the Bengals looking to score, they barged into the red zone with great runs by running back Chase Brown and great catches by wide receiver Jamar Chase. With the Bengals needing a touchdown, Flacco delivers a perfectly thrown ball to Chase for the touchdown! With the field goal being good it makes the score 10-7, Steelers. Now the Steelers are looking to extend their lead, Rodgers throws a deep pass intended for Dk Metcalf but is intercepted by the defense! With Bengals in their own territory RB Brown runs the ball all the way to the Steelers forty yard line. Then Bengals Wide receiver Higgins catches the ball in the middle of the field and turns up running straight through the Steelers defense for the touchdown! With the extra point good it’s 10-14, Bengals on top. Now with the Steelers in possession, Rodgers throws an amazing pass to Metcalf but is impressively stripped from Bengals corner back DJ Turner for the interception! The Bengals traveled down the field and settled for a field goal making the score 10-17 Bengals on top and ended the first half.
The third quarter kicked off with the Bengals getting the ball and marching down all the way into the five yard line by beautiful passes from Flacco and great catches from the Bengals offense. They had to settle for a field goal making the score 10-20, Bengals on top.The Steelers get the ball back and are three and eighteen from the first down marker, it looks unpromising to get the first down.Rodgers delivers the ball to the tight end for the touchdown! With the extra point being good it makes the score 17-20, Bengals.
Starting the fourth quarter, the Bengals have the ball and fight all the way to the five yard line looking to extend their lead. It’s third down and Flacco plops the ball over the middle to the tight end for the touchdown! The Steelers get the ball back and need to score to stay alive in this game. They traverse to the red zone by a beautiful run by RB Tyler Warren and some great throws by Rodgers. With the Steelers offense on the two yard line, they ran a play fake just to pass the ball to massive six foot seven tight end, Darnell Washington, for the touchdown! With the Bengals now in danger they have to increase their lead. The Bengals march into the Steelers thirty yard line but get stopped and have to settle for a field goal which makes the score 24-30, Bengals. The Steelers get the ball back and need to score to take the lead back. However, they quickly go three and out punting back to the Bengals offense. Then with the Bengals needing to extend their lead they got stopped and had to punt. The Steelers down by seven points Rodgers throws an absolute bomb down the field to tight end Pat Freiermuth for a touchdown! With the extra point being good it makes the score 31-30, Steelers back with the lead. Now with the Bengals looking to take their lead back, Chase makes some great catches and smart plays to wind down the clock while also gaining yardage. Now the Bengals are in the red zone and Flacco delivers a great pass to Higgins in which then he slides at the five yard line. The Bengals kicked the field taking a 31-33, late lead.
With only three seconds left in the game, Rodgers unleashes his famous hail mary all the way to the endzone, but this isn’t against Detroit and the Bengals defense swatted it out of the air winning the Bengals the game! Overall, this was an impressive game for both quarterbacks considering they’re both pushing forty and have been in the NFL for over a decade. Flacco had 342 passing yards, three touchdown passes and forty seven passing attempts. Meanwhile, Rodgers had 249 passing yards, four passing touchdowns and thirty four passing attempts. Pretty decent stats for the quarterbacks being near twice the age of their wide receivers.
