Heading into Sunday night in what serves for the moment as the AFC North title game, Bengals defensive tackle Jonathan Allen says the challenge from the Steelers is understood.
Physicality, Allen says about a game that is played on the 17th anniversary of the most physical, violent, crushing game in this roller derby of a series.
The War of 18-12 in Pittsburgh on Nov. 15, 2009, which the Bengals won, 18-12, on their way to sweeping the division and winning the AFC North when they manhandled the defending Super Bowl champions by holding them to 226 yards, four field goals, and three of 15 on third down.
"That was fun," says Mike Zimmer, the Bengals defensive coordinator last week while crouching in a blind on his Northern Kentucky farm. "We had some guys that could get after it."
The Athletic's Paul Dehner Jr., reports that's one of four times since the rivalry began 56 years ago that both the Bengals and Steelers have met when both are 6-2. Sunday is the fourth time as Allen talks physicality.
"Right now, they have an identity of physicality," Allen said last week, "and right now that's a direct challenge as defensive linemen, and we're excited about that."
While the Bengals have won their last four leading the NFL in passing, the Steelers have won their four averaging 141 yards rushing and allowing their foes 14 points per game.
They don't give up too much on the ground, either, where they rank third against the run, and that's where the Bengals meet an old friend from the War of 18-12. For 11 years, Steelers defensive line coach Domata Peko was the Bengals' main man in the middle at nose tackle.
That day in Pittsburgh, Peko had five tackles for the Bengals in a stingy center of the field that allowed the Steelers just 80 yards rushing and sacked quarterback Ben Roethlisberger four times. During his time in Cincinnati, Peko anchored defenses that won three division titles, went to the playoffs six times, and finished in the NFL's top seven four times.
"A really good player. He didn't get the attention because of the job he did," Zimmer says. "Great team guy, very conscientious. He controlled the center. Helped keep the linebackers free. He was a big guy who could really run. We used to call him 'the screen-getter,' because he could always sniff out those screens."
Rey Maualuga was a rookie that day as one of the last of the downhill linebackers who brought size and calamity at the A Gap.
"They didn't score. It was all field goals. That was crazy," Maualuga says last week. "How quiet the stadium was, pretty cool. I think we held them to under 100 yards rushing and winning two games in the series was big then. Being in Pittsburgh, I was in awe of the history. Their caliber of defense, and we were just coming into our own, and playing the way we did made it that more special."
Maualuga and Peko are still tight. "The Big Uso," Maualua calls him, the Samoan word for friend. They met for a Jeff Ruby dinner Saturday night, and it sounds like Maualuga is still carrying a torch for the Bengals but hopes Peko's guys still play well Sunday.
"I know it's going to be a great game," Maualuga says. "(Peko) was so smart and everybody respected him because he had so much football knowledge. What he said in the meeting rooms, he backed it up on the field."
As Zimmer came up with the Double A Gap Blitz tinkering with head coach Marvin Lewis and linebackers coach Paul Guenther, he says Maualuga was a key chess piece.
"Rey was a tough guy. Talk about physicality. We'd send him on blitzes to try to get him on backs. In the Double A Gap, he was a load in there."
The blitz? Zimmer doesn't remember when the Steelers got the ball back that day one final time (1:56 at the Pittsburgh 33), but he remembers what he called.
"I was just telling somebody this story the other day," Zimmer says. "I said screw it. I'm not going to let Roethlisberger sit back there. Four straight blitzes."
Four straight incompletions. Ballgame, 18-12 with fewer than 500 yards in all. Tough calls. But it was a tough game. After giving up 138 yards rushing back in September against these Steelers, Allen knows that physicality is the order of the day in another 6-2 meeting.
"They took it to us. As a defense, we didn't play our best brand of football," Allen said. "We're looking for an opportunity to re-pay them for that."
What better day than the day the Bengals won The War of 18-12? …
Slants and Screens
The week began with one Iron Mike, former Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin, saying teams must be able to defend the Bengals with a four-man pass rush against quarterback Joe Burrow because they can't sacrifice in the back end.
The week ended with another Iron Mike, Zimmer, recalling how he blitzed another future Hall of Famer (Big Ben) to end The War and how he was able to do it because of the great man-to-man cornerback tandem of Leon Hall and Johnathan Joseph.
"It sure makes it easier when you've got corners like that," Zimmer says. …
Tomlin, in his third year in Pittsburgh in '09, returns Sunday to cover his first Steelers game for NBC in the first game at Paycor Stadium without him as Steelers coach in 20 years …
Allen says the Bengals have to be patient in their meeting with quarterback Aaron Rodgers, yet another future Hall-of-Famer who, like Big Ben, gets rid of it quickly.
"It's easy to get frustrated and mentally check out," Allen said. "But you've got to stay locked in and focused. You've got to be ready for it when he does hold the ball." …
