Once upon a time, like 20 years ago on a Sports Illustrated cover, Bengals-Steelers was branded, "The nastiest rivalry in the NFL."

But before Sunday night's AFC North showdown for first place between the two at Paycor Stadium (8:20-Cincinnati’s Channel 5), they were throwing verbal bouquets at each other.

Earlier this week in Pittsburgh, Steelers defensive coordinator Patrick Graham called Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow a throwback to guys like the Manning brothers and the Steelers' own Aaron Rodgers. Before Wednesday's walkthrough Bengals offensive coordinator Dan Pitcher called Graham "a premier coordinator in this league, one of the best, and he's probably got some of the best talent that he's ever had to work with."

"It is a little different playing Pittsburgh this year than in years past," Pitcher said. "Just because I think the volume's gone up of what they're presenting, and they're executing it all at a very high level."

Of course, they can afford to say all that. Pitcher is running the hottest offense in the land operated by the  NFL's leading MVP candidate, and the Steelers defense is still the Steelers defense even with former Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin wearing the NBC blazer Sunday night.

The Bengals are averaging 35.7 points per game during their four-game winning streak and lead the NFL in every imaginable category the last month. Burrow leads the league in passer rating, touchdown passes and has completed his last 95 passes at 77% to lead the league in completion percentage.

"The thing that stands out to me is his toughness. I think he's a throwback quarterback. I didn't realize until (2024) when we played them how big he is," said Graham of that game Burrow threw five touchdown passes for the first time in a 41-24 win over Graham's Raiders defense at Paycor Stadium.

"He's just a massive man, and how tough he is in the pocket in getting hit, and he just bounces back up. He stands in there and gets the ball out when people are in his face. The arm talent. My son can see that. He's 13. The talent is there. Intelligence in terms of looks, but he's also patient. You can tell how they run the play clock a little bit. He's going to let it wind down and see what you're in.  That's a throwback to some of the earlier quarterbacks I was around as a position coach. Keeps coming at you. Short memory. Makes a bad play and he gets mad, but he forgets about it and slings the ball down field rocking and rolling. He's just a really good player."

Burrow faces an already estimable Pittsburgh defense thriving in Graham's first season. The Steelers are ranked seventh overall, third against the run, and are giving just 18 points per game, tied for fourth.

Since the Bengals held them sackless until the last play that won the game for them, 30-27, on Sept. 27 in Pittsburgh, they've had 18 sacks, 26 all season, and are just three shy of the Texans' league-leaders.

Pitcher, in his 22^nd Bengals-Steelers game, has always had high regard for the Pittsburgh front in any year, and even paid homage to Tomlin as he works a Steelers game this Sunday for the first time.

"Just the aggressiveness, the physicality, the decisiveness, the downhill mentality, take the fight to you mentality. Those are things that have always existed in my experience with Pittsburgh that still exist," Pitcher said. "They they just present you maybe with a little bit more from a volume standpoint than what they have in the past.

"But all the qualities that made them great under Coach Tomlin, I think those qualities are instilled in the people, and those people are there probably first and foremost because they had those qualities."

Zacwork For Steeler Week

As head coach Zac Taylor faces the challenge of getting the Bengals ready to see if they can pull off an NFL first, beat a team coming off a bye after playing an international game, defensive coordinator Al Golden says Taylor "is on the front end, if not, pioneering in terms of how to take care of the players during the season."

Even before his club pulled into Paycor at 2:17 Monday morning after the nine-hour flight following the 34-17 win over the Falcons in Madrid, he gave them Monday and Tuesday off and a late start Wednesday. Instead of a regular Wednesday afternoon practice, he planned a dinnertime walkthrough.

"It's a balancing act, certainly, to make sure you're getting the physical work that you need to go play the game," Taylor said before the walkthrough. "We're trying to balance that as best we can. Especially over last week, this week, next week in terms of the schedule to make sure we get the right amount of work. I stress a lot about, quite frankly.

"Making sure that we're always getting the right amount of physical work, but also on Sunday, that our guys are as healthy as possible and play with as fresh legs as possible because we've got really good players and you don't want to detract from that in any way because of how we practice."

Taylor says it's not ideal, but it's pragmatic.

"I would love to have 100 full-speed reps a week, and that's just not the reality of how you're going to do it. That isn't beneficial for the players," Taylor said. "When I script, I make certain the receivers are only getting the reps they need. I don't want to just waste them running down the field all day, and then they're gassed on Sunday. And so they may tell you that sometimes I do, but I do put a lot of effort into that. We all script to make sure we take care of those guys and they get the reps that are essential."

Golden a former two-time college head coach, appreciates it.

"I just think he's got a clear picture of what he wants the team to look like on these days. Whether it's a short week, a Thursday night game, coming back from Spain, he's got a really clear picture in his head of what he wants to get done," Golden said. "It has to be in terms of your intake and what you've consumed as a player about the opponent has to be at the level that it's at every other week, even though you may not have put a helmet on and bang. That's where I think Zac is really good, and everybody in the building has bought into that vision." …

Slants and Screens

Taylor left some hope that rookie edge Cashius Howell, fourth on the team in pressures before he had wrist surgery 10 days ago, may not be out for the entire year.

"I think right now he's on (injured reserve), and we'll just see how the recovery process, rehab process goes as we get down the road here. But that timetable is to be determined," Taylor said. "Still weeks (away) for him. Let's clear through the IR (four-week) window, and it'll definitely go beyond that, and we'll gather more information as the season goes." …

Taylor is calling left guard Dylan Fairchild "day-to-day."  …

Taylor had mixed feelings when Arizona plucked the quintessential pro off the practice squad and whisked 40-year-old quarterback Josh Johnson off to another team. But it sounds like they won't add another backup to join Joe Flacco and practice-squadder Sean Clifford.

"Josh had played so well. He's obviously a roster-caliber quarterback. We just weren't in a position to do that. So we were very fortunate to have him on the practice squad," Taylor said. "We felt good about Sean Clifford, too. We feel like we absolutely have had the best quarterback room in the NFL, top to bottom. I still feel that way.

"Very happy for Josh, a guy who is such a professional. I had never been around him before. We're the same age. He got drafted in Tampa a year after I had been cut there. That timeline matches up very closely. But I was just really impressed by him and would have loved for him to be able to stay here. But also really happy that he's getting an opportunity to go to Arizona. We'll be pulling for him." …

Taylor had some real battles with Tomlin here under the lights. In 2020, the Bengals stunned Tomlin's AFC North leaders with a No. 3 quarterback on a Monday night. Last year on a Thursday night, the Bengals got back into the division beating the  Steelers with the backup Flacco. Taylor also remembers Tomlin winning big in a 2019 prime-time game at Pittsburgh in his first season.

"You learn a lot of lessons over the years playing Pittsburgh's front. It's taught me a lot about how to scheme up some stuff and some protection stuff just because of the problems they (present). I learned a lot of lessons that I never did again from the 2019 game in Pittsburgh," Taylor said.

"You were always going to have a (Tomlin) team that was ready and ready to go. Especially in the Bengals-Steelers divisional games. Whether they're having a great season, or mediocre season, you were going to get their best. That was never going to be an easy task, and so you always took a lot of pride in getting ready." ….