Rush offense, C: It easily could have been better than its 65 total yards. The inability to sustain a pass threat enabled Pittsburgh to concentrate on stopping the run. Corey Dillon had 55 yards rushing on 15 carries in the first half. He ran for 14 more on his first touch of the second half, but that play was called back when guard Matt O'Dwyer and wide receiver Peter Warrick were both called for holding. Instead of first and 10 on the Steelers 19-yard line, the Bengals faced first and 20 from the 43. That possession ended when Neil Rackers' 51-yard field goal attempt sailed wide left. They trailed only 10-0 at the time. As it was in San Diego, Dillon often encountered defenders in his backfield, and the line generally had no push against the Steelers front seven.

        Pass offense, D: Until passing for 69 yards on their fourth-quarter scoring drive, the Bengals had been held to fewer than 100 yards through the air. At least four times, quarterback Jon Kitna and his receivers seemed completely out of sync on open pass plays that were called at the right time. Falling behind forced the Bengals to call 34 pass plays compared to 21 rushes.

        Rush defense, D: Even after spotting the Steelers first down and 5 in the first quarter, the Bengals rush defense kept Jerome Bettis out of the end zone on three run plays -- including fourth down from inside the 1. That impressive stop would have seemed enough to fuel a good game by the front seven. But Pittsburgh ran for 6.9 yards a carry, 274 yards total, their most since 1988. Bettis had 153, quarterback Kordell Stewart 61 and Amos Zereoue 60. The Pittsburgh offensive line pushed the Bengals back on almost every play, preventing the type of penetration that marked the Bengals' first two victories.

        Pass defense, D: Stewart came in with a passer rating of 59.1 in two games. His rating Sunday was 80.4, with 15-of-24 passing for 151 yards. He threw no interceptions, though Bengals defensive backs Rodney Heath and Chris Carter each dropped potential picks. Carter's drop led to a Pittsburgh field goal. Stewart had been sacked five times coming in, but the Bengals got to him only twice. Twice on Steelers scoring drives, the Bengals gave up completions on third down pass plays.

        Special teams, C: Rackers had plenty of distance on his field goal attempt. Curtis Keaton, who came in averaging 29.4 yards a kickoff return, was held to 15 yards a return Sunday. The Steelers' average drive start was 11 yards better -- 35-yard line to 24. There were no mistakes on Bengals special teams but no big play when one was needed.

        Coaching, D: By his own admission, Dick LeBeau's Bengals played with little emotion or energy. The defense tried every blitz package to get to Stewart and slow Bettis, but nothing worked well. Both Cincinnati lines were outplayed. Offensive coordinator Bob Bratkowski called some timely pass plays against the right coverages, but the quarterback and wide receivers didn't appear to know what each other was doing, even though they've been working together since July 20.

Steelers 16, Bengals 7 Bengals back where they started Bengals-Steelers Notebook No stopping Bettis Third down not charmed for defense Couch makes clutch plays for 3-1 Browns Bengals-Steelers statistics Bengals report card

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