3 Steelers who must step up to the challenge vs. Bengals

The Pittsburgh Steelers face the winless Cincinnati Bengals this week. Here are three Steelers who must show up big this Sunday.

The Steelers are coming off a morale-crushing road loss to the Cleveland Browns last week where nothing seemed to go quite right. Several key players, including JuJu Smith-Schuster and Diontae Johnson, were knocked out of the game with injuries while Mason Rudolph crumbled under pressure in the 4th quarter.

Today marks a chance for a desperately-needed fresh start for Pittsburgh. They couldn’t ask for a more favorable matchup than playing against perhaps the league’s worst team. The 0-10 Bengals currently have the 32nd ranked defense by a wide margin, and they are starting a rookie 4th round pick at quarterback.

Unfortunately, the Steelers will be shorthanded again. Here are three players who must be able to step up to the challenge this week against Cincinnati:

James Washington

James Washington has started to come alive in recent weeks, and his emergence couldn’t have come at a better time. JuJu has already been ruled out of Sunday’s game after suffering a concussion on a targeting penalty last week, and Diontae Johnson didn’t log a full week of practice after his concussion.

Washington has been remarkable over the past three weeks – catching 13 of 16 targets for 217 yards (16.7 yards per reception) and a touchdown. Pittsburgh needs to count on him to show up big again today.