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Randel El return puts exclamation point on win
If you're the Steelers and the special teams are making plays that change the scoreboard in a positive fashion, you just know it's your day.
Still, Randle El's burst was more than the Steelers simply taking the field and allowing the Bengals to be the Bengals. There was anticipation, deception and athleticism involved on the Steelers' part, as well as the Bengals' trademark ineptitude.
Wide receiver Lee Mays and fullback Dan Kreider weren't positioned where they usually are on the Steelers' standard kickoff return alignment. That set the stage for Mays to retreat back toward Randle El and for Randle El to fake a reverse to Mays. Once that took place, it was a matter of Randle El doing what he does best, which is run to daylight and make people miss in the open field.
"I kinda faked the reverse a little bit, saw a couple guys kinda shifting, and I saw a seam and just caught it and I never looked back from that point on," Randle El said. "It's fun. The game is fun. And then to have a kickoff return like that, to get out in space and really know you can make it, that's when you really just turn it on.
"I couldn't get into that gear like I wanted to right away, but I caught it later on down the field and put it in the end zone."
It was the Steelers' first kickoff return for a touchdown since Will Blackwell went 98 yards for a score Dec. 24, 2000 at San Diego. Randle El's effort was also the second-longest kickoff return for a touchdown in Steelers' history, behind a 101-yard return by Don McCall on Nov. 23, 1969 at Minnesota.
It might not have been possible had the Steelers not been anticipating a little trickery from Cincinnati at the outset of the second half.
On a normal kickoff return, Mays and Randle El line up deep, while Kreider takes a position in front of the twin return men along with Rodney Bailey and tight end John Allred.
In this instance, Kreider was positioned just behind the Steelers' front line of six players spread across the field and Mays was occupying what amounted to Kreider's spot.
"I had moved up there because we were afraid they were going to try an onside kick," Kreider said. "They put me up to have an extra person there, then I just dropped back. It was a new return we put in (last week). It worked out pretty good."
In retrospect, the Bengals would have been better served trying anything but a conventional kickoff downfield.
Randle El's first NFL touchdown turned a 24-0 Steelers' lead into a 31-0 advantage.
"I think after the kickoff return, that was it," Randle El said. "That was the dagger that really got 'em."
Actually, there had been plenty of daggers driven into the winless Bengals prior to that one. But for a Steelers special teams unit that has been badly in need of a pick me up this season, taking one back all the way on someone else for a change was more satisfying than timely.
"It's huge," Kreider said. "We needed that on special teams. It seems like we're always saying, 'Well, we're a block here or a block there from hitting one big.' It was good to get it."
"We've been close," coach Bill Cowher said, regarding his special teams in general and the kickoff return team in particular. "They've been working hard.
"I thought it was a really good effort by the kicking game."
