Merril Hoge isn’t holding back his criticism of an underwhelming Pittsburgh Steelers defense. Dominated by the Cincinnati Bengals over the final three quarters of last Thursday in a 33-31 loss, Hoge took every facet of the unit to task. Run defense, coverage, scheme, and fundamentals, all were picked apart by a frustrated Hoge.
“The thing that was probably the most concerning was their defensive line kind of fell back into the first two weeks, how they kinda got manhandled,” Hoge said Wednesday afternoon on 102.5 WDVE. “Cincinnati manhandled them up front.”
The Bengals entered the game with easily the NFL’s worst rushing attack.