As we do every week to prepare you for the upcoming game, we give you our X factor of the week. Sometimes it’s a player, unit, concept or scheme. Here’s our Pittsburgh Steelers X factor against the Cincinnati Bengals.
STEELERS VS BENGALS X FACTOR: CB JAMES PIERRE
Compared to the rest of the Steelers’ defense, James Pierre hasn’t got a lot of action at all. He’s played just 110 snaps on the year, only 17 percent of the Steelers’ defensive total. Many of those came last week against the Los Angeles Chargers. With Darius Slay exiting the game with a concussion, Pierre got a lot of run.