FANTASY FOOTBALL WEEKLY FEATURES

CIN (1-2) vs PIT (2-1)

Game Prediction: CIN 17, PIT 24

The Bengals and Steelers are following their typical trends this year. Sometimes they look very good and sometimes they look very bad. Inconsistent play will likely continue with two young quarterbacks and the better offense missing Warrick while on the road.

Pre-Game Notes - CIN

Palmer is still having growing pains and gets to endure the wrath left over from last year when Kitna threw three scores in PIT to win that game 24-20.

Running Backs: Rudi Johnson was effective last week, gaining 98 yards on 23 carries thanks to some injuries to the Ravens defensive front but he never scored and had no receptions. He still has no 100 yard games this year and is averaging 3.4 yards per carry. Each week the Bengals claim to debut rookie Chris Perry but that hasn't happened yet.

Wide Receivers: Palmer may be young but he knows where to look for the money. Chad Johnson had 18 throws last week and caught eight for 99 yards. Peter Warrick had 51 yards on six catches but re-injured his shin and is likely to miss this week. His replacement - T.J. Houshmandzadeh - had a career best last week with seven catches for 116 yards to lead all receivers and T.J. should factor in this week as well. Kelly Washington (5-58) offers yet another needed target.

Tight Ends: Kelly/Stewart/Schobel continue with around 4 or so passes a game and up to 30 yards. No scores yet from the three-headed monster.

Match Against the Defense: The pass defense against Oakland in week one gave up 305 yards but that was mainly thanks to one long bomb to Gabriel. In the past two weeks, the Steelers have not allowed any passing scores but then again, MIA and BAL are likely the two worst passing offenses in the world right now.

Expect that Palmer should have a better yardage game again but he should cap out at two scores if that. The Steelers will be blanketing Johnson if it helps though any time a receiver gets 18 passes, he's bound to catch some of them and the BAL corners last week are much better than either of the PIT CB's. After throwing three interceptions last week, Palmer is bound to play it a little more carefully this week.

Rudi Johnson is likely to remain with a sub-4.0 YPC against a defense that had not allowed more than 62 yards to any runner this year. He'll need a heavy volume to rise much higher than that and most likely won't get the steady diet of runs he would need to post significant numbers.

Houshmandzadeh actually has the best matchup this week and could once again be the top receiver unless Johnson can snare a few more of the next 18 passes he gets.

Pre-Game Notes - PIT

The Steelers come off a tough three game opening stretch against good defenses - OAK, BAL and MIA. There no such defense coming to town this week.

Running Backs: Duce Staley ran well last week on the muddy MIA field, gaining 101 yards on 22 carries but having no receptions. For one of the best receiving backs in the game, Staley doesn't even get passes anymore. After three weeks, he only has two catches.

Verron Haynes had seven carries for 34 yards last week but the coaching staff has said that was not to imply he was taking over the #2 spot from Jerome Bettis. Given the game conditions, they felt Haynes would be better in the mud.

Wide Receivers: Hines Ward turned in a nice nine catch, 96 yard effort with one score during the squall in MIA last week. He only had ten passes and caught all but one - a good sign he is getting in synch with Roethlisberger. Plaxico Burress ended with 60 yards on two catches and had one genuinely impressive comeback catch for 42 yards but he only had five balls thrown his way. By the same token, Burress had his best game of the year with Roethlisberger in the driving rain in MIA.

Tight Ends: There is a reason why the tight end section of Roethlisberger's playbook has all the pages torn out.

Match Against the Defense: This should be an interesting game between two teams in varying developing stages.

Duce Staley is a must start this week against the team that allowed Curtis Martin (196) and Jamal Lewis (186) to notch season best games and their respective "best in the NFL that week". How effective Staley is will play into how much passing the Steelers will do.

Roethlisberger gets his first good matchup against a team that has allowed all opponents to score through the air. Considering that the Bengals are coming off a shredding by Jamal Lewis, chances are good that they'll be committing a bit more to the run and not worrying as much about the rookie quarterback. That could be a mistake.