Sports

Bengals quarterback Joe Flacco said Thursday night's 33-31 win over the Steelers, and the ability to pass to two great receivers like Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins, is exactly what motivates him to keep playing into his 40s.

"It's a lot of fun," Flacco said. "This is what we do it for, is games like that. It came down to the wire, just like we knew it was going to, and I'm really happy for the guys."

Flacco said that as soon as he arrived in Cincinnati, he saw that Chase and Higgins are different, and that having two players like that is a nightmare for an opposing defense.

"Last week it opened my eyes, just with the simple things," Flacco said. "And today I saw how the defense has to treat those guys.
And if you don't treat them a certain way, they can hurt you. And if you do treat them a certain way, we've got some other guys who can get the job done. Today I got to see the problems they create."

Chase had 16 catches for 161 yards and a touchdown, while Higgins had six catches for 96 yards and a touchdown, and he eschewed gaining another seven yards and another touchdown late in the game, when he decided to slide rather than score so the Bengals could run the clock before their game-winning field goal. Flacco loves having two receivers like that as his teammates.

"Those guys are different," Flacco said. "And it's pretty cool to be able to throw to them."

In the first quarter of Thursday night's loss to the Bengals, Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers handed the ball off to running back Jaylen Warren, who pitched it back to Rodgers for a flea flicker. But Rodgers didn't have any receivers open and just threw the ball away, then yelled at Warren after the play. Clearly, the Steelers' offense was not on the same page.

After the game, the Steelers still weren't on the same page.

When Rodgers was asked about it, he said the play call was not a flea flicker.

"It wasn't supposed to be a flea flicker. We weren't on the same page," Rodgers said.

But Steelers coach Mike Tomlin was also asked after the game if a flea flicker was called, and Tomlin answered, "It was."

So what happened? There was clearly a breakdown in communication somewhere between the play that was called into Rodgers' helmet and the play that was executed on the field, but unless we get further explanation from the Steelers, no one can be completely sure what exactly went wrong on the broken play.