Pittsburgh's Defense Continues To Dominate In Win Over Cincy
Joey Porter Jr slammed the door shut on Cincinnati with this interception in front of Ja'Marr Chase, putting a disappointing end to a frustrating outing for the Cincy offense.
ScoringSummary
| Team | Q | Time | Play | Pittsburgh | Cincinnati |
 | 1st | 4:13 | Ryan Williams, 1 Yd Pass From Leonard Lawry | 7 | 0 |
 | 2nd | 0:06 | Carnell Tate, 21 Yd Pass From Joe Burrow | 7 | 7 |
| 3rd | 5:11 | Ryan Williams, 7 Yd Pass From Leonard Lawry | 14 | 7 |
| 3rd | 0:20 | Jude McAtamney, 24 Yd FG | 14 | 10 |
| 4th | 7:45 | Brandon Aubrey, 50 Yd FG | 17 | 10 |
| 4th | 2:40 | Brandon Aubrey, 54 Yd FG | 20 | 10 |
Cincinnai, OH. - Leonard Lawry got his touchdown pass. The Pittsburgh Steelers got another road victory. And Joey Porter Jr. got into it with Ja'Marr Chase for good measure.
Welcome to the AFC North.
Pittsburgh traveled to Paycor Stadium and thoroughly dismantled one of the conference's most dangerous offenses Sunday afternoon, holding Joe Burrow, Ja'Marr Chase, and the Cincinnati Bengals to a combined 156 total yards in a 20-10 victory that moves the Steelers to 2-0 and announces their arrival as a legitimate contender in the early weeks of the 2030 season.
The defining moment came on Pittsburgh's opening drive, when Lawry handed off a one-yard touch pass to Ryan Williams for his first career NFL touchdown—a modest delivery for a milestone moment that the former Louisville product greeted with characteristic humor in the postgame.
"Not the way I pictured it," Lawry said with a grin, "but hey, you take the Ws when they come."
Cincinnati tied the game at seven before halftime and appeared poised to make a second-half push, but the Steelers' defense had other ideas. A Lawry interception early in the third quarter—his only significant mistake of the afternoon—gave Cincinnati prime field position, but Jude McAtamney's 24-yard field goal was all the Bengals could manufacture from the gift, and it proved to be their final points of the day. Lawry had already thrown his second touchdown pass of the game earlier in the third quarter and orchestrated a pair of additional field goal drives to push the margin to ten—a lead that felt considerably more comfortable than the score suggested given how thoroughly Pittsburgh had controlled both lines of scrimmage.
Cincinnati had one final window to make things interesting before Porter Jr. slammed it shut. With the Bengals driving and Burrow looking deep for Chase, Porter Jr. soared into the passing lane and came down with the interception, returning it up the field before Chase—unhappy with both the play and the postgame narrative it was generating—tackled the cornerback and ignited a brief but spirited exchange between the two.
Porter Jr. was unbothered when asked about it afterward.
"Just two scrappers going at it," he said. "We both play with a chip on our shoulder to prove we belong, and that comes out in the moment. Nothing to see here."
Pittsburgh returns home at 2-0 next week to host the Cleveland Browns, with a quarterback who has his first NFL touchdown passes in the books—and is clearly hungry for more.
Leonard Lawry | 26/37, 343 Yds, 2 TD, INT
Joe Burrow | 17/25, 191 Yds, TD, INT
Quinshon Judkins | 16 Att, 54 Yds
Fluff Bothwell | 6 Att, 9 Yds
Zachariah Branch | 7 Rec, 144 Yds
Carnell Tate | 5 Rec, 70 Yds, TD
MLB Patrick Queen | 7 Tkl, 2 TFL, Sack
EDGE TJ Watt | 3 Tkl, 2 TFL, Sack
CB Joey Porter Jr | 2 Tkl, INT
MLB Kenneth Murray Jr | 7 Tkl, TFL
CB DJ Turner II | 5 Tkl, TFL, INT
EDGE Clev Lubin | 3 Tkl, TFL, Sack
