"Sometimes it gets a little dry"

As for the rivalry between the Steelers and the Bengals, there is no secret about it.

These games become physical.

"It's AFC North football," said Roethlisberger. "It's one of those games that can sometimes become chippy. You hope this is not the case. You hope it will be a good football game. Sometimes it gets a little chippy. We will do our best to put the past behind us and play it as if it was a normal football match.

"We are going to play football as if it were a normal game, AFC North, a physical football match. We can only control half of the players. We know how important this game is for us to get a "W."

Last year, the Bengals were penalized 13 times for a team record of 173 yards, while the Steelers were penalized seven times for 66 yards. There were four unnecessary roughness calls, an unsportsmanlike conduct call and a mock appeal that was denied between the two teams combined. And with the new rules changed this year to protect the quarterback, the hope is that the "chippy" factor is reduced.

"Some of the things that are going on in this game, the rules have been set for that before," said Roethlisberger. "For me, it's not just about the physical aspect of football, it's when you have extracurricular activities, the dirty stuff that you want to get out of it and hopefully that this will be the case this time. "

Playing a clean football without penalty is going to be a key. The Bengals lead the AFC North with a 4-1 record, while the Steelers are looking for their first win of the season in the AFC and register a 0-1-1 record in the division. It will not be easy to compete with an always enthusiastic defense for this match and still threatening under the new defense coordinator, Teryl Austin.

"When you have the players they have, the talent they have, at some point you line up to let them play," said Roethlisberger. "You always see their 4-3, their covers. They just have a lot of good football players playing. I think they use their before four and seven before the quarterback and you throw it out quickly.

"(Carlos) Dunlap seems to be five meters away from you and one arm will always find a way to grab the ball or knock you down. You think it's pretty far apart, but it still seems to be around the balloon. You do not think much about that when you're talking about rushers, spinning around the ball. Usually, these are the secondary guys. He has the chic to find it. What a challenge for us. "

Vontaze Burfict is another player to take up. He returned to the game last week against the Dolphins after being suspended for the first four games of the season. Roethlisberger said he needed to know where he was on the ground because of the impact he could have.

"He's a good football player," Roethlisberger said. "Honestly, I told him that on the football field. He is a phenomenal football player. Very clever. Physical. Can do all the games. You must know where he is in this sense because of his quality. "

More from Ben:

On what he learned about the offense against the Falcons:
"I think we have just seen what we know we can do."

Why did things go so well?
"The guys did their job. We are talking about not trying to do too much, doing more than your job. I tell the guys before the game that we, collectively, if we all do our work, we are really good. As long as we do not try to do too much. I think we have done a very good job in this area. "

On how he would use James Conner when Le'Veon Bell will come back:
"It's a good thing I'm not the coach. I think James did incredible things, deserves to be on the football field. We also know what Le'Veon is and what he brings to the table. I guess we will cross this bridge if / when it happens. "

Enabled if Conner needs to be more consistent:
"I do not know that there were a lot of difficulties. I guess if you say in terms of yards. But if you look at the general picture of what we asked him to do every week, it increases week by week. It gets lost in what a half-wheel does and he did it. Blocking pass, taking the blitz, catching the ball out of the backfield. I do not want to do anything wrong, but he caught almost everything I threw him. He is in the right place every time quickly. I know we're talking about yards, races, maybe you'll see it up and down, but for only football players and runners, it's increasing every week.

On what two backs could do for the offense:
"I think keep the guys fresh. It is important. You do not want to exhaust a guy. You saw last week that James was going for a while, then (Stevan) Ridley came in and was hit. It would be important when Le'Veon comes back that both guys stay cool when they are on the field. "

On someone criticizing Conner's blitz:
"I think he's done a good job. He did more than run the ball and catch. He participates in blitzes and does exactly what we ask him to do. "