Bengals Rock Steelers With Depth Charge in 37-30 Win

And there was another backup running back, Trayveon Williams, ripping off an eight-yard run on his first carry of the season, lugging the Bengals into the red zone as the clock ticked under six minutes in a 27-23 game. With running back Chris Evans (knee) inactive, Williams knocked out his first five NFL kick returns, one a Bengals season-long 42 yards that was a nice answer to the Steelers cutting it to 24-23 late in the third quarter.

“And he didn’t just return kicks,” Thomas said.

Williams pulled off that rare hat trick like Evans did last year in Detroit with three tackles and an assist in the kicking game.

“We’ve got great players. We’ve got great players,” Taylor said. “And those guys understand what the standard is and they live up to it every single week. They put in the work consistently, which is just great for me to see as a coach. So when their number is called, Burrow’s got the faith to find a way to get it to them. And they can step up to the plate and deliver for this team.”

Thomas called it their most complete game of the season. Even more than the 42-21 rout of Carolina two weeks ago. The special teams played a bigger, better role, he thought. A real roster win. All you had to do was tour the post-game locker room thawing out with a tiebreaker kind of win that evened their AFC record at 3-3.

It could have been running back Joe Mixon, who missed most of the game with a concussion. But there he was mobbing his backup Perine at his locker room screaming, “Player of the Game. Him. Joey B. The O-line. You got that hat trick.”

There was Chrisman talking about Adomitis and how the old pro Kevin Huber, the Bengals all-time punter inactive Sunday after 138 straight games, saved the ball for him from his first NFL punt and how he gave him cold-weather tips throughout the game.

And there was Bengals slot receiver Tyler Boyd, one of the greatest high school football players from Pittsburgh’s national hotbed, saving his best for last on his old college field. He…