Whether we want to admit it, the Pittsburgh Steelers have caught some huge breaks early in the 2025 season. While they’ve dealt with injuries of their own, the Baltimore Ravens have been without Lamar Jackson for the past two games, while the Cincinnati Bengals lost Joe Burrow to a toe injury for what could be the season. Now the Steelers’ luck continues.
Just hours ahead of Pittsburgh’s Thursday Night Football matchup against Cincinnati, NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reported that Bengals’ star pass rusher Trey Hendrickson is ‘a bit of a long shot’ to play against the Steelers tonight.
Hendrickson has been dealing with a hip injury, which has caused him to miss practice all week. Meanwhile, Steelers wide receiver Calvin Austin III is officially out for this contest while safety DeShon Elliott is listed as questionable.
Mike Tomlin already gets to avoid Burrow tonight—the most dangerous player on the team. Now, the Steelers’ head coach likely won’t have to face the Bengals’ best defensive player. Talk about another massive break.
Trey Hendrickson or not, the Pittsburgh Steelers still have a difficult task on TNF
Hendrickson finished second in Defensive Player of the Year voting in 2024 after earning 17.5 sacks in back-to-back seasons. Through six games this year, Hendrickson has four sacks, a forced fumble, and eight quarterback hits to his name to go with 15 tackles.
Hendrickson would have been a tough task for left tackle Broderick Jones, and one that would have required the attention of offensive coordinator Arthur Smith.
Unfortunately, the projected absence of Hendrickson hardly secures Pittsburgh a victory on Thursday Night Football.
Heading into tonight’s game in Cincinnati, Mike Tomlin is 2-8 all-time on road games on Thursday Night Football. What’s worse is that he’s 0-6 on the road on TNF—going winless in this setting against AFC North rivals. When you combine this with the fact that the Steelers have a record of 11-11 against quarterback Joe Flacco, this has the makings of a trap game.
The Steelers are simply a better football team. Outside of the wide receiver position (the Bengals have a lethal combination of Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins), Pittsburgh is pretty much better across the board.
Now the Bengals are expected to be without two of their top four players on an already stud-and-dud roster. If the Pittsburgh Steelers don’t show up flat, they are more than capable of winning this game. But history tells us a victory won’t come easy.
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