Among the late twists and turns that made for a memorable finish to Saturday night’s game between the Steelers and Bengals was the fumble by Bengals running back Jeremy Hill with just under 90 seconds left to play.
Hill fumbled one play after an interception by linebacker Vontaze Burfict seemed to put the Bengals on the brink of their first playoff win since 1990 when Steelers linebacker Ryan Shazier was able to knock the ball loose at the end of a six-yard run. Ross Cockrell recovered for Pittsburgh and Ben Roethlisberger would return to lead a game-winning drive heavily fueled by Bengals penalties.
“It’s hard to put into words, but this one is on me,” Hill said, via the Cincinnati Enquirer. “Even if I lose yards every play. You can’t turn the ball over. ... Words don’t really do anything at this point. It’s all about production and what you did out there. I really don’t care what anyone has to say at this point. It’s on me. I take the full blame for it.”
Hill doesn’t need to take all of the blame. Those aforementioned penalties played a big part in the loss and the Bengals didn’t score any points until the fourth quarter, to name two pretty big reasons why the Bengals lost apart from the poorly timed return of Hill’s issue with fumbling the football.