Saturday night at 8:15 p.m., the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Cincinnati Bengals will face each other in a wildcard match up. The winner will move on to play the Denver Broncos. There are several things to be on the lookout for this Saturday night for both teams.

The Bengals were actually in the hunt for the #1 seed in the AFC until last week when the Broncos took that spot. Now what may be the worst case scenario, they will have to face the dynamic Steelers’ offense in their first playoff game.

Leading them will be the second year pro A.J. McCarron. All fans will be watching intently at his play and performance in this game.

Andy Dalton, the “Red Rifle,” was leading the Bengals to their playoff spot until he fractured his thumb against the Steelers the last time they met in Week 14. He has been in a cast ever since.

McCarron has done a fine job stepping in for him and is thus causing tension in the Cincinnati fan base. Why? If McCarron is to actually pull off a win against the Steelers this weekend, he will have won a playoff game before Andy Dalton!

Aside from this, there is one more thing to be sure to watch. The Bengals and the Steelers this year have not been “nice” to each other this year. The two teams were playing against each other during the year when Le’veon Bell and Andy Dalton got hurt. Whether intentional or not, there have been many scuffles since and a lot of pushing and shoving. The Bengals defense will need to put that aside and focus on the top 5 offense of the Pittsburgh Steelers.

The Steelers will also have their share of worries and things to look for Saturday night. As stated before, this Steelers’ offense is among the top 5 in the league and is arguably the most explosive in all of the NFL. But in the last two games, it hasn’t really stood up to the bar it had set the preceding games.

Ben Roethlisberger seemed to struggle at times in the season but has mostly dominated opposing defenses including the #1 defense in the league, the Denver Broncos. He has much experience in the postseason but will need to rely on Martavis Bryant, Markus Wheaton, and of course Antonio Brown.

Deangelo Williams, their running back, could also help if he is found healthy enough to play through an ankle injury suffered last week.

Another worry the Steelers have is the secondary they have on defense. The team has been great in stopping the run but has not found a way to successfully defend against the pass.

As one of the statistical worst pass defenses in the league, they will need a resurgence we have seen only a few plays this year. Truly it is the defense that the Steelers’ success or demise lies upon.

Not all bad for the Steelers though heading into the game, as they do have the offense to look forward too. Mike Tomlin, the head coach, has been aggressive all year and will look to continue this into the weekend and hopefully past then.

The Steelers offense set an NFL record this year with the most successful two-point attempts with 8 out of 11. The next closest this year is the Green Bay Packers with 4 out of 6. This offense is going to try to dominate the game with their strong receiver core.

When watching the game, make sure to look for a close and chippy game where both teams will put their season on the line.

Score Prediction:  Steelers 27 – Bengals 24