PITTSBURGH — When the Steelers brought in cornerbacks Darius Slay Jr. and Jalen Ramsey during the offseason to pair with Joey Porter Jr., they did so primarily with one thing in mind:

The Cincinnati Bengals.

OK, two things:

Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins.

Other AFC North teams have one wide receiver who needs special attention, such as the Baltimore Ravens and Zay Flowers. Same with most other NFL teams, such as the Minnesota Vikings and Justin Jefferson.

Not the Bengals. They have two, each of whom has caused problems for the Steelers in the past, especially with a quarterback such as Joe Burrow.

That’s why the Steelers made the acquisitions they did, and coach Mike Tomlin has been downright giddy about the matchup possibilities ever since.

“I don’t care what offenses come out in,” Tomlin said at the beginning of training camp. “That's what is exciting to us — our ability to match up and play man to man against anyone in this game.”

The Steelers get to test their belief Thursday night in Cincinnati when they face the Bengals’ pair of wideouts — without Burrow — for one of the few times at Paycor Stadium. It is only the fifth time both Chase, a first-round pick in 2021, and Higgins, a second-round pick in 2020, will be on the field together against the Steelers.

“I think when you make the moves we did, they are absolutely in mind because of the firepower they have on offense,” defensive coordinator Teryl Austin said Tuesday. “So we wanted to be able to try to combat that in a lot of different ways. And hopefully we can have some situations where we match up better than we have in the past.”

Curiously, Higgins has done more damage against the Steelers than Chase, who led the NFL in receptions (127), yards (1,708) and receiving touchdowns (17) in 2024.

Higgins has had four 100-yard receiving games in eight appearances against the Steelers, combining for 41 catches, 697 yards (17.0 average) and four touchdowns.

Chase has appeared in six games against the Steelers and has just one 100-yard receiving game — in the 2022 season opener, when he caught 10 passes for 129 yards and a touchdown in overtime. He has 37 receptions, 496 yards and five touchdowns against the Steelers.

In the four previous games in which both receivers played against the Steelers, Chase has 29 catches for 350 yards and two touchdowns; Higgins has 17 catches for 263 yards and one touchdown.

So how will the Steelers deploy the cornerbacks whom Tomlin said can run and cover with anyone?

“We’ll see how that goes, but I think it does give us some flexibility in those regards and in terms of just playing a soft zone or playing some different things,” Austin said. “You may have some ability at certain times to be a little more aggressive. But you can’t make a living like that against those guys. They’re really good.”

At 34 and in his 13th NFL season, Slay said his days of isolating on one receiver are over. He leaves the job to his other teammates, even though the Steelers like to use him primarily in man coverage.

“Joey and Jalen can argue about who gets who,” Slay said. “I get the leftovers. It doesn’t matter to me. I had my time doing that for a very long time. It wasn’t easy to do.”

Porter said he assumes addition of Ramsey and Slay was done “to slow down the horses they got over there,” referring to Chase and Higgins.

“Best part is, all three of us, we can cover whoever we want,” Porter said. “I feel like coach and everybody feel comfortable with any one of us having Chase or any one of us having to guard Tee Higgins.”

It’s why they made the moves. And they get to put it to the test Thursday night.

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