Ike Taylor had received criticism for his poor play, but he silenced that talk with a brilliant performance at cornerback Sunday night against the Cincinnati Bengals.
Taylor was considered one of the prime reasons the Pittsburgh Steelers dropped their Week 6 game against the Tennessee Titans, with Kenny Britt one of several receivers who was able to get open all night -- when Taylor wasn't grabbing him to draw a pass interference call. It seemed he'd be in trouble this week, with the Steelers planning on leaving him on an island against A.J. Green, one of the most talented receivers in the league.
Instead, Taylor was all over Green, who had his least productive outing of the season. Neil Coolong of Behind the Steel Curtain elaborated in a postgame recap:
Taylor sounded off on his weekly radio show about criticism he's received lately and he turned in one of the finest performance of his career. He played disciplined, aggressive football, not committing a penalty, and challenging one of the game's best receivers.
Green entered the game with 22 catches, 317 yards and four touchdowns in his past three games. Sunday? One catch, eight yards, six targets. Taylor completely shut the AFC Offensive Player of the Month in September out.
Green's one catch did go for a touchdown, but for the most part, he was kept under lock and key by Taylor.
The 32-year-old restructured his contract with Pittsburgh before the season to make it worth nearly $5 million a season. Taylor is in his 10th year with the Steelers out of Louisiana-Lafayette.