PITTSBURGH, Pa. - The Cincinnati Bengals looked at their prime-time visit to Pittsburgh as a chance to make a statement about their legitimacy as AFC contenders. In one sense, the Bengals fit right in. Just like Denver and New England earlier in the weekend, Cincinnati let a chance to take firm control of its playoff fate disappear against a scuffling rival. Pittsburghs Antonio Brown caught a touchdown pass and returned a punt for a score in a 64-second span in the first quarter and the Steelers jumped on the Bengals early in a 30-20 victory Sunday night. Given a chance to all but clinch the AFC North and move into the No. 2 spot behind Denver in the AFC, the Bengals (9-5) let Pittsburgh race to a 21-0 lead and never recovered. "Its tough, for sure, because we had everything in front of us," Cincinnati wide receiver A.J. Green said. "We could have had ourselves set up in a great position if we could have come out here and won today." Green finished with nine receptions for 93 yards, but the Bengals didnt make much happen downfield. Cincinnatis longest play was 19 yards, preventing the Bengals from making speedy inroads on the Steelers (6-8) after falling behind so quickly. Andy Dalton completed 25 of 44 passes for 230 yards and two second-half touchdowns, but Cincinnatis only chance to draw within one score ended when Daltons 2-point conversion was batted down with 5:51 remaining. "Theres no panic," Dalton said. "Theres no worry about anything. Were not frantic. We still have two games at home and have everything to accomplish, so weve got to take care of our business." Shaun Suisham added three field goals for Pittsburgh, which built a 24-point lead and hardly looked like a team playing out the string. Ben Roethlisberger completed 20 of 25 passes for 191 yards with a touchdown and an interception. LeVeon Bell added 117 yards of total offence and a touchdown. "I have said for a bunch of weeks now that there is going to be no quit from me or from anybody," Roethlisberger said. "I thought tonight was a good example of that." Looking to move closer to a third straight playoff berth, the Bengals were undone by a series of miscues on special teams. Bell scored two plays after Cincinnati punter Kevin Huber dropped a snap while standing near the goal line after the Bengals first possession. Pittsburghs Will Allen dropped Huber at the 1 and Bell bulled into the end zone on second down for his sixth touchdown of the season. Cincinnatis issues continued on the ensuing kickoff. Officials ruled Cedric Peerman called for a fair catch at the Cincinnati 9, wiping out a lengthy return. The Bengals eventually punted, setting up the Steelers with a short field. Pittsburgh went 47 yards in eight plays, with Roethlisberger buying enough time for Brown to get open for a 12-yard touchdown strike to make it 14-0. Browns early work wasnt done. Cincinnati punted yet again and Brown took it 67 yards right up the middle, breaking a tackle at midfield on his way to the second punt return for a score in his four-year career for Pittsburghs third touchdown of the quarter. Huber took a hard hit from Pittsburghs Terence Garvin during the return. Huber was down on the field for several minutes before walking straight to the Cincinnati locker room with a fractured jaw. Cincinnati kicker Mike Nugent took over Hubers punting duties. Pittsburgh extended its lead to 24-0 before the Bengals steadied themselves with a 47-yard touchdown drive capped by Giovani Bernards 1-yard run. The Steelers responded late in the half with Suishams 45-yard field goal by to give them their biggest halftime lead of the season. Suishams third field goal pushed Pittsburghs advantage to 30-7 before the Bengals responded with Daltons 1-yard touchdown pass to Tyler Eifert. Dalton later found Marvin Jones for a 13-yard score on fourth-and-5 with 5:51 to play, but Pittsburgh rookie linebacker Jarvis Jones got his hands on Daltons conversion attempt to keep it a two-score game. The Bengals got the ball back one more time, and Daltons long heave to Green on fourth down fell incomplete. "It was a snowball effect," Cincinnati centre Kyle Cook said. "Its tough when youre all bundled up like that to start the game, and then the next thing you know youre down 21-0. So, that makes it tough to get going and come back from that deficit." NOTES: The crowd of 45,873 was the smallest in the 13-year history of Heinz Field. ... Brown caught five passes for 66 yards and a score and now has 95 receptions on the season, tied for second-most in team history. ... Bengals linebacker James Harrison, making his first appearance in Pittsburgh since leaving the Steelers to sign with Cincinnati in the off-season, left in the first quarter with a concussion. Bill Russell Celtics Jersey . The 7-foot-1 Hawes, who is in the final year of his contract, is averaging 13 points and 8.5 rebounds, both career highs, and shoots 40 per cent from 3-point range. The 25-year-old Hawes is in his seventh NBA season. Robert Williams Jersey . Listen to the Raptors vs. Jazz live tonight on TSN Radio 1050 at 9pm et/6pm pt. The Raptors are 1-1 so far on the five-game junket after defeating Denver and losing to Portland. http://www.celticssale.com/kids-bill-russell-celtics-jersey/. -- The Atlanta Braves added to their extensive wave of long-term deals with their young stars on Sunday by agreeing to a $42 million, four-year contract with All-Star closer Craig Kimbrel. Shaquille ONeal Celtics Jersey .85 million contract with the two-time Gold Glove outfielder. Parra earned his second Gold Glove last season when he set a club record with 17 outfield assists. Custom Boston Celtics Jerseys .ca MLB Power Rankings, the third consecutive week that the As have held top spot and the third straight week that they have been one ahead of the Toronto Blue Jays.NEW YORK -- Marcus Thornton has been around the Brooklyn Nets for only two weeks, so hes still trying to learn his new teams playbook. According to Nets first-year coach Jason Kidd, there are some plays his reserve guard understands pretty well. "Its called shoot it," Kidd said. Thornton did just that on his way to scoring 15 of his 27 points in the fourth quarter against his old team while Joe Johnson added 18 points to help Brooklyn overcame an injury to Paul Pierce in a 104-89 victory over the Sacramento Kings on Sunday night. Alan Anderson had 11 points and Shaun Livingston and Deron Williams each scored 10 points as the Nets won for the fifth time in six games. Brooklyns win was its seventh straight at the Barclays Center, matching a season-high set Dec. 27, 2013 to Jan. 24, 2014. Thornton, acquired from the Kings in exchange for Reggie Evans and Jason Terry on Feb. 19, took it to his former teammates over a four-minute stretch that bridged the end of the third quarter and the opening minutes of the fourth. With 5.5 seconds remaining in the third, Thornton made a 3-pointer to extend Brooklyns lead to 77-65. Thornton then continued his streak of 13 straight points by opened up the final quarter with a drive to the basket to extend the lead. He then stripped the ball from Ray McCallum and finger-rolled it to make it 81-65. McCallum later would throw the ball out of bounds and Andray Blatche found Thornton for another 3 that made it 84-68. He then concluded his hot streak with another 3 right over former teammates Rudy Gay and DeMarcus Cousins to make it 87-69 with 9:58 to go and the Nets never looked back leading by as many as 24 in the period. "Anytime you see the ball go through the net, you get confidence about yourself," said Thornton, who scored 15 straight against Memphis last week. "I credit my teammates for finding me in spots I can be effective in. And my shots were going down." So far, Thornton been able to show flashes of that scorer Brooklyn was looking to add when they swung the deal before the trade deadline. Hes averaged 11.8 points in six games despite his limited knowledge of the teams offensive scheme. "If Im open, Im ((going) to shoot it," he said.dddddddddddd Thorntons presence off the bench will be even more crucial if Pierce is out for an extended amount of time. After the game, Kidd said the team would re-evaluate Pierce and Andrei Kirilenko, who left the game in the third quarter after spraining his right ankle. "Well, I stepped on Derons foot in the first quarter and felt a little tweak," Kirilenko said. "I thought I could keep going but obviously it just stopped me. I dont think its a serious injury." Brooklyn will host the Atlantic Division-leading Toronto Raptors on Monday night. The Raptors currently hold a four-game lead over the second-place Nets. Kings coach Michael Malone was criticial of the way the team mishandled the ball throughout the night while also singling out the way they shared the ball. "Once again we continue to beat ourselves on the road. Eleven assists in 48-minute game is absurd. More importantly is the 25 turnovers for 28 points," Malone said. "What I see now on both ends of the floor is a disease of me. Were becoming a selfish basketball team." Of the 25 turnovers forced by the Nets, 14 were steals. Cousins had 20 points and 28 rebounds to lead the Kings, and Gay added 20 points. "Turnovers killed us tonight," Cousins said. "Turnovers and Id say selfish basketball, thats what really hurt us tonight. We let Marcus Thornton get hot. We let one of those shooters hurt us and thats what kind of sealed the game." Brooklyn led by 16 points in the first half after losing Pierce to a right shoulder injury in the early minutes of the first quarter. However, Brooklyn outscored Sacramento 47-32 the rest of the way. Pierce got hurt with just under 11 minutes left in the first quarter when Sacramentos Jason Thompson backed him into the paint and as he kept looking to post Pierce in the paint, he quickly spun around for a layup. Pierce felt the force of Thompson banging into him and clutched his shoulder. Kevin Garnett has also missed the last five games with back spasms. NOTES: Brooklyn improved to 14-11 against the Western Conference this season but are 10-3 since Jan. 1. ... Brooklyns reserves outscored their counterparts 59-19. ' ' '