The Pittsburgh Steelers may have escaped with a 28-21 road victory in Week 6,  but Cincinnati Bengals cornerback Dre Kirkpatrick believes Ben Roethlisberger and co. still aren't on the same level as the AFC North leaders.

With the victory, Pittsburgh moved to 3-2-1, while the Bengals fell to 4-2. Kirkpatrick didn't point out Cincinnati's superior record, however, when explaining why he thinks the Bengals are still the better team.

"We're better than them. They ain't better than us. Period. They ain't better than us; we're better than them," Kirkpatrick said, via Katherine Terrell of ESPN.com. "But they won, so---my hat's off to them. I'm gonna be a team player...they went out there and they fought. They got the win; we got the loss."

This back-and-forth contest saw the teams knotted 14 all at half time, until a pair of Chris Boswell field goals eventually put Pittsburgh up by six with 3:32 left. Andy Dalton engineered an excellent nine-play, 75-yard drive - capped off by a four-yard Joe Mixon touchdown run to put the Bengals up by one.

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Credit: Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports

Kirkpatrick took a defensive holding penalty that gave Pittsburgh a fresh set of downs with less than 30 seconds to go. Roethlisberger capped off the drive by hitting Antonio Brown on a short pass, which he took to the house. Pittsburgh held on for a 28-21 victory, moving half a game out of first in the AFC North.

The game marked Pittsburgh's fifth consecutive victory at Cincinnati, and they look poised to eventually claim their third straight AFC North title. The Bengals may be 4-2, but they've oftentimes looked sloppy and haven't gotten a whole lot of help from the defense this year. Meanwhile, the Steeler defense is finally getting its groove back together, and the offense remains efficient without Le'Veon Bell.

The two teams don't face off until Week 17, which means their next bout could determine the AFC North winner. For now, Kirkpatrick and the Bengals have to rebound from this loss and prepare for a crucial Week 7 contest with the Kansas City Chiefs this Sunday.

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