Cincinnati Bengals WR T.J. Houshmandzadeh is slowly becoming the heart and soul of the Bengals' offense, scoring the team's lone touchdown in a 24-13 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Houshmandzadeh finished the game with seven catches for 81 yards and a touchdown. After the game the receiver talked about the team's frustration of not being able to find the end zone on offense as often as they would like.

"You would like to say that we didn't execute, but on the flipside of that, they executed," he said. "They made us put the ball, throw the ball and run the ball where they wanted. If that's the case we didn't get in. It's frustrating because Kenny [Watson] ran the ball well and Carson [Palmer] threw the ball well. We didn't have a lot of yards but he was effective with it. When it came down to it, we got field goals."

The Bengals actually looked good on their opening drive on both offense and defense, but after that it was all about the Steel City. The Steelers literally lolled the Bengals to sleep and snuck away with the win.

Houshmandzadeh described the Steelers' victory as methodical.

"It was like a boxer who doesn't knock you out, but jabs you here and there and throws a power punch here and there. It's not really affecting you, so you think, but it's really wearing you down and I think that's what happened."

When asked what it would take for the team to get better and rebound from the loss Houshmandzadeh had one word to say.

"Win," he said. "The coaches can only do so much. They can coach and do what they do, but at the end of the day it's up to us to win games. Bottom line is you can like a call or dislike a call, but whether you like it or not you have to run it and try to win games."

There are many who think that the Bengals are still one of the best teams in the league but the humble receiver doesn't see it that way at this point in time. In other words he's not buying into all the fan and media hype.

"It's not one of the best teams in the league if you're two and five," Houshmandzadeh said. "Sure, you can look at individual players and say this player is good and that player is good, but at the end of the day you're not one of the best teams in the league if you're two and five."

Despite the team's record Houshmandzadeh hasn't given up on the idea of the team making it to the playoffs. He believes that it can still be done.

"We have nine games left and we can finish 11 and five. In the NFL that's tough to do, but it's reasonable. Is it realistic? I'm not sure, but we can do it. We can beat everybody we play so you have to go in there with that mindset and see what happens."

In the words of Rev. Jesse Jackson, Bengal fans... Keep hope alive!