Pittsburgh Steelers Steelers Gameday
0 For 17: Steelers Complete Sweep of First-Drive Futility
PITTSBURGH — With the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 3-and-out to offensively begin Saturday night’s game against the Cincinnati Bengals, Arthur Smith’s attack officially failed to score a first-drive touchdown during the regular season.
Along with that, the Steelers have begun by going 3-and-out nine times this season. They’re currently on a streak of six straight games started in that manner.
The last time the Steelers posted a touchdown on their first drive was Dec. 23, 2023, a 34-11 home win over Jake Browning and the Bengals.
Pittsburgh began this season by managing only six Chris Boswell field goals against Atlanta, the team Smith was in charge of the year prior. Pittsburgh’s initial offensive series in that one last 10 plays, gaining all of 31 yards and concluding on a 57-yard Boswell boot.
Boswell has capped six of the Steelers’ opening touches this go-round with a made field goal, including four straight against Dallas, Las Vegas, the New York Jets, and the New York Giants. He missed another from 58 yards out in a 24-19 loss at Cleveland on Nov. 21.
The aforementioned march against the Cowboys spanned 11 plays and stretched 52 yards. The one against the Giants was 10 plays and 57 yards, with the latter figure being the longest of any initial drive for the Steelers this campaign. Pittsburgh ate up 5 minutes, 48 seconds in their first matchup against the Browns, the longest in that respect.
Going Forward
As Pittsburgh heads into the playoffs, it will strive to break a 6-game streak in which it hasn’t scored an opening-drive touchdown. During that time, the Steelers have only even gotten on the scoreboard once on their first drive — that being with Boswell’s field goal in the AFC Divisional Playoff at Kansas City in 2016.
The game before that, a wild card clash at home against Miami, Roethlisberger connected with Antonio Brown for a 50-yard touchdown pass 2:45 in.
As of late, though, Smith’s offense has been trending negatively, having been kept to 17 points or fewer in the three games heading into the regular season finale. Those opponents — Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Kansas City — were tough draws in the first place, and slow starts certainly didn’t help the Steelers’ efforts.
Pittsburgh was without standout receiver George Pickens for the first two of the games of that stretch. He returned for the Steelers’ Christmas Day loss against the Chiefs, notching three grabs for 50 yards.
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