The Pittsburgh Steelers offense exploded for the first time since Ben Roethlisberger was at the helm, rolling up 520 yards and 44 points as Russell Wilson threw for 414 yards and three scores.
Despite the high-flying offense, coach Mike Tomlin would rather not be part of a shootout, as the Bengals put up 38 points and earned 375 yards with 25 first downs themselves Sunday.
“I don’t know that I’m ever comfortable planning to shoot out,” Tomlin said Tuesday, via the team’s official website. “It’s just my background and my expertise. To be quite honest with you, I respect offenses and talented players, and I acknowledge when we’re faced with stiff challenges, but it doesn’t mean that I’ll ever be comfortable in those circumstances.
“I have certain expectations because of my professional journey on defense, that I expect us to slow those things down and minimize some of that and the rare instances that we don’t. I’m thankful that we have an offense that’s capable of matching it.”
The 38 points allowed (seven coming off a pick-six) were a season-high for Pittsburgh, which allowed 16.9 points per game from Weeks 1-12 (fourth-fewest in the NFL). It marked the most points allowed by the Steelers since Week 5, 2022 (38-3 loss at Buffalo). It’s the second time in team history that Pittsburgh has won a game in which it allowed 38-plus points (Week 14, 2017 versus Baltimore).
A pick-six by Wilson on the Steelers’ opening drive jumpstarted the shootout. Pittsburgh rolled over Cincinnati’s defense, scoring touchdowns on its next three drives and not punting until the opening possession of the fourth quarter.
“Obviously the game didn’t get started the way that we would like in terms of the pick-six, but I just liked the offense’s quick response to that in terms of taking the ball and going back down the field,” Tomlin said. “I thought the offense, in several circumstances, displayed the type of complimentary response that you need from an offense, whether it was a turnover response like that or response to a scoring drive by Cincinnati’s offense, I just love that component of our play that was on display.”
It was somewhat surprising to see the Steelers’ defense get gashed, but Joe Burrow, Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins have done that to most defenses this season. Burrow currently owns league highs in passing yards (3,337), touchdown passes (30), passing yards per game (278.1), completions (302) and attempts (446).
The comforting part for Tomlin should be that his offense responded on a day the defense didn’t play its best. Previous iterations of the Steelers wouldn’t have kept pace.
After giving up an explosive outing to Burrow, the Steelers will try to slow down Jameis Winston and the Browns on Sunday. The Cleveland quarterback is coming off a game in which he set a franchise record with 497 yards and four touchdowns with three interceptions. Pittsburgh lost to the Browns, 24-19, in a veritable blizzard in Week 12 with Winston and the Browns putting up 304 yards and three total touchdowns.
