Main 14-0, Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin had seen sufficient from his beginning offense. In two preseason video games, Pickett has now led three scoring drives on three possessions and posted a mixed passer score of 149.05 with simply two incompletions.
“There have been some good issues to be enthusiastic about from a efficiency perspective, it was going fairly effectively,” mentioned Tomlin. “That is why we obtained the primary items out of the sport comparatively early.
“They did sufficient to examine the bins for Week 2 of the preseason. As a result of Week 3 is coming so shortly, we moved ahead and obtained some publicity to another folks. I am appreciative of that. When the primary crew performs the way in which they carried out, it actually offers a platform for others to point out their expertise.”
The Payments left their starters on each side of the ball on the sector into the second quarter and nonetheless failed to achieve a footing towards the Steelers backups, even after Tomlin started substituting in second-line gamers defensively.
Buffalo did drive to the Pittsburgh 38 on its second possession, however rookie exterior linebacker Nick Herbig pressured an incompletion with strain on quarterback Josh Allen on first down. Then, the Payments have been penalized for a block within the again on second down, making it second-and-19. Backup exterior linebacker Markus Golden drew a holding penalty on Buffalo proper deal with Spencer Brown on the subsequent play, pushing the Payments all the way in which again to their very own 38 and primarily ending the drive.
Matt Barkley entered the sport for Allen within the second quarter and drove the Payments contained in the Pittsburgh 10. However inside linebacker Cole Holcomb tipped a go on the objective line that was intercepted in the long run zone by Elijah Riley to finish the menace.
With 1:34 remaining within the half, the Steelers punted the ball again to the Payments at their very own 6. Joey Porter Jr., the Steelers’ second-round draft decide who didn’t play in final week’s preseason opener, picked Barkley off on the Buffalo 30, establishing a 3rd landing of the half, this one approaching a 3-yard go from Mitch Trubisky to Connor Heyward for a 21-0 Steelers lead.
