What a kindergartner might best learn from Sunday’s Pittsburgh Steelers-Cincinnati Bengals game: Don’t spit on another human.

What the rest of us might learn from the Steelers’ 34-12 victory:

1. Third-and-Mason

The Steelers had been struggling mightily on third downs for a full calendar month.

Until Mason Rudolph came in, that is.

Rudolph played the second half of Sunday’s win, called upon after the left wrist injury suffered by starting quarterback Aaron Rodgers. Dating back to a fourth-quarter drive of the Oct. 16 game in Cincinnati, the Steelers had failed on 32 of their prior 41 third-down conversion attempts, the 9-for-41 rate good for a 21.9% efficiency that would by far be the worst in the NFL over the course of the season.

But once Rudolph took over during the third quarter Sunday, the Steelers went on something of a third-down heater. They made good on 5 of 6 third-down conversions. During only one game this season had Rodgers directed as many successful third-down tries throughout even a full 60 minutes of play. And never within one half.

More telling was that under Rudolph the Steelers made good on three third-down plays in which they needed at least 11 yards for a first down. Rodgers has led only two such third-and-long conversions all season long.

(Incidentally, it’s probably not a coincidence that both of Rodgers’ third-and-11-plus conversions came during the same game — against the Bengals. Cincinnati is dead last in the league in total defense for a reason. The Steelers are 5 for 6 on plays of third-and-10 or more against the Bengals and a combined 0 for 21 against everybody else they’ve played).

Either way, before Sunday the Steelers hadn’t had a game in which they converted three third downs of 11 or more yards since Oct. 16, 2022 — that’s 56 games ago. Oddly, that game was similar to Sunday in that each of the Steelers’ long third-down conversions (there were four that day) came in the second half — and each came with a backup quarterback. It was Mitch Trubisky in for a concussed Kenny Pickett that afternoon 37 months ago against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

2. Perfect 10

Kenneth Gainwell’s first of two touchdown receptions Sunday made it for a 10th different Steelers player with a receiving touchdown this season — DK Metcalf (five), Pat Freiermuth (three), Calvin Austin III (two), Jonnu Smith (two), Roman Wilson (two), Gainwell and one each from Jaylen Warren, Darnell Washington, Ben Skowronek and Connor Heyward.

Ten in 10 games is notable because the Steelers had only nine players with touchdown catches throughout the entire 17-game season last season. It becomes more impressive when it is considered that in 2023, only four Steelers had at least one touchdown catch.

The Steelers hadn’t had 10 different players with a TD reception since 2017 — Antonio Brown, JuJu Smith-Schuster, Martavis Bryant, Jesse James, Le’Veon Bell, Vance McDonald, Eli Rogers, Xavier Grmble, Justin Hunter and Roosevelt Nix.

It was nine years ago the most recent time the Steelers had more than 10 players with a receiving touchdown. In 2016, among the 12 who had at least one were (in addition to most of those who did in 2017) were the likes of De’Angelo Williams, Sammie Coastes, Cobi Hamilton, Darrius Heyward-Bey, Ladarius Green, Markus Wheaton and Demarcus Ayers.

Is there any chance to catch that team this year? The only players who have caught at least one pass this season who have not caught a TD are running back Kaleb Johnson, receiver Scotty Miller and jumbo tight end Spencer Anderson. Then again, perhaps rookie return man Ke’Shawn Williams can make a play on offense — or, just maybe, Rudolph or Rodgers can catch a pass in the end zone via a “Philly special”-like play?

3. Bounce-back and gold

The Steelers on Sunday were coming off a 25-10 defeat at the Los Angeles Chargers. The victory against Cincinnati improved them to 8-2 over their past 10 games that came after a loss of 15 or more points. The Steelers have also won in 13 of their last 17 such occasions.

Since he was hired as Steelers coach in 2007, Mike Tomlin is 16-6 in the game following a loss of at least 15 points. That’s good for a .727 winning percentage that makes the Steelers the second-best team in the NFL facing such situations over that time span.

The Steelers are 3-1 after a loss of any type this season.

4. Magic number

Twenty is the figure to watch for the Steelers in recent years.

When the Steelers score at least 20 points, they almost always win.

When they allow an opponent to score that many or less, they also almost always win.

Since the start of the 2023 season, the Steelers are 20-3 when scoring 20 or more points during a game. It works for the defense, too — the Steelers are 20-4 when allowing 20 points or fewer.

This season, the Steelers are 4-0 when the opponent scores 20 or fewer. They are 6-2 when scoring 20 or more — with one of those defeats coming by way of eclipsing 20 points only because of a late “garbage time” touchdown (that made it 35-25 Packers, on Oct. 26 against Green Bay).

Manipulating the parameters slightly, the good news for the Steelers is that since 2022 they have been the second-best in the NFL at limiting opponents to 21 points. In 38 of the Steelers’ 61 games over the past four seasons, the other team has scored 21 or fewer.

5. Snaps… crackle, pop

Each side of the ball is represented among a handful of observations that stand out in an examination of Steelers snap counts from Sunday.

On offense, what jumps off the proverbial page in regards to the division of labor is at wide receiver. Wilson played almost twice as much as Austin, 37 snaps to 19. Added together, they equal how much Metcalf played. (Ben Skowronek’s 15 snaps and Scotty Miller’s two rounded out the WR contributions to the offense’s 65 total plays).

Defensively, what raises eyebrows is that Nick Herbig (62 of 66 snaps) was on the field more often than fellow outside linebacker T.J. Watt. Jack Sawyer was on the field for 19 plays, implying that all three OLBs played together for five snaps.

Among other tidbits, on the day he was announced with the starters Anderson played 14 snaps (13 as the “jumbo” and one kneel-down at left guard). James Pierre — who began the season as the No. 5 CB — played all but one of the Steelers’ defensive snaps. Safety Kyle Dugger has played all but one of the Steelers’ 217 defensive snaps over their three games played since he was acquired via trade.

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