5 things we learned: Mike Tomlin's record against QBs drafted No. 1 overall takes hit

Five things we learned from Bengals 37, Steelers 30:

1. Burrowing ahead

Thanks to Joe Burrow’s four touchdown passes and 355 passing yards, he engineered a victory that improved his record against the Steelers to 3-2 lifetime.

Burrow regained his status as the first quarterback drafted No. 1 overall to have a winning record against Steelers coach Mike Tomlin since Peyton Manning. The Hall of Famer passer went 2-0 against Tomlin-coached teams. Manning was inactive when the Steelers beat his teams in 2011 (Colts) and 2015 (Broncos) in the regular season.

Burrow had a winning mark against the Steelers entering the year but dropped to 2-2 when the Bengals were upset in the season opener. He’ll hold that winning edge until 2023.

Since Tomlin replaced Bill Cowher as head coach in 2007, he has a 26-15-1 record in 42 matchups against quarterbacks drafted No. 1 overall.

Burrow became just the third top draft pick to beat Tomlin three times. Carson Palmer went 3-5 against Tomlin and Alex Smith improved to 3-4 when he helped Washington hand the Steelers their first loss of the 2020 season.

Baker Mayfield was 2-5 before his trade to Carolina. He’s the only other quarterback on the list with multiple victories. Other No. 1 overall picks to start against Tomlin are Michael Vick (1-1), Eli Manning (1-2), Matthew Stafford (0-2), Cam Newton (0-2), Andrew Luck (0-1), Jared Goff (0-1-1) and Kyler Murray (0-1).

Three former No. 1 overall picks — David Carr, JaMarcus Russell and Sam Bradford — never faced Tomlin’s teams. Jameis Winston also has never faced the Steelers, although he was on the sideline when New Orleans dropped a 20-10 decision in Week 10. Trevor Lawrence has yet to start against the Steelers, but he’s just two years into his NFL career.

Up next for the Steelers is a No. 3 overall draft pick, although Matt Ryan was the first quarterback taken in the 2008 draft. For the record, Ryan is 0-3 lifetime in starts against the Steelers.

2. Seeing red

After the 20-10 win against New Orleans, Kenny Pickett said the Steelers needed to be more efficient in the red zone. Indeed, despite the offense getting bogged down for much of the second half, they showed progress by scoring three touchdowns in five trips inside the red zone. The other two possessions ended in field goals.

The Steelers have scored touchdowns on 15 of 31 trips inside the opposing 20 this season, which bumped them from No. 28 to No. 26 heading into Monday’s final game of Week 11.

Entering the weekend, the Steelers had scored fewer red-zone touchdowns than all but two teams — the Denver Broncos and Houston Texans.

After Sunday, partially due to some teams being on the bye, the Steelers now have more red-zone TDs than eight teams. This list includes the defending Super Bowl champion Los Angeles Rams, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, New England Patriots, Carolina Panthers, Las Vegas Raiders, Broncos, Texans and the opponent in Week 12, the Indianapolis Colts.

On the other hand, the Steelers’ defense allowed touchdowns on all three Bengals trips to the red zone. They have allowed opponents to score touchdowns on five consecutive trips inside the red zone. The last time they didn’t was in the third quarter at Miami when Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel went for it on fourth-and-3 from the Steelers 14, and Chase Edmonds was stopped for no gain.

3. Return address

After a shaky start, Steven Sims found his footing on returns. He averaged 22 yards on seven kickoffs and 8 yards on two punts.

Sims didn’t provide much reason for optimism when he muffed a punt after the Bengals’ opening possession. After Sims touched the ball at the 7, it rolled into the end zone. He brought it out but only got to the 5.

He fared better on his kickoff returns. His best one came in the first half when he returned Evan McPherson’s kickoff 37 yards to give the Steelers the ball at their 46. This set up a 56-yard touchdown drive that was capped by Najee Harris’ 19-yard run that tied the score 10-10.

On the flip side, the Steelers’ kickoff coverage until allowed a 24.8-yard average to Trayveon Williams, who had a long return of 42 yards. This return came immediately after Matthew Wright’s 34-yard field goal pulled the Steelers within 24-23 in the third quarter. This enabled the Bengals to cover just 22 yards before McPherson booted a 54-yard field goal.

4. Hanging with Harvin

Punter Pressley Harvin did some of his best work of the season in the fourth quarter when he placed a pair of punts at the 10 and 7, respectively.

Both came with the Steelers trailing 27-23. The Steelers forced a three-and-out after the first punt and got great field positioning only to have a pair of penalties short-circuit their drive. Harvin punted again, this time pinning the Bengals at the 7.

It was too much to ask of the defense to rise to the challenge twice in a row. Burrow led the Bengals on a 93-yard touchdown drive that essentially sealed Cincinnati’s win.

Harvin also had a 56-yard punt earlier in the game and finished with a net average of 41.8 yards.

5. Turnstile takeaway

This had no bearing on the outcome of the game, but since this column is titled, “Five things we learned …” it is a fact that we didn’t know until Sunday.

At halftime, the Steelers announced the paid attendance as 66,401. Capacity at Acrisure Stadium is 68,400.

But a glance at the number of vacant yellow seats told a different story. The actual attendance did not reflect the announced total.

The key word in the announcement was “paid,” as in the number of folks who purchased tickets for the game. Until this year, the Steelers were one of the few teams that listed the actual turnstile count as the attendance.

Thanks to an NFL policy change, all teams are required to announce the paid attendance this year rather than the number of people actually in the stadium for a given game. The Steelers are complying with that change.