Tim Benz: How the Steelers can replicate the 2021 season-opening upset in Buffalo this year in Cincinnati

The Pittsburgh Steelers began 2021 on the road in Buffalo as a 6 ½ point underdog against a Bills team that was coming off a division championship and was among the AFC Super Bowl favorites. Yet Mike Tomlin’s team won 23-16.

This year they are opening on the road in Cincinnati as a 6 ½ point underdog against a defending division champion that is among the AFC Super Bowl favorites. Can they pull off a similar upset a year later against the Bengals? If so, they are going to have to duplicate a few specific things.

First of all, blocking another punt for a touchdown would be nice. That’s what Miles Killebrew did a year ago.

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— Pittsburgh Steelers (@steelers) September 12, 2021

Of course, banking on something like that is a long shot. But as return specialist Gunner Olszewski pointed out, special teams tend to be more of a wild card in games early in the season.

“That’s a great time to get ahead,” Olszewski said of special teams early on the calendar. “Nobody has shown what they are going to do through the preseason. Everyone tries to keep things top secret. … If you can give your team an edge in special teams, that definitely helps you get out of ball games with a ‘W’ the first four weeks of the season.”

It doesn’t have to be another blocked punt for a score — although no one in Pittsburgh would turn it down — but it’d behoove the Steelers to cash in on another big special teams play if they are going to pull off a surprise at Paycor Stadium. Be it a big return, a fake or forced turnover.

Something else the Steelers did well in Game 1 against the Bills last year was execute the element of surprise. The Steelers baffled the Buffalo offense with how they used all three outside linebackers (T.J. Watt, Alex Highsmith and Melvin Ingram) in various looks and (at times) all three together. All three were on the field for at least 54% of the defensive snaps.

Ingram is gone now. But newly acquired Malik Reed appears to have taken his place as the third OLB. And he isn’t ruling out the Steelers dusting off that trick again.

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“I think it is something that could be really dangerous,” Reed said of using all three outside linebackers at once. “I know they had something in the works in training camp. It is going to be something that’s on the coaches, whether they want to put that in. I definitely believe we can make a huge impact on the game with all three of us on the field, though.”

That said, I actually think that if the Steelers are going to pull off some sort of schematic change up in Week 1, it may have to come on offense. Like, for instance, maybe the Bengals just aren’t ready for the moving pockets, designed quarterback runs and pre-snap motions that are supposed to be highlighted by coordinator Matt Canada’s play designs and Mitch Trubisky’s mobility.

Elements the Bengals aren’t used to seeing from a Steelers team that was easy to prepare for when the statuesque Ben Roethlisberger was playing quarterback.

“We’ve got a lot of talent,” Trubisky said. “We’ve got to continue to do what we do well. … We are finding out those things as we go, but it’s a fun offense. There are lots of different things we can do. And I’m excited to see what we can do.”

Conversely, the Steelers have to prevent this game from simply being Round 3 of Bengals beat downs the club received a season ago. That may be easier said than done.

The Steelers lost their two games against Cincinnati 24-10 and 41-10. And the only reason the margins were that close is that the Bengals simply didn’t feel like running up the score.

Based on the returning talent on the Bengals and the improvements made on their offensive line, praying that the Steelers can somehow regenerate last year’s stunner in Buffalo may actually be less of a long shot than hoping that the Bengals suddenly forget what worked well so easily against the Steelers twice in the span of less than one calendar year.