Leading 14-0, Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin had seen enough from his starting offense. In two preseason games, Pickett has now led three scoring drives on three possessions and posted a combined passer rating of 149.05 with just two incompletions.
“There were some good things to be excited about from a performance perspective, it was going pretty well,” said Tomlin. “That’s why we got the first units out of the game relatively early.
“They did enough to check the boxes for Week 2 of the preseason. Because Week 3 is coming so quickly, we moved forward and got some exposure to some other people. I’m appreciative of that. When the first team performs the way they performed, it really provides a platform for others to show their skills.”
The Bills left their starters on both sides of the ball on the field into the second quarter and still failed to gain a footing against the Steelers backups, even after Tomlin began substituting in second-line players defensively.
Buffalo did drive to the Pittsburgh 38 on its second possession, but rookie outside linebacker Nick Herbig forced an incompletion with pressure on quarterback Josh Allen on first down. Then, the Bills were penalized for a block in the back on second down, making it second-and-19. Backup outside linebacker Markus Golden drew a holding penalty on Buffalo right tackle Spencer Brown on the next play, pushing the Bills all the way back to their own 38 and essentially ending the drive.
Matt Barkley entered the game for Allen in the second quarter and drove the Bills inside the Pittsburgh 10. But inside linebacker Cole Holcomb tipped a pass at the goal line that was intercepted in the end zone by Elijah Riley to end the threat.
With 1:34 remaining in the half, the Steelers punted the ball back to the Bills at their own 6. Joey Porter Jr., the Steelers’ second-round draft pick who did not play in last week’s preseason opener, picked Barkley off at the Buffalo 30, setting up a third touchdown of the half, this one coming on a 3-yard pass from Mitch Trubisky to Connor Heyward for a 21-0 Steelers lead.