Tyler Boyd complained of his lack of targets last week. He is showing why this week.
The Bengals gained 34 yards on their first 18 plays. They had 62 on the next two, with Boyd catching both.
Boyd made a spectacular one-handed grab at the Pittsburgh 15. Terrell Edmunds had one of Boyd’s hands pinned. Boyd caught it anyway for 47 yards.
He scored on the next play, a 15-yard touchdown pass from Ryan Finley. It has the Bengals up 7-3 at halftime.
Finley had promised to get Boyd the ball more after Boyd had one catch for no yards on three targets last week.
With their offense struggling, the Steelers find themselves in a dogfight with the winless Bengals. Pittsburgh has 161 yards but has punted three times, has a red zone turnover and settled for a red zone field goal.
The Steelers’ only points came on a 26-yard field goal by Chris Boswell with 3:21 remaining in the first half.
Mason Rudolph has completed 8 of 15 passes for 85 yards. He threw an interception in the red zone, with Shawn Williams picking a tipped pass at the Cincinnati 3-yard line and returning it 12 yards.
The Bengals have 104 yards on 23 passes, meaning they gained 42 yards on 21 plays and 62 yards on two. But it has them in position for their first victory.
Five of the Bengals’ 10 losses were by one score this season.