PITTSBURGH -- To Ben Roethlisberger, one of the million-dollar questions plaguing the offense is obvious: How can the Pittsburgh Steelers offense start faster?
But that’s the thing about million-dollar questions: there’s no easy answer.
“As an offense, we need to start faster, but it kind of starts with me,” the quarterback said Wednesday. “I need to get better with that because that’s kind of the key to a successful day: starting fast.”
Through three games, the the Steelers’ offensive issues are extensive, but it all begins with the first drive -- one that’s been fruitless for the Steelers dating back to Week 7 of the 2020 season.
And facing a Green Bay Packers squad that has both league’s worst red zone defense and a high scoring offense led by quarterback Aaron Rodgers, the best time to shake the slump is now.
“It’s always good to set a tone early on as an offense,” rookie running back Najee Harris said. “It gives not only energy to the team, especially playing away, as we are, but it just gives the energy of the game and how excited we are, and we executed, too.”
The Steelers haven’t scored an opening-drive touchdown in 13 games -- the second-longest active streak in the NFL after the Broncos 22-game run, according to ESPN Stats and Info.
The last time Pittsburgh put any points on the board in the first quarter was a pick-six by Joe Haden in Week 12 against the Baltimore Ravens last season. The last offensive points scored in the first quarter happened two weeks earlier against the Bengals when Roethlisberger hit Diontae Johnson for a 12-yard touchdown and Chris Boswell kicked two field goals.
Beginning Week 11 of the 2020 season, the Steelers have been outscored 68-6 in the first quarter.
Making matters worse, Roethlisberger has a 6.4 QBR in the first quarter this season, third worst among qualified quarterbacks after Zach Wilson and Jacoby Brissett.
Slow starts are nothing new to Roethlisberger, but he’s been historically sluggish dating back through the 2020 season.
Roethlisberger’s first quarters rank last in total QBR (18) and yards per attempt (4.8) since Week 1 of last season. And his first quarter 59% completion rate is 34th out of 35 quarterbacks with at least 250 pass attempts. Broncos backup Drew Lock is the only quarterback with a lower completion rate in the opening quarter.
“I need to start faster,” Roethlisberger said. “Traditionally, I’ve never really been a fast start guy. My college coach, Coach [Terry] Hoepp[ner] used to say the same thing. He’s like, ‘We’ve got to get you going faster in practices and games.’ I’ll say, I need to start faster. I know the coaches are doing a great job of scripting things, whether it’s screens or getting the ball out, just plays that you really like.”
While Roethlisberger praised the coaching staff for its work planning the opening drives, offensive coordinator Matt Canada shouldered the blame Thursday.
“Every week we try to put together a plan of openers, which I'm sure has always been done,” Canada said. “You work very hard to make those be what he likes, what we all like, what we think is going to work. We just have to execute better, and to your point, we’ve got to do a better job -- I’ve got to do a better job with those plays so they work.”
Even in the win against the Buffalo Bills, the Steelers started slow with 56 yards and no points in the first quarter. Their longest first-quarter drive went five plays for 22 yards. The other drive was three plays for a net of negative-7 yards thanks to a six-yard sack and 12 penalty yards against the Steelers.
A week later, there was marginal improvement with 72 first-quarter yards against the Las Vegas Raiders, but yet again, the Steelers didn’t score, and Roethlisberger threw an interception.
But Week 3 was the worst of the season. Against the Cincinnati Bengals, the Steelers gained a season-low 16 first-quarter yards. By halftime, the Steelers managed 123 yards and a touchdown, but they also had six penalties for 51 yards -- all but one from the offensive side of the ball.
“When you look at the first half, obviously, it's a very bad look,” Canada said. “I'm not running away from that, but a lot of it was self-inflicted. Taking nothing away from them, but we made a lot of mistakes that we did to ourselves: the penalties and missed opportunities early on. In the second half, they had the lead, so we made some plays and got down the field. We’ve got to finish.”
The Steelers don’t just need to finish, they need to start. Desperately needing a win after a two-game losing streak, Pittsburgh’s best chance to make that happen is with a sustained opening drive that ends with points on the board. Without that, it’ll be an uphill battle against a Packers offense that’s scored 17 first-quarter points in the last two weeks.
“Playing fast is always something that we try to harp on, because I think that’s the kind of team we are, too,” Harris said. “We’re a fast, aggressive team, we just have to click.”