The Bengals had the football to start the 3rd quarter after the Rudolph intercpetion, but Pittsburgh’s defense didn’t surrender points off the turnover. The defensive stand gave the ball right back to the offense with good field position.
For the first time, Rudolph and company were able to move the ball and put points on the board with a time-consuming drive aided by a big pass play to newcomer Deon Cain down the sideline. However, the red-zone offensive woes continued and the offense had to settle for a 26-yard Chris Boswell field goal.
With the score 3-0, the Bengals got the ball back with 3:21 left in the first half and it took them little time to put some points on the board. It was all Tyler Boyd on the drive as he had a huge catch over Terrell Edmunds, and then a touchdown reception over Joe Haden to give the Bengals a 7-3 lead.
With 1:51 left in the half, and all three timeouts remaining, Rudolph and the Pittsburgh offense failed to move the ball into even field goal range. After punting the ball away the score remained 7-3 heading into halftime.