The good news for the Pittsburgh Steelers is their first-team offense has scored a touchdown on each possession it has occupied the field during the preseason.

The bad news, if you can call it that, is the offense hasn’t been given the chance to see if such productivity is sustainable for long stretches of a game.

That is expected to change Thursday night in the Steelers’ preseason finale. Coach Mike Tomlin played most of his starters for the entire first half in last year’s third exhibition game, and it wouldn’t be surprising if he took a similar approach against the Atlanta Falcons.

Perhaps after this game the Steelers will have a better gauge about the offense’s capabilities and not just in a small sample size.

“It’s always challenging on how to see the preseason,” center Mason Cole said. “But anytime you go out there and you roll the ball on the field, what you do out there is a big deal. Having success is big, whether we’re game planning, they’re game planning or who we are going against. It doesn’t matter. It’s just good to have success when you roll the ball out there.”

The offense, with second-year quarterback Kenny Pickett running the show, reeled off a 10-play, 83-yard touchdown drive to open the preseason. The plan was for the first-team offense to play two series Saturday night against Buffalo.

It turned out the offense actually spent fewer snaps on the field than in the opener. Jaylen Warren’s 62-yard touchdown run came on the sixth play of the opening drive. The second, set up by a 54-yard punt return, consisted of one play: Pickett’s 25-yard touchdown pass to tight end Pat Freiermuth.

Wide receiver Diontae Johnson, whose block downfield helped spring Warren for the touchdown, wouldn’t mind getting more action against the Falcons.

“It would be good,” he said. “I’m preparing like I’m playing the whole game. It doesn’t matter if I’m in there or not, I’m preparing like I’ll be out there for the whole game.”

Johnson was a focal point of the opening drive in Tampa when he had three receptions for 32 yards. Offensive coordinator Matt Canada’s plan was to get new slot receiver Allen Robinson involved against Buffalo. Robinson was targeted twice and had a third-down reception on the opening drive.

“We have an agenda each game,” Canada said. “If you look last year at the bye (after which the Steelers went 7-2), our buy-in was better in some cases than outside the building. We’re happy with what we’ve done in a lot of cases, trying to spread the ball around and get guys touches. The preseason is what that is for, to experiment and do some things.”

Only the Indianapolis Colts scored fewer touchdowns last season than the Steelers, who finished with 29. The Steelers also ranked last in receiving touchdowns in Canada’s second year as offensive coordinator.

“I feel like we’re a world ahead of where we were last season,” Cole said. “It feels good in a game situation to score points, and confidence is high right now. Obviously, there is still a long way to go until the first game, and there are a lot of things we can get better at.”

Johnson also tried to keep the offense’s performance through two preseason games in perspective.

“There’s always room to improve,” he said. “You can’t let two games define a whole season. You can’t say that’s how we’re going to be. You can’t focus on one thing. Everything can get better.”

Judging by what transpired last season, particularly in the first half of the season for the offense, a good preseason doesn’t necessarily carry over into September.

“You don’t ever want to have a bad (preseason),” Canada said. “We’re not minimizing it. There are things we’re trying to build on and stack days and do a good job, but it is the preseason. We all know that. Everybody we play has agendas and things they want to look at, too.”

Still, the return of four starters on the offensive line, a full offseason for Pickett to have control of the offense and a few veteran additions have helped the Steelers get off to a promising start. Even if it is just three series over two games that don’t count in the standings.

“We’re progressing day by day,” Johnson said. “It’s not going to happen overnight. We had a good camp. We came out starting fast. … We have to keep it going.”

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