Bengals wide receiver A.J. Green caught an 8-yard touchdown pass from Andy Dalton with 8:29 left in the second quarter of Sunday night’s game against Pittsburgh, extending his streak of six consecutive games with a score.

The six-game streak ties Green with Stan Fritts and Rudi Johnson for the third longest in franchise history.

Carl Pickens holds the team record of 10 consecutive games with a TD, and T.J. Houshmandzadeh is second with eight.

Green also has at least one touchdown in all three of his games against Pittsburgh.

The touchdown reception was Green’s seventh of the season, tying him for the NFL lead with the New York Giants’ Victor Cruz and Green Bay Packers’ James Jones.

Debut delayed: Rookie cornerback Dre Kirkpatrick will have to wait at least two more weeks to make his NFL debut after he was made inactive for the seventh consecutive game.

Kirkpatrick, whom the Bengals drafted in the first round with the 17^th overall pick, went through a vigorous pregame workout on the Paul Brown Stadium turf and showed no signs he is still bothered by the knee injury that kept him out of most of training camp and the preseason. But Lewis elected not to dress him, which means his debut likely will come after the bye in the Nov. 4 home game against Denver.

Injured wide receiver Armon Binns (ankle) and running back Brian Leonard (ribs) also were inactive.

Brandon Tate started in place of Binns, while second-year wide receiver Ryan Whalen was active for the first time this season.

Leonard’s absence left the Bengals with just three running backs — BenJarvus Green-Ellis, Cedric Peerman and fullback Chris Pressley.

Milestone march: The Bengals drove 80 yards in 15 plays on their first possession of the game, marking their longest touchdown march since going 81 yards in the season opener at Baltimore.

Third-year running back Peerman capped the drive with his first career touchdown, a 5-yard run up the middle.

Rookie wide receiver Mohamed Sanu also recorded the first two receptions of his career on the drive.

Steeler starts: The Steelers capped their opening drive of the game with a 42-yard field goal by Shaun Suisham, marking the sixth time in their last seven games against the Bengals they have scored first.

The only time in that stretch Cincinnati struck first was Dec. 12, 2010, in Pittsburgh, when tackle Andrew Whitworth caught a 1-yard touchdown pass from Carson Palmer in the first quarter. But the Steelers went on to score 23 unanswered points for a 23-7 win.