During his career with the Pittsburgh Steelers, wide receiver Antonio Brown registered 42 total 100-yard receiving games. That’s quite a lofty number. Brown and the Steelers parted ways after the 2018 season, however. Since then, the Steelers’ offense hasn’t produced very many 100-yard receiving games. In fact, just six in total over the course of the last two seasons and according to Warren Sharp on Twitter on Tuesday, that ties them for second-last in that statistical category. The only team with less than six 100-yard receiving games from a player were the Baltimore Ravens with five.
The Steelers were without the services of starting quarterback Ben Roethlisberger for most of the 2019 season. That obviously likely plays a big part in the team’s offense only having six total 100-yard receiving performances over the course of the last two seasons. In fact, the Steelers offense only registered two such receiving performances in 2019, with wide receivers JuJu Smith-Schuster and James Washington being responsible for them in Weeks 8 and 13, respectively.
Last season, Roethlisberger returned to action. His return, however, only resulted in the Steelers’ offense registering four total 100-yard receiving performances by one player. Wide receiver Chase Claypool posted two of those in Weeks 5 and 17. The latter one came with backup quarterback Mason Rudolph doing the throwing. Wide receiver Diontae Johnson was responsible for the two remaining 100-yard receiving performances in 2020 in Weeks 6 and 12. Roethlisberger was the quarterback for both of those contests.
Now that we have that data out of the way, it’s worth looking back at some previous seasons in which the Steelers had ultimate success — making it to the Super Bowl. During Roethlisberger’s NFL career to date, the Steelers made it to the Super Bowl three times in total. They went on to win the Lombardi twice.
For the 2005 regular season, which culminated in the Steelers winning the Super Bowl, the Pittsburgh offense had just four 100-yard receiving games. Wide receiver Hines Ward was responsible for all four of those. The Steelers were 2-2 in those four games, however.
In 2008, the last time the Steelers won the Super Bowl, the team’s offense registered just another four 100-yard receiving games. Once again, Ward was responsible for all four. Oh, and the Steelers went 2-2 in those four games, as well.
Moving on to 2010, that last time the Steelers went to the Super Bowl, the team’s offense had 11 instances in which a player registered 100 yards or more receiving. Ward was responsible for four of those 11 instances while wide receiver Mike Wallace had a whopping seven games in which he topped the century mark in receiving yardage. The Steelers did go 9-2 in those 11 games.
With that data now covered, let’s take a look back at the last two Super Bowl champions, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Kansas City Chiefs. Last season, the Buccaneers won the Super Bowl after their offense registered eight total 100-yard receiving performances. Two of those eight came in the team’s Week 17 game. Wide receiver Mike Evans led the Buccaneers with four instances in 2020.
As for the Chiefs in 2019, they had just seven 100 yard receiving performances during that regular season. Two of those happened in their Week 2 game.
While we are at it, the 2018 New England Patriots won the Super Bowl that year and only had six instances of one player registering 100 yards or more receiving in one single game. Wide receiver Julian Edelman, tight end Rob Gronkowski and wide receiver Josh Gordon each had two that season.
So, while the Steelers registering just six total 100-yard receiving performances in the last two seasons might be an intriguing number to look at and rank, it’s not an end-of-the-world type of stat overall. Had Roethlisberger played more than six quarters in 2019, I’m willing to bet there would have been at least a few more 100-yard receiving performances from the likes of Smith-Schuster, Johnson, or Washington that season.
Quite honestly, I’m not sure what Sharp was attempting to prove in his tweet. After all, while the Buccaneers did register 20 total 100 yard receiving games over the course the last two seasons, 12 of those came during the 2019 season and as part of that team going 7-9 and missing the playoffs.
