Weird stats from another sad outcome…
– The Steelers have scored just four touchdowns in their first three games, the first time they’ve done so little since 2013, when they also had four offensive scores in the first three weeks. This makes for only the second time it’s ever happened under Mike Tomlin.
– Pittsburgh has 13 total first quarter points in their last nine games. They’ve been shut out in seven of those contests, including Thursday night, though they did score on the first play of the second quarter against the Browns.
– Thursday night marked the first time since 2016 that the Steelers didn’t throw at least one touchdown pass against the Cleveland Browns, breaking a streak of 11 straight games.
– At one point tonight, Chase Claypool had more rushing yards (47) than receiving yards (44) on the season though that stat changed by the game’s end.
– The Steelers had more QB hits and sacks in their Week One game (11 QB hits, 7 sacks) than they’ve had over the last two (7 QB hits, 2 sacks).
– Nick Chubb’s 113 rushing yards are a regular season career-high against the Steelers.
– Through three games, LB Myles Jack has 35 combined tackles. Since 1987, as far back as PFR’s tackle stats track, it’s the most amount of tackles through three games by a Steelers’ defender. It breaks the previous high of 33 set by Lawrence Timmons in 2010. James Farrior is the only other player with 30, registering 32 in 2005.
– Pittsburgh went just 1/9 on third down last night, the first time they’ve been that poor against the Cleveland Browns since a 2012 loss. Since 2009, this is only the third time the Steelers have been 1/9 or worse on third down. The Browns, meanwhile, were a combined 9/20 on third and fourth down.
– During the second half of last night’s game, the Steelers went three-and-out on three consecutive drives. That’s now happened in back-to-back years, also occurring in last year’s loss against the Minnesota Vikings. But the short drives against the Browns all came in the second half, something the Steelers haven’t done since October 12th, 2015, when that occurred against the Chargers. That’s the Le’Veon Bell walk-off winner game, the one with Mike Vick as the the Steelers’ starting quarterback.
– Officially, and this doesn’t account for negated plays by penalty, the Steelers have logged 231 defensive snaps through the first three weeks. An average of 77 per game.
– Over the last two games, the Steelers have lost the time of possession battle 69:45 to 50:15.
– In fact, this now marks three straight games in which the Steelers’ defense has been on the field for 33+ minutes. That hasn’t happened three games in a row since 1998 when the Patriots, Buccaneers, and Bengals did it to the Steelers. So two of the three same teams, weirdly enough.
– Finally, here’s an extra-unfortunate end to the game. Not only did the Browns sweeten the scoreboard with their final-play fumble recovery for a touchdown, it goes down as Najee Harris’ first fumble of his regular season career (he did fumble against the Chiefs in the Wild Card game last year). His fumble-less streak officially ends at 430 touches without one. A weird one, a lateral to try to keep a play alive, but it counts all the same.
