If you were to choose what football stat has the most direct correlation to winning games, it might just be turnover differential. The Pittsburgh Steelers have the third-best mark in the league right now at a plus-four through just three games. While the offense has been decent at protecting the ball, the eight turnovers generated by the defense (second-best in the league) have been the main driver for their positive differential.
The Pittsburgh Steelers picked up three interceptions on Sunday night, two from CB Levi Wallace, and the first in the black and gold from veteran CB Patrick Peterson. These types of splash plays generate huge momentum for the Steelers, and according to head coach Mike Tomlin, they take work throughout the game to set up, as he mentioned on The Mike Tomlin Show via YouTube.
“When you talk about the turnovers, they were born out of situational moments where they got somewhat one-dimensional. that’s our ability to slow down the run.” Tomlin noted. “Our difference between game three and game two and one from a defensive perspective is our ability to control the running game and thus be able to anticipate the passing game and get in good schematic calls or make good communication in anticipation of moments. I can’t say enough about how significant it is to control the run and how that tees up the potential for the splash that happens in the passing game.”
The Steelers have had quite a tough stretch of running backs to try to slow down to start the season. After giving up big games to San Francisco 49ers RB Christian McCaffery and Cleveland Browns RBs Nick Chubb and Jerome Ford, they went into Week Three staring down 2022 NFL rushing leader Josh Jacobs. Jacobs was coming off a game of negative two rushing yards, the first negative total game for any defending rushing champion since the merger. While Jacobs landed in the positives on Sunday, the Steelers did slow him down to the tune of just 62 yards on 17 carries.
This forced Raiders QB Jimmy Garoppolo to try and make it happen through the air, and that’s when the Steelers secondary started generating the splash plays Tomlin talked about. It’s tough to overstate just how important generating these turnovers is for the Steelers. Since the start of the 2014 season, the Steelers are 23-2 in games where they generate three or more turnovers. Not too shabby.
Something will have to give in Week Four, as Houston Texans QB C.J. Stroud has yet to throw an interception this season. If Tomlin’s comments are any indication, stopping the run could be the key to breaking Stroud’s perfect streak.
