A little weird to put a smile on your face after that ugly, ugly Pittsburgh Steelers loss to the San Francisco 49ers. Though fair warning, these stats aren’t…encouraging. As you should expect.
– Let’s start with the score, 30-7. It’s the third-worst scoring margin defeat in Week One of the Mike Tomlin era, 2007 to 2023. The only two worse are a 33-3 loss to the New England Patriots in 2019 and a 35-7 loss to the Baltimore Ravens in 2011. Both those games were on the road, making yesterday the worst home loss in a Tomin-led opener.
It’s the Steelers’ worst Week One home loss since the Dallas Cowboys rolled them 37-7 in 1997. Good news. Pittsburgh turned their season around that year, went 11-5, and made it to the AFC Title Game.
– Pittsburgh’s initial first down didn’t come until there was 1:24 left in the first half. I don’t have the capacity to know when the last time it took the Steelers that long but it’s safe to say it’s been…awhile.
– The Steelers were outrushed by 147 yards today, 188-41. Such a margin in a Week One game hasn’t happened to Pittsburgh since 1945 when the Boston Redskins outrushed them by 192 yards, 214-36. Pittsburgh lost that game by similar margin to today, 28-7.
– 49ers RB Christian McCaffrey’s 65-yard rushing TD was the longest allowed by the Steelers since Miles Sanders went 74 yards against them in 2020. It hasn’t happened to Pittsburgh in an opener since at least 1994, as far back as Pro Football Reference’s data goes.
– San Francisco averaged 5.5 yards per rush. Pittsburgh averaged 3.9 yards per play.
– Something positive! As you probably know by now, T.J. Watt’s three sacks Sunday tie him with James Harrison for the Steelers’ franchise record. Since entering the league in 2017, Watt’s 11 sacks in season openers lead the NFL. The next closest is Chandler Jones’ nine.
– Watt is the first Steeler with three sacks in an opener since…teammate Alex Highsmith had three last season against the Cincinnati Bengals. For Watt, this is the second time he’s done it in Week One, doing the same in 2018 against the Cleveland Browns.
Since sacks became official in 1982, Watt is now one of just four players in history to have two Week One games with three or more sacks. He joins the late Kevin Greene, Chip Banks, and Don Blackmon.
– Since 2000, Kenny Pickett has one of just two Steelers’ performances where a quarterback had at least 45 pass attempts and fewer than 240 yards. Yesterday, he attempted 46 passes for only 240 yards. Ben Roethlisberger’s final home performance is the other, going 24-for-46 for 123 yards in a win over the Cleveland Browns.
– RB Jaylen Warren had an oddball receiving line. Five receptions for 12 yards. No Steeler has had that many receptions for so few yards since the late Franco Harris in 1976 when he had six receptions for 13 yards against the Cleveland Browns. Dick Hoak had five receptions for eight yards in 1968.
