It’ll be hard to top all the “weird” from Sunday’s game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens. But here we go.
– Though the Ravens have only been a franchise since 1996, we’re not talking about a ton of history here, Miles Killebrew’s blocked punt marked the first time the Pittsburgh Steelers have recorded a safety against them. It’s the third safety in the history of the rivalry, the other two coming to Baltimore’s benefit. They had one in 2019 and in 1997, though the latter was the Steelers intentionally running out of the end zone. Doesn’t really count.
– This was the first time either side won a game by at least seven points, which is still only a touchdown difference, since Week 17 of the 2019 season when the Ravens won big, 28-10. The Steelers have won plenty of games over Baltimore the last several seasons but it’s the first time they’ve won this “big” since their 23-16 Week Nine victory over them in 2018. It just goes to show how close this rivalry is.
– George Pickens had a huge day, finishing with six receptions for 130 yards and a touchdown. It’s the first 6/130/1 stat line by a Steeler in five years, the last accomplished by Antonio Brown in 2018 in a loss to the New Orleans Saints.
– WR Gunner Olszewski has moved with the football (so excluding fair catches that weren’t fumbled) 28 times in his Steelers’ career. He’s fumbled on four occasions. That’s a fumble rate of 14.3 percent.
– Alex Highsmith has two sacks this season. Both have been strip/sack fumbles recovered by T.J. Watt. And both have come in the fourth quarter. That’s coming up clutch.
– Through five games, the Steelers have a pair of players with at least a pair of forced fumbles: LB Cole Holcomb, Watt, and Highsmith. It’s the same number of players they had do the same, two forced fumbles through the first five games, from 2013-22. During that span, only Stephon Tuitt (2016), Ryan Shazier (2017), and Watt (2021) had done it. Lots of playmaking going on this year for a splash-play happy unit.
– Watt’s eight sacks through the first five games are a Steelers record, breaking the old mark set by James Harrison’s 6.5 in 2008. For reference, in his record-tying 2021 season, he had just five sacks through the first five games (he did miss a game with an injury).
Watt is the NFL’s first player to hit this mark since Tampa Bay’s Shaq Barrett had nine in 2019. Since 2014, only Watt, Barrett, and DeMarcus Lawrence have had this kind of a start to a season.
– In his career against the Steelers, Ravens QB Lamar Jackson has a 1-3 record with four touchdowns and seven interceptions. He’s been sacked 20 times.
– One sad stat of the weird. The Pittsburgh Steelers have now gone five straight weeks to open up the season without a rushing touchdown. That is a franchise first. Since the Steelers have been playing since 1933, they have never had this cold of a start before. Incredible.
The last NFL team to have such streak were the 2018 Minnesota Vikings, who found the end zone in their sixth game. Funny enough, the Vikings and the Steelers are the only two teams without a rushing score this season.
It’s worth mentioning the 2017 Miami Dolphins went their first eight games without a rushing score. That’s the longest streak of relatively recent history, the last 20 years. The post-merger record is nine, set by the New York Jets in 1995.
– Pittsburgh has now gone 46 games without scoring 30 points and winning a game. It’s easily the NFL’s longest such streak.
– With the win, Pittsburgh now sits at 3-2. The last seven instances the Steelers won at least three of their first five contests, they made the playoffs. The most recent exception came in 2009 when they started the year 3-2 before ending up at 9-7 thanks to a terrible five-game losing streak (the Mike Tomlin “unleash hell” year).
Since Kevin Colbert took over in 2000, the Steelers have made the playoffs in 12 of the 13 season they won three of their first five. History says they’ll be back in the postseason.
