Everybody was talking about it last week at 5-3, and the voices have gotten even louder now that the Pittsburgh Steelers are 6-3. How are they pulling it off? The yardage differential is a mess at negative 865 for the season. The point differential is a mess at negative 26 for the season.
Timo Riske of Pro Football Focus released an article breaking down a number of key stats leaguewide a little past the halfway point of the season, and one stat jumped off the page and stood out above the rest.
That is the turnover contribution, which plots all teams on a graph of total points lost through giveaways versus total points gained through takeaways. As you can see, the Steelers are in their own tier at the top right of the graph. This means the Steelers have gained the most points through takeaways and given away the least points through giveaways.
With all the other stats circulating out there that show why this team should not have a winning record, this is one you can circle and underline that shows why they should.
Our own Jeremy Pike wrote a piece yesterday that outlined how QB Kenny Pickett has the longest active streak in the NFL without an interception at 147 straight attempts, dating back to Week Four against the Houston Texans. In fact, Pickett’s interception rate is among the best in league history over the course of his 21-game career so far, and he is tied for the sixth best mark this season at 1.6 percent. In 253 pass attempts, he has thrown just four interceptions this season. There have been some dropped interceptions by opposing teams and turnover-worthy plays, but the same is true of most quarterbacks.
Couple that with just two fumbles lost, tied for the fewest in the league this season, and the Steelers really are protecting the ball exceptionally well.
They are also taking the ball away exceptionally well, too. The Steelers have intercepted opposing quarterbacks 10 times, tied for the sixth-best mark in the league. Eight different players have registered an interception this season. The team has also forced the second most fumbles in the league with 13, recovering the second most at eight. Ten different players have forced a fumble for the Steelers this season.
So while the offensive output isn’t great and nothing is particularly flashy about this team in the box score on either side of the ball, the Steelers are making key plays to help keep opposing offenses in check. They are also not turning the ball over to allow any easy points to the opposition.
Over the last two weeks the Steelers have one of the top two or three rushing attacks in the NFL depending on which rushing metric you look at. If the Steelers can continue the momentum with their two-headed backfield and their improving offensive line play and they can continue to protect the ball and take the ball away, that is a viable identity that they can take into the home stretch of the season.
