Weird and sad. Sad and weird. Let’s just enjoy these weird stats for now, ok?
– With a 30-13 loss, the Pittsburgh Steelers’ defeat at the hands of the Indianapolis Colts is the third-worst in their 33 career meetings against them, regular season and playoffs. The last defeat of a greater margin came in 2005 when the Colts won 26-7, Marvin Harrison scoring an 80-yard TD on Indy’s first offensive play and never looking back.
Pittsburgh’s worst loss to the Colts came in 1968, 41-7. At least the Steelers didn’t “top” that mark. Even though it kinda felt that way.
– After leading 13-0, Indy scored 30 unanswered. It marks three straight years the team has allowed a team to score 30 unanswered. The Buffalo Bills did it in 2022 (turning a 10-3 game into a 38-3 laugher) and the Cincinnati Bengals did so in 2021 (10-3 lead to a 41-3 lead and eventual 41-10 win).
But the last time Pittsburgh allowed this many unanswered after leading during the game was 2014 against the Cleveland Browns. The Steelers went up 3-0 before the Browns rattled off 31 straight points in a 31-10 victory back in 2014.
– The Colts’ 170 rushing yards are the most Indianapolis has ever recorded against the Steelers, clipping their previous best of 168 set in 1957. Pittsburgh won that game 19-13. No such luck Saturday.
– Almost 130 (127) of the Colts’ rushing yards came in the second half.
– Colts RB Trey Sermon finished the game with 88 yards, the most he’s had in a game since Week Four of the 2021 season as a member of the San Francisco 49ers. And these were Tyler Goodson’s first NFL carries, finishing with 11 of them for 69 yards. Those were his most rushing yards since Nov. 26, 2021, when he ran for 158 yards in a win over Nebraska. Joining them in the ‘2021 Club’ was WR D.J. Montgomery, who caught his first NFL passes since 2021 with the New York Jets.
– On their game-sealing drive, the Colts ran the ball 13 straight plays before finally throwing incomplete on third down, settling for a field goal. They’re the first NFL team to put together a 13-plus play drive with one or fewer passes since the New England Patriots in 2021, not that long ago, when they ran 13 times on a 13-play drive against the Buffalo Bills, never throwing. That was the incredibly windy day where the Pats threw all of three times all night, ran it 46 times, and won 14-10.
– The Steelers have lost three games in a row, marking the sixth straight season they’ve had such a streak. It’s only the second time in franchise history they’ve had this like kind of streak, the other reaching nine years in a row. That occurred at the literal start of the franchise, 1933-1941 until they finally broke it in 1942, the team’s first-ever winning season.
– Pittsburgh has gone five straight games scoring under 20 points. The last time that happened? Chuck Noll’s first season as head coach in 1969, a 1-13 season when they once did it in six straight games. If the Steelers don’t score more than 20 points again this year, their eight-game streak will be the franchise’s longest since 1940.
– Something positive! T.J. Watt has 16 sacks through his team’s first 14 games, the first player in the NFL to achieve that since…T.J. Watt in 2021 (and Robert Quinn).
– And since sacks became an official NFL stat in 1982, Watt becomes only the eighth player to have 15-plus sacks in three separate seasons and the first since big brother J.J. Watt in 2018. J.J. Watt and Reggie White are the only two who have more such seasons. Watt with four, White with five.
– Pittsburgh racked up 101 yards of penalties in this game. It’s the first time that’s occurred since 2019, a Steelers 17-12 win over the Los Angeles Rams. Oddly enough, Pittsburgh hadn’t lost its last eight games in which it had at least 100 yards of penalties. The Steelers’ last defeat came in 2014, a 27-24 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, where they accumulated 125 yards worth of flags that day.
– Following their ugly trend, the Steelers are 12-of-41 on third down their last three games. That’s a pitiful 29.3 percent.
– The Steelers turned the ball over three times against the Colts, the first time they have done that all season. It’s the first time they had done it since Week 14 of last season against the Baltimore Ravens.
– Chris Bowell missed his first extra point since Week 13 of the 2021 season, breaking a streak of 42 straight PAT makes.
– Finally, the Steelers have three punt blocks this season. They have five in their last three seasons and a block in back-to-back games.
