Welcome to your weekly Pittsburgh Steelers “stat pack,” five numbers you need to know to get ready for the upcoming game. They could relate to the opponent, the Steelers themselves, and could involve an individual, unit, or something else. All to help you become the smartest fan for gameday.
6-1
The Steelers’ record when they don’t turn the ball over this season, their only blemish a 13-10 defeat against the Cleveland Browns that led to Matt Canada’s firing. They haven’t turned the ball over in their last two games with Mason Rudolph at the helm. Comparatively, they’re 3-6 when they turn the ball over once, even though they’ve won or tied the turnover differential in five of those nine.
36
The number of interceptions Pittsburgh has over the last two years. That’s tied for the second-most in the NFL alongside the, if you can believe it, the Chicago Bears. Only the San Francisco 49ers (41) have more. Despite missing nearly half of this season, S Minkah Fitzpatrick is tied for the team lead with six during that span. Levi Wallace has matched that mark. Seventeen different Steelers have an interception since last year. Can you name them all?
35.38
That’s the Steelers’ offensive EPA (Expected Points Added) over the last two weeks combined. To put that in perspective, their EPA over their prior 14 games was minus-42.63. It makes it 78.01 swing from then to now, an incredible change with Rudolph in at quarterback. Though the Baltimore Ravens will rest and sit starters, they still have the NFL’s second-best Defensive EPA at 100.43 on the season.
7
For Najee Harris, sevens are wild. He has exactly seven rushing touchdowns in all three of his NFL seasons. We’ll see if he can break through that barrier against the Ravens. If he ends the regular season at seven, he’ll become only the second player in NFL history to achieve that feat three consecutive years. The other? 49ers RB Ken Willard, who did so from 1968-70.
Only one player in NFL history has four seasons of exactly seven rushing touchdowns. That’s Jerome Bettis, who did it three times as a Steeler and once as a Los Angeles Ram.
21
The number of points Pittsburgh needs to score to have a higher per-game average than that miserable 2019 season, one that ended with a loss to Baltimore, a game the Steelers needed to win and receive help to make the playoffs. If they can reach 21, they’ll average 18.1 points per game, edging out the 18.0625 they averaged in ’19. The Steelers’ sudden surge of 30-point outings gives them a puncher’s chance to do it.
