One final time this regular season, and hopefully not the final time of the year. Some stats of the weird to ring in the new year.
– Pittsburgh won both its games against Baltimore this year by the same score. A 17-10 win in Week 5, a 17-10 win in Week 18.
The last time the Steelers had two identical scores against the same opponent in one year came in 1996 when Pittsburgh beat the same Ravens 31-17 in Week 2 before losing to them 31-17 in Week 14. Of course, those are different outcomes, a win and a loss, and trying to find two of the same result would require a lot more research. If you guys can find an example, I’ll be sure to update this post and give you credit.
– Last year, the Steelers won their final four games. This year, they won their final three games. Pittsburgh is 5-0 in the month of January over the last three regular seasons. Their last such loss came in the 2020 regular-season finale, a game Mason Rudolph also started as the team rested Ben Roethlisberger.
– With the win, Mike Tomlin has 173 career regular-season victories. That ties him with Jeff Fisher for 11th in NFL history. Tomlin needs 13 more to tie Chuck Knox and his 186 for 10th place. Tomlin is now 21 wins shy of breaking Chuck Noll’s mark for most wins by a Steelers head coach. In theory, that could happen two seasons from now.
– For the first time in his NFL career, Najee Harris rushed for 100 yards in back-to-back games. The last time he did it came in the 2020-2021 season with Alabama, rushing for 178 yards in the SEC title game to beat Florida before putting up 125 to beat Notre Dame in the first round of the College Football Playoffs.
– Harris has carried the ball 53 times the last two weeks, the most by a Steelers runner in consecutive games since Le’Veon Bell in 2017 (60 carries in Weeks Seven-Eight).
– From 2021-23, WR Diontae Johnson went 113 straight receptions without a touchdown. He’s now caught four of them over his last 21 grabs. Football, man.
– Jaylen Warren and Harris made up 55.6 percent of the Steelers’ receptions from Saturday’s game, catching five apiece. Warren and Harris are the first Steelers back to each snag at least five passes in a game since James Conner and Jaylen Samuels had eight each in a 2019 win over the Cincinnati Bengals.
– Running backs in Steelers’ history with 60-plus receptions in a season:
1. Le’Veon Bell (three times)
2. Najee Harris
3. Jaylen Warren
Warren crept over that mark in the finale, catching five passes. He finishes second on the Steelers with 61 of them, two behind George Pickens.
– S Eric Rowe finished the game with 12 tackles. That’s a career high for him. He has 22 stops the last two weeks.
– In the official sack era, 1982 to today, the most sacks by a player through his first seven seasons:
1. Reggie White – 110
2. DeMarcus Ware – 99.5
3. T.J. Watt – 96.5
Watt started the same number of games as White and seven less than Ware.
– WR Calvin Austin III returned five punts for an average of 18.4 yards, including a season-long of 34 yards. It’s the best average by a Steeler with at least five punt returns in a game since Antwaan Randle El in 2005, who averaged 18.8 yards on five runbacks (highlighted by a 72-yard TD in an OT loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars).
Austin’s mark is the sixth-highest in Steelers’ history of those with at least five returns per game.
– Pittsburgh did not throw an interception in any of Mason Rudolph’s three starts, meaning the Steelers didn’t throw a pick in 11 of their 17 games this season. That’s the second-most the team has had in a season since the merger, tying the 2001 mark. The Steelers also didn’t throw a pick in 10 games last year, meaning they didn’t do so in 61.8 percent of their games the past two seasons. Pittsburgh is a combined 17-4 in those games, 8-2 last year and 9-2 this year.
– The one-score Steelers do it again. With a seven-point win over the Ravens, Pittsburgh went 9-2 in one-score games this season. Since Mike Tomlin was hired in 2007, Pittsburgh has played in a one-possession game 58.5 percent of the time, 161 games. They are 98-61-2 during that span, the most games and victories in the NFL. Their .615 winning percentage is also a league-best. No other team even cracks 60 percent. Only four other teams sit above 55 percent.
– Finally, the Steelers finished 10-7 with a negative-20 point differential. They’re just the sixth team in history to do those two things. Here are the teams to crack double-digit victories with that bad of a point differential in the NFL.
Worst Point Differentials (10-Plus Win Teams)
1. 2021 Las Vegas Raiders (10-7, minus-65 differential)
2. 2012 Indianapolis Colts (11-5, minus-30 differential)
3. 1986 New York Jets (10-6, minus-22 differential)
4. 2023 Pittsburgh Steelers (10-7, minus-20 differential)
4. 1995 Phoenix Cardinals (10-6, minus-20 differential)
4. 1993 Los Angeles Raiders (10-6, minus-20 differential)
The Jets, Cardinals, and ’93 Raiders won a playoff game. The Colts and ’21 Raiders were one and done. We’ll see if Pittsburgh even gets into the postseason.
