Another win. Another weird. Your strangest stats from the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 13-6 win over the Denver Broncos.
– The Pittsburgh Steelers have more wins (two) than they do touchdowns (one) through their first two games of the season. The Steelers have as many touchdowns as their opponent.
And with that, we have some very weird stats.
– For the first time in Steelers’ history, they have won their first two games of the regular season with only one combined touchdown.
– Pittsburgh has also won Weeks 1 and 2 with the second-lowest combined point total in franchise history. Their 31 combined points are only edged by what the 1936 Pittsburgh Pirates (they weren’t named the Steelers in 1940) scored a total of 20 points to win their first two games that year. That year, they put up 10 points in each of their wins over the Boston Redskins and Brooklyn Dodgers.
– The Steelers are now the fifth team in professional football history, 1920 to present, to win their first two games of a season with no more than one touchdown. They’re the first to do it since the 2000 Detroit Lions, who had just one touchdown in wins against the New Orleans Saints and Washington Redskins. More impressively, they did it without an offensive touchdown, their only end zone trip coming off a Desmond Howard 95-yard punt return in Week 1. Kicker Jason Hanson nailed five field goals in Week 2 as the Lions prevailed 15-10.
The other teams that have it in common with the 2024 Pittsburgh Steelers? The 1988 Buffalo Bills (incredible considering they had Jim Kelly, Thurman Thomas, and Andre Reed for a squad that went 12-4 and made the AFC Championship Game). The rest? All before the Steelers’ franchise existed.
There’s the 1924 Duluth Kellys, who won by scores of 6-3 and 3-0 to open the season. And the 1922 Chicago Bears, coached by the legendary George Halas. Who could forget their 6-0 win over the Racine Legion? And where were you when they beat the Rock Island Independents, 10-6?
Incredible stats for a modern-era Steelers team. Not ones to love from a sustainability perspective but as a fan of all things weird? This is my Woodstock.
– Their defensive dominance is a little less historic. The last time Pittsburgh allowed only one touchdown across their first two games was in 2010 when they beat the Atlanta Falcons and Tennessee Titans. The Falcons were held to three field goals while the Titans had one late touchdown in a 19-11 loss. Funny enough, the Steelers’ first game of 2024 came against the Falcons, though they allowed one touchdown this time around.
– It’s only the fifth time in Steelers history that they’ve won both games to open a season while allowing no more than one touchdown across those two contests.
– As noted in our stat-pack preview, this is the second time in Mike Tomlin’s tenure they’ve allowed no more than 10 points in their first two games. The other occurred in Tomlin’s first year, 2007.
– The 19 combined points in this contest is the lowest total in a Steelers game since 2015 when they defeated the St. Louis Rams, 12-6.
In the Mike Tomlin era, the Steelers have now played six games where the combined point total was no more than 20 points. Pittsburgh is a whopping 5-1 in those games, their only loss 13-6 to the Cleveland Browns in 2009. Compare that to the rest of the AFC North.
Baltimore: 10-2
Cincinnati: 2-4
Cleveland: 7-7
The Ravens are in the same spot but have played double the contests. The Browns are a surprising .500 while the Bengals have the worst record in such games.
– With a seven-point win over the Broncos, the Steelers have now won their 100th one-possession game under head coach Mike Tomlin. Since his hiring in 2007, no other team even has 90. The next closest are the Indianapolis Colts’ 88.
Pittsburgh has now won 62 percent of its one-score games under Tomlin. Over that span, no other team is above 59 percent.
And even if you credit much of that to Ben Roethlisberger heroics, the Steelers are tied with the Minnesota Vikings for the most one-score wins since 2022. Both teams picked up their 18th yesterday, the Vikings beating the San Francisco 49ers by six. But Pittsburgh has a better winning percentage than Minnesota, the Steelers sitting at 72 percent. Only the Philadelphia Eagles best them at 80 percent.
And since 2020, the Steelers have won 74.4 percent of their one-score games. That’s easily the best mark in football.
– Over 31 percent of Pittsburgh’s 16 first downs yesterday came via penalty. Five of them, one more than they had rushing. By comparison, Denver had zero first downs gained from a Pittsburgh penalty.
– Through two games, Steelers wide receivers not named George Pickens have a combined five receptions for 28 yards. That’s going to need to change.
– TE Darnell Washington caught his first NFL touchdown pass on Sunday. It’s only his fourth touchdown since beginning college and first score since Dec. 3, 2022, when he caught a 14-yard pass against LSU. Other players to catch touchdowns in that game? Current NFL rookies WR Malik Nabers, WR Ladd McConkey, and TE Brock Bowers.
– Washington’s touchdown was also the first by a Steelers tight end since Week 12 of the 2023 season when Pat Freiermuth caught a touchdown against the Las Vegas Raiders. So nearly a full calendar year between tight end touchdowns.
– The top three receivers the Steelers defense have faced the first two weeks, WR Drake London, TE Kyle Pitts, and WR Courtland Sutton, have combined for 6 receptions, 67 yards, and one touchdown. Pretty good stuff from Pittsburgh’s defense, taking away the opposition’s top targets.
– The Steelers ran the ball 36 times Sunday, giving them 77 rushes over their first two games. That’s their most since 1999 when they ran it 93 times their first two weeks. The previous high under Tomlin came in 2007 when they had 75.
– DL Cam Heyward was credited with three QB hits, the first time he’s done that in a game since registering four in the 2022 regular-season finale against the Cleveland Browns. A game in which he had two sacks.
– CB Cory Trice Jr. recorded his first interception since Nov. 26, 2022, an 8-yard pick-six against Maryland. Fun fact. Including yesterday’s game, Trice has now recorded an interception in five games dating back to college. His team has won them all. Just let Trice pick off a pass and it’s a win. That’s the new game plan.
– Pittsburgh has out-possessed it opponents by a combined 67:55 to 52:05 over the first two weeks. By contrast, opponents had the ball for 72:51 to the Steelers’ 47:09 a year ago. Meaning, opponents have had the ball for 20:46 less this season, more than an entire quarter’s worth of play.
Night and day difference.
– K Chris Boswell has eight field goals over the Steelers’ first two games. That’s a franchise record for the first two games of the team’s season, breaking Jeff Reed’s mark of seven set in 2010.
– With a 53-yard conversion against the Broncos, Boswell has made four field goals of 50-plus yards this year. Halfway to his career high.
What’s more impressive is this. Before Boswell was signed in 2015, the Steelers had kicked only three field goals from 50-plus yards in the previous four combined seasons, 2011-2014. Boswell’s doing in two games what it once took Pittsburgh years to accomplish.
– Boswell is now 34-of-41 from 50-plus yards, 82.9 percent. He is more successful from 50-plus than he is from 40-49 yards (75-of-95, 78.9-percent).
