The first loss of the weird might put a damper on the week but not on our weird from the Pittsburgh Steelers’ Sunday tilt against the Indianapolis Colts.
– The Steelers allowed at least 27 points in a regular-season game for the first time since…facing the Colts last year in a 30-13 loss. That’s also the last time Pittsburgh’s trailed by at least 14 points during any part of the game (in the regular season), down 17-0 before beginning to climb back.
– Pittsburgh allowed more first-quarter points to the Colts in this game (14) than they have in their first three games combined this year (10). Ditto with the second half. The Colts scored more (10) than Pittsburgh has allowed all year (6).
– This is the first time the Steelers have lost consecutive regular-season meetings against the Colts since 2005 and 2008. If you include the playoffs, considering Pittsburgh beat Indy in the 2005 playoffs, it’s the last true consecutive losses to the Colts since 1968 and 1971 when Indy was still in Baltimore.
– QB Joe Flacco threw two touchdowns against the Steelers to lead the Colts to victory. They’re his first touchdown passes against Pittsburgh in almost exactly six years, his last one coming on Sept. 30, 2018, a Week 4 win as a member of the Baltimore Ravens. Flacco threw for 363 yards and two touchdowns in the win. Sunday, he threw for 168 and two scores.
– With his two scores, Flacco now has 27 career regular-season touchdowns against the Steelers. That ties him for third-most against Pittsburgh by a quarterback in history with Sonny Jurgensen. They only trail Charlie Conerly’s 29 and of course, Tom Brady is in the top spot with 30.
– Indianapolis converted 8-of-15 third-down opportunities. Six of them came on 3rd and 6 or longer. They were 6-of-10 facing 3rd and 6 or longer. That can’t happen to this Steelers defense, which came into the week with the No. 1 third-down defense, allowing a conversion 21.9 percent of the time. On 3rd and 6-plus, they gave up a conversion just 13.6 percent, opposing offenses just 3-of-22.
– Over the teams’ past two meetings, the Colts have run for a combined 303 yards.
– QB Justin Fields is the first Steelers QB to rush for 50 yards and two touchdowns since Kordell Stewart in 2000 when he ran for 81 yards and two scores in a 34-21 win over the San Diego Chargers.
– Fields’ 312 passing yards make him just the second instance of a Steelers QB throwing for 300-plus yards in the post-Ben Roethlisberger era. The other was Kenny Pickett’s 327 in a blowout loss to the Buffalo Bills in 2022. Fields’ numbers also came in a loss but at least a more competitive game.
– RB Najee Harris finished with 13 carries for 19 yards. That’s the fewest yards by a Steelers running back with at least 13 carries since 2009 when Willie Parker also finished with 13 carries for 19 yards. Since 1971, Harris is only the third back to have that kind of day on the ground, joining Parker and Leroy Thompson in 1993, the latter finishing with the same stat line.
– TE Darnell Washington’s 20-yard reception and 31 yards for the game are both NFL bests. His 31 yards are the most he’s had in a game since Nov. 12, 2022, when he put up 60 yards against Mississippi State while a member of the Georgia Bulldogs.
– And RB Aaron Shampklin, appearing in his first NFL game, had his first carry in a game that counted since Nov. 20, 2021, in his final game at Harvard. Looking forward to his next carry in 2027.
– And TE Pat Freiermuth broke his touchdown drought, Sunday’s score his first since Week 3 of last season.
– Over his last two games, RB Cordarrelle Patterson is averaging 7.6-yards per carry. He has 10 carries for 76 yards. By comparison, Harris is averaging 2.9 yards per carry.
– Safeties DeShon Elliott and Minkah Fitzpatrick led the team with 12 and 9 tackles, respectively. Numbers you’re not aiming to see.
– DL Cam Heyward finished with a sack, giving him one in each of the last two weeks. His first sack streak since Weeks 15-16 of the 2022 season. If he can make it three in a-row next week, it’ll be his first such streak since the end of the 2021 season.
– OLB T.J. Watt finished the game with no QB hits and no sacks. That’s the first such time in eight games since Watt has had goose egg like that, the last coming in a 2023 loss to the New England Patriots when he suffered an injury, though he finished the game. That’s also the last time no Steelers OLB recorded a sack in a game. Pittsburgh’s sacks against the Colts came from Heyward, CB Beanie Bishop Jr., and DL Larry Ogunjobi.
– K Chris Boswell hit his fifth kick from 50-plus yards this season, one shy of tying his 2023 total. He’s already more than halfway to his single-season high of eight.
– Finally, not that it means much in a loss, but the Steelers finished the game with 404 yards of total offense. In his 2021-2023 tenure, Matt Canada’s group never reached 400-plus yards. Arthur Smith did it in his fourth game as OC and Pittsburgh has done it twice in the 11 games since Canada was fired, also doing so in the first game post-Canada last year, a win over the Cincinnati Bengals.
