The Pittsburgh Steelers scored a hard-fought 18-10 win over the Atlanta Falcons to open their 2024 season. And there is so much weird we have to share with you about it.
– Including playoffs, this is the eighth time in franchise history that the Steelers have scored exactly 18 points. And Chris Boswell has been the team’s kicker for an incredible half of them. Two playoff wins and two regular-season contests. Pittsburgh is 3-1 in those games, including yesterday’s win.
– For the franchise in the regular season, this is the first 18-10 result, win or loss, the Steelers have ever played. Ditto for Atlanta.
– Boswell was a perfect 6-for-6 Monday, making him one of two kickers in NFL history to be perfect on at least six field goals to start the regular season. The San Diego Chargers’ John Carney went 6-for-6 to open the 1993 season, an 18-12 win against the Seattle Seahawks.
– Including the playoffs, most games in Steelers’ history with at least six field goals.
Chris Boswell: 3
Rest Of Steelers Kickers Combined: 2
Jeff Reed did it in 2002 and Gary Anderson did so in 1988.
– Boswell hit three of his six field goals from 50-plus yards, connecting from 51, 56, and 57 yards. As the team announced, that is a Steelers single-game record.
To put that in even greater perspective, from 1960 to 2016, the Steelers never kicked three 50-plus yard field goals in a season. Boswell did it in one game. Incredible.
– George Pickens was responsible for 54.5-percent of the Steelers’ receiving yards Sunday. He had six receptions for 85 yards. All other Steelers wide receivers had just two catches for 8 yards.
– Justin Fields had 14 rushes Sunday. That’s the most by any Steelers QB since the 1970 merger, breaking Kordell Stewart’s 12 set in 2002 against the Jacksonville Jaguars.
– Pittsburgh ran the ball 41 times against Atlanta. That’s the most by the Steelers in a Week 1 game since…Mike Tomlin’s debut in 2007 when his Steelers ran the ball 42 times in a 34-7 win over the Cleveland Browns.
– New Pittsburgh Steelers additions CB Donte Jackson and S DeShon Elliott had interceptions in their Steelers debuts yesterday. They’re the first pair of Steelers to record a pair of picks in a Week 1 debuts with the team since DBs Willie Daniel and Johnny Sample in 1961, a 27-24 loss to the Dallas Cowboys. That was five years before the Falcons’ franchise existed.
– It took Pittsburgh until Week 9 last year to score points on an opening drive. They got a field goal out of their first possession to start the year. It’s progress, at least.
– The Steelers had drives of 10, 10, and 13 plays. They resulted in six total points. Two field goals and a turnover on downs.
– Since being drafted, T.J. Watt has 12 Week 1 sacks. That leads the NFL.
– Pittsburgh’s second-half performance was dominant. They allowed 26 yards on 21 plays, a gain of 1.2 yards per play. The Falcons punted three times, fumbled once, threw a pick, and had the game end on downs.
– Pittsburgh won the fourth quarter time-of-possession battle 11:21 to 3:39.
– In the post-Ben Roethlisberger era, 2022 to present, the Steelers are 14-2 when they don’t turn the ball over. Which means they are 6-13 when they turn the ball over even once, regardless of turnover differential.
– Since Mike Tomlin became head coach in 2007, the Steelers are tied for the NFL lead for regular-season games won without scoring a touchdown. Sunday’s win gives them three, joining most of the rest of the AFC North. Jacksonville, Baltimore, and Cleveland also have three such wins. AFC North football, baby.
The 18-10 win marks the team’s first regular-season (not including playoffs) win without a touchdown since beating the San Diego Chargers 11-10 in 2008. A game in which Troy Polamalu was robbed of a score on the final play.
– Finally, kudos to DT Montravius Adams. He picked up a sack Sunday for the first time since the 2018 season. His last full sack came in Week 10 against the Miami Dolphins which came against, and I wouldn’t have guessed this if you gave me 1,000 tries, QB Brock Osweiler.
It’s a span of 2,129 days between sacks. Amazing.
