A weird game from the literal (delayed) start, let’s dive into the Pittsburgh Steelers’ Week 5 loss to the Dallas Cowboys.
– As far as I can tell, this was the latest start to a Pittsburgh Steelers game in franchise history. A 9:45 PM/EST kickoff besting the previous “late” of 9:12 PM/EST against the New England Patriots in 2002. A game the Steelers also lost.
– To put things in perspective, the third quarter ended just about at midnight and the game wasn’t over until 1 AM/EST.
– From 2007 to entering Week 5 teams that turned the ball over at least three times with 11 penalties were 19-102-1, a .160-win rate. Dallas did both of those things against Pittsburgh and still won.
It’s the second time it’s happened to Tomlin. In 2019, the Baltimore Ravens beat the Steelers, 26-23, in overtime despite three turnovers and 11 penalties.
– And if you want to dial it down to teams winning despite three turnovers, 11 penalties, and forcing just one turnover themselves, they’re just 8-71-1 since 2007 entering this week. A .106 winning percentage. And Pittsburgh’s lone turnover came on the final play of the game and was immaterial to its loss.
– To finalize that point, this is the first time Pittsburgh’s played a game in which it forced three turnovers, the opposition had 11 penalties, and the Steelers turned the ball over no more than once since their 2010 Week 2 win over the Tennessee Titans. Otherwise known as WR Antonio Brown’s first career game.
It’s the first time Pittsburgh’s lost such a game in recorded franchise history, dating back to at least the 1970 merger. The Steelers had been 12-0 in such games since 1973, the earliest recorded edition. Makes this loss really sting.
– RB Najee Harris led the team with 35 yards receiving. He has more receiving yards (89) than rushing yards (61) over the past two games.
– Harris is averaging 2.9 yards per carry over his last three games, 45 carries for 131 yards and zero touchdowns.
– A little specific but Harris is only the second running back since 2010 to have five-straight games over the course of a single season with 13-plus rushes and no more than 70 yards rushing. Austin Ekeler did it last year for the Los Angeles Chargers. Before them, you gotta go back to ex-Steeler Le’Veon Bell in 2019.
– Pittsburgh’s longest play from scrimmage was a 21-yard completion to WR George Pickens. To put that in perspective, Colts QB Joe Flacco had a 21-yard run himself Sunday in a loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars. Pittsburgh is moving at Flacco-speed.
– The Steelers gave up a pair of at least 15-play drives to the Cowboys, 15- and 16-play possessions that included Dallas’ game-winning drive. That’s the first time it’s happened to the Steelers since 2015 when the San Francisco 49ers did it three times against them in a 43-18 Steelers rout. But only one of their possessions resulted in points, a field goal, while the Cowboys found the end zone on both of theirs.
– T.J. Watt now needs exactly 99 sacks to match Bruce Smith’s mark for the NFL all-time record, official or unofficial.
– Pittsburgh began the year 2-0 in one-score games. They’ve now lost their last two by a one-score margin. It marks the first time since Weeks 15-16 of the 2019 season, nearly five years ago, that the Steelers have lost consecutive games by one possession.
– Finally, the Steelers have allowed their opponent to convert 17-of-30 third-down conversions over the last two games after finishing the first three weeks as the NFL’s No. 1 third-down defense of about 21 percent. In Weeks 4-5, the opposition converted 56.7 percent, well more than double that rate.
The last time Pittsburgh allowed that kind of success, at least eight conversions on no more than 15 third-down attempts, in back-to-back games came in 2018 against the Atlanta Falcons and Cincinnati Bengals.
Even worse, the Steelers have allowed 9-of-16 conversions (56.3 percent) when the opposing team is facing 3rd and 6 or longer the last two weeks. The Colts went 6-of-10 while the Cowboys went 3-of-6 Sunday night.
