Another Monday night win. Another dosage of weird. Hope you’re hungry.
– As noted by the ESPN broadcast several times, the Pittsburgh Steelers have won 22 straight games at home on Monday Night Football. Their last such loss came in 1991 against the New York Giants. The Giants made their push but wouldn’t be responsible for breaking that streak last night.
The Steelers did suffer a 2020 Monday loss to the Washington Football Team but that was a COVID-moved game that started at 5 PM. So not true “MNF” is the technicality there.
– Pittsburgh finished the game with 426 yards of total offense Monday night. It’s the third time under OC Arthur Smith that the Steelers recorded at least 400 yards of offense and it’s happened in both of QB Russell Wilson’s starts.
To put that in perspective, the Steelers didn’t have a 4oo-yard outing in 44 games under former OC Matt Canada.
In the 15 games since his firing, they’ve done it five times. Two in 2023 under Mike Sullivan/Eddie Faulkner and three times in 2024 under Smith.
– QB Russell Wilson enjoyed another strong performance in the 26-18 win. He’s been particularly strong after halftime. In his two starts, he’s 16-of-21 (76.2 percent) for 249 yards, two touchdowns, and zero interceptions in the second half against the New York Jets and New York Giants. That’s a QB rating of 146.7.
In the first half, he’s 20-of-36 (55.6 percent) for 293 yards, one TD and zero interceptions. That’s a QB rating of 91.6.
– RB Najee Harris ran for 114 yards in this game, the first-time he’s rushed for 100-plus yards three consecutive games in his NFL career. In fact, it’s not only the first time he’s done it in his NFL career but it’s something he never did at Alabama, never having a college streak longer than two-straight games.
Harris is the first Steeler to rush for 100-yards in at least three-straight games since RB James Conner in 2018 across Weeks 5-9. In the Mike Tomlin era, Harris is the fourth back to do so joining Willie Parker (2007), Le’Veon Bell (2016), and Conner.
– WR Van Jefferson finished with four receptions against the Giants, the most he’s had this year with the Steelers. It’s his most in a game since the 2023 season opener when he was with the Los Angeles Rams, catching four passes for 24 yards in a win over the Seattle Seahawks.
His 62 yards are his most in a game since Week 17 of the 2022 season when he went for 77 yards in a loss to the Los Angeles Chargers.
– WR Calvin Austin III had the Steelers’ first punt-return touchdown since Diontae Johnson in 2019.
For his career, he now has a 70-yard touchdown catch (72 yards against the Las Vegas Raiders last season) and a 70-yard punt-return score. He’s now the sixth Steeler in history to have 70-yard touchdown catches and punt returns. He joins Diontae Johnson, Roy Jefferson, Louis Lipps, Antonio Brown, and Ray Mathews.
– Since 2000, Austin is just the sixth different Steeler to record a punt-return touchdown. He joins Diontae Johnson, Antonio Brown, Antwaan Randle El, Santonio Holmes, and Hank Poteat.
– Austin is only the third Steeler to have a receiving and punt return touchdown in a primetime game, joining Antonio Brown and Louis Lipps. Incredibly, Brown did it on three occasions (2013 and 2014 versus Bengals and 2015 versus Colts), meaning three of his four career punt-return scores came under the bright lights.
It also means four of the team’s last five PR touchdowns have come in primetime. All three of Brown’s were on SNF while Austin’s came on MNF.
– Eight different Steelers caught passes in the win over New York.
– TE Darnell Washington was one of them, hauling in a 29-yard reception. It’s the longest catch of his NFL career. It’s the longest reception since Nov. 12, 2022, when he had a 30-yard grab against Mississippi State.
– CB Joey Porter Jr. finished with eight tackles, the most he’s had in an NFL game. It’s the most he’s had in any game since Penn State’s 2022 season opener when he had eight against Purdue. He’s only had more than that since college once, a nine-tackle outing against Illinois in 2021.
– T.J. Watt is up to 103 NFL sacks. That is 36th on the official all-time list. He needs just 4.5 to crack the top 30, something he’s likely to do by season’s end.
– Watt and Alex Highsmith each recorded two sacks in this game. It’s only the second time both had more than one sack in a game, the first coming in Week 17 of the 2022 season against the Cleveland Browns. Watt had four sacks that day while Highsmith had a pair.
– CB Beanie Bishop Jr. picked off another pass to seal the win over the Giants. He is the first Steelers rookie to record three interceptions in a single season since Artie Burns in 2016. They are the only two this century. Before them, it was Weber State’s favorite Scott Shields in 1999. Before him was Darren Perry in 1992.
– Since the merger Bishop is one of two Steelers UDFA rookies to intercept three passes in a season. He joins Tony Dungy, who signed with the Steelers in 1977 and picked off three passes as a rookie.
Bishop is only the eighth Steeler to ever do it. Among that group is Jack Butler, meaning Bishop is joined by two Hall of Famers.
– K Chris Boswell is tied for the league lead with 23 made field goals this year. He’s on pace to finish the year with 48, which would shatter the NFL record of 44 held by the San Francisco 49ers’ (not Philadelphia Eagles) David Akers in 2011. The Washington Commanders’ Austin Seibert also has 23 and is on the same pace.
– The Steelers have won the turnover battle in six of eight games this season. They’re 1-1 in the two games they didn’t (Chargers and Colts).
– Finally, going to end this one on a negative note. But a notable one all the same. New York Giants rookie RB Tyrone Tracy Jr. rushed for 145 yards before exiting with injury. It’s the second-most rush yards by a rookie against the Steelers in franchise history, only trailing Leonard Fournette’s 181 in 2017 with the Jacksonville Jaguars, who capped his day with a late 90-yard touchdown run.
Tracy overtakes rookies like Curtis Martin (120), John Henry Johnson (124 – with the 49ers before he became a Steeler), Parker Hall (131), and Boyce Green (137).
