Welcome to your weekly Pittsburgh Steelers “stat pack,” five numbers you need to know to get ready for the upcoming game against the Cincinnati Bengals. They could relate to the opponent or the Steelers themselves and could involve an individual, unit, or something else. All to help you become the smartest fan for gameday.
481
The amount of YAC Bengals WR Ja’Marr Chase has this season. That’s most of any wide receiver and second in the NFL, only trailing Miami Dolphins RB Devon Achane, who got a game on Thanksgiving.
To put that in perspective, Chase’s 481 YAC would rank second in overall receiving yards by any Steelers’ player. Currently, TE Pat Freiermuth and WR Calvin Austin 354 are tied for second behind George Pickens in receiving yards. Containing Chase and preventing him from doing damage post-catch will be key. As Dave Bryan mentioned in Friday’s podcast, containing QB Joe Burrow from extending the play will go a long way toward solving that.
30, 31
The respective red zone ranks of the Pittsburgh Steelers’ offense and Cincinnati Bengals’ defense. It’s bad-on-bad in this one. The Steelers can’t finish inside the 20 while the Bengals can’t get a stop. Something’s gotta give. If Pittsburgh caves, it’ll be an awfully discouraging sign.
For Pittsburgh facing a high-scoring Cincinnati outfit, they can’t keep settling for field goals. If the red zone offense keeps ending in Chris Boswell finishing drives (unless they’re extra points), it’ll be difficult to pull off a victory. And will present major questions as Pittsburgh nears the hardest stretch of their schedule.
44.6
The net punt yardage of Bengals’ rookie punter Ryan Rehkow. A strong-footed punter out of BYU, WR Calvin Austin III better be ready to back up to some of his boots. Rehkow is averaging over 50 yards gross and his net punting is third-best in the NFL. By comparison, Corliss Waitman is 14th.
Against the Browns, the Steelers’ special teams couldn’t make the clutch plays they have throughout the rest of the year. A repeat performance could result in a repeat outcome – a loss.
23
Stealing this one from Mike Tomlin because it was a great stat. That’s the number of screens Cincinnati has run against Pittsburgh the last six games, Tomlin mentioned during his Tuesday press conference. That’s nearly four per game.
Much of it likely has to do with slowing down the Steelers’ pass rush. But the Bengals also simply have the talent to run them. Chase at wide receiver and watch out for the speedy Chase Brown at running back. He has 35 receptions this season and only needs a crease to hit a big play.
Over his past three games, Brown has at least five catches and has 50-plus yards in back-to-back games. Expect to see it often on Sunday, especially early.
0.790
Mike Tomlin’s career winning percentage on the road against the Cincinnati Bengals, including two playoff wins. He’s 15-4 in those moments. Granted, some of those wins came during a stretch when the Bengals weren’t nearly as talented as they are today, and they’ve suffered two of those losses in recent seasons.
Still, if history is any indication, Pittsburgh has the edge going into Cincinnati. A much different stat than last week when the Steelers’ lack of recent success against the Browns proved true.
