After a bye week of weird and wins, the Pittsburgh Steelers provided both in their 28-27 win over the Washington Commanders Sunday.
– Starting with the score and points. Pittsburgh scored exactly seven points in quarters one through four to create their 28-point showing. It’s the first time they’ve posted exactly seven in each quarter since Dec. 17, 1989, when they beat the New England Patriots, 28-10. A game coached by Chuck Noll and Raymond Berry and quarterbacked by Marc Wilson and Bubby Brister.
– K Chris Boswell did not even attempt a field goal Sunday, much less make one. It marks the first time since Week 16 of 2020 that the Steelers won a game in which they did not attempt a field goal, beating the Indianapolis Colts, 28-24. In fact, their last three occasions, including yesterday, involved Pittsburgh scoring exactly 28 points. They also beat the Baltimore Ravens 28-24 earlier in that 2020 season.
– With the goose egg, Boswell is officially behind David Akers’ pace for most field goals in a season. Boswell on pace to finish with 43 while Akers’ record sits at 44. Pittsburgh won’t mind scoring more touchdowns, though.
– As we’ve noted several times, Russell Wilson became the first Steelers quarterback to throw three touchdown passes in one game since Ben Roethlisberger in Week 14 of 2021. Including the playoffs, that was a 48-game drought, easily the NFL’s longest. It’s now been broken.
– Wilson finished the game going 14-of-28 with those three scores, making him the first Steelers QB to complete no better than half his throws and still throw for three touchdowns since Ben Roethlisberger in 2007. Roethlisberger went 15-of-32 in a loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars, the only such stat line of his career. Since 1989, Tommy Maddox is the only other Steeler to pull it off.
– Miles Killebrew became the first Steelers defensive player to attempt a pass since S Robert Golden in 2017. In fact, Golden and Killebrew are the only two since Tony Dungy played emergency quarterback in 1977. Both of Golden’s pass attempts were complete. Killebrew’s should’ve been too but alas…
– This stat took some work so I hope you appreciate it as much as I do. Since the 1970 merger, Mike Williams became the third Steelers WR to haul in a 30-plus-yard touchdown on his first catch in his first game as a Steeler. He joins Martavis Bryant in 2014 and Lynn Swann in 1974 as the only others to do it. Bryant had a 35-yard score against the Houston Texans while Swann registered a 54-yard touchdown on his first NFL grab against the Baltimore Colts.
– For only the second time since becoming teammates, Najee Harris and Jaylen Warren each carried the ball 14-plus times in a game. Against the Commanders, Harris had 21 to Warren’s 14. They did similar last year when Harris had 16 and Warren 15 against the Green Bay Packers.
– For the first time in his NFL career, T.J. Watt posted zero tackles in a game. The last time he had a goose egg came in 2015 at Wisconsin when he posted one pass deflection and zero tackles in a 31-21 win over the Minnesota Golden Gophers.
To put that date in perspective, it was J.J. Watt’s fifth NFL season and the final time he would win NFL Defensive Player of the Year.
– In fact, neither Watt nor Alex Highsmith recorded a tackle. From a baseline box-score perspective, the most productive OLB was newly acquired Preston Smith. He finished with three tackles and was credited with a sack.
– Pittsburgh allowed three rushing touchdowns in a game for the first time since 2021, a 41-10 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals.
– Since 1982, Cam Heyward became the second-oldest Steeler to record a pair of sacks in one game, recording two at age 35. Only James Harrison, who did so at ages 36, 37, and 38, was older.
– Cam and Connor Heyward each finished with two tackles.
– Finally, the Commanders came into the game having punted 19 times all season. They punted six times Sunday, now representing 24 percent of their season total. All come from 10 percent of their games.
