More stats of the weird following the Pittsburgh Steelers’ Week 2 game against the Seattle Seahawks. They’re not as a fun in a loss but there’s plenty of weird worth noting.
– Starting with the score. For the second-straight week, Pittsburgh allowed 31-plus points in a 31-17 loss after giving up 32 to the New York Jets in Week 1. It’s the first time the Steelers have allowed 31-plus points in their first two games of the season since 1989, a year featuring two of the most historic losses in team history. Pittsburgh lost 51-0 to Cleveland in the season opener and 45-10 to Cincinnati in Week Two.
Incredibly, the Steelers turned their year around, made the playoffs, and K Gary Anderson’s 50-yard field goal upset the Houston Oilers in the Wild Card game.
– Allowing 31-plus in the first two games is only the third such instance in team history. Aside from 1989 and 2025, 1968 was the only other year. The final one before Chuck Noll arrived.
– Pittsburgh’s allowed 10 runs of 10-plus yards this season. Through two games last year, the team allowed only five and 43 for the season. The Steelers are nearly one-quarter of the way there and are on pace to allow 85 in 2025.
– Through two games, Pittsburgh has allowed 299 rushing yards. In the Chuck Noll and Bill Cowher era (1969-1991), the Steelers allowed 299 yards rushing over their first two games of a season three times. All under Noll (1975, 1981, 1989). In the Mike Tomlin era (2007-present), it’s happened four times and all in the last 12 seasons: 2014, 2018, 2023, and 2025.
– Jaylen Warren’s 86 receiving yards are the most by a Steelers RB since Najee Harris had 102 yards in a 2021 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals.
– Warren’s 65-yard catch and run is the longest reception by a Steelers RB since at least 1978, the furthest back play by play from Stathead/Pro Football Reference goes. Though I can’t say with true certainty, it might have been the longest since Cannonball Butler had a 66-yard touchdown in 1966 against the New York Giants.
It’s the longest non-touchdown catch by any Steeler since JuJu Smith-Schuster had a 67-yard catch in 2017 against the Cleveland Browns.
– Through two games, Warren is the Steelers’ leading receiver with 108 yards.
– WR Roman Wilson had a 7-yard reception against the Seahawks. It’s his first catch in a game that counted since the 2023 College Football Playoff Championship Game, Wilson making three receptions for 54 yards in a win over the Washington Huskies. That pass came from J.J. McCarthy, currently the NFL’s youngest QB. His next catch came from Aaron Rodgers, the NFL’s oldest QB.
The starting quarterbacks of that game were Michael Penix Jr. and McCarthy, who squared off in Sunday’s nightcap between the Atlanta Falcons and Minnesota Vikings.
– Per our friends over at Quirky Research, Seattle scored the first defensive touchdown on a kickoff since 2017 when the Buffalo Bills made the same gaffe.
Pittsburgh once scored on the kickoff. In the 1982 Wild Card game, the San Diego Chargers muffed the opening kickoff and were somehow unable to corral it before the Steelers’ coverage team made it downfield. If there’s more solace for Kaleb Johnson, the man who fumbled it for the Chargers was RB James Brooks, who went on to become a four-time Pro Bowler.
– Through two games, TE Jonnu Smith has nine receptions but is managing only 4.7 yards per catch.
– Playoffs included, T.J. Watt hasn’t registered a sack in six-straight games.
– Linebacker Cole Holcomb played his first defensive snaps and made his first tackle since his 2023 knee injury against the Tennessee Titans.
– Aaron Rodgers has been sacked seven times through two games. He’s on pace to be sacked 59 times this season.
– Punter Corliss Waitman averaged 55.3-yards gross on four punts. That’s the fourth-highest single-game average on four-plus punts in team history. He only trails Bobby Joe Green (57.5, 1960), Waitman himself (56.5, 2024), and Josh Miller (56.0, 1999). Of course, one of Waitman’s punts was rocketed through the end zone, which wasn’t the ideal outcome.
– Kicker Chris Boswell has made 13-straight field goals. His last miss came in Week 13 of last season, a kick that was blocked. His last true miss came in Week 12, a 58-yarder in windy Cleveland.
– Pittsburgh has eight rushing first downs through two games.
