Stats That Stood Out: Steelers vs. Browns (Week 1)
No matter how ugly that game was, especially offensively, a win is a win. And against an AFC North opponent on the road? I’ll take it. Let’s take a look at the stats that stood out.
47,077
Although everyone on the offense looked out of sync, Ben Roethlisberger was still able to gain 263 yards through the air. Going into the game, Ben needed only 190 yards to pass Fran Tarkenton for 9th-most in NFL history. After Week 1, he has 47,077 career passing yards. The next inactive player on the list? Warren Moon with 49,325 yards to his name. Just to save you some time, that’s a difference of 2,248. If everyone on the offense can stay healthy, Ben should easily pass him some time during the season.
47
After avoiding training camp and all of the preseason, this was the first game action for Le’Veon Bell. He accounted for 47 total yards of offense with 32 coming on the ground on 10 carries and another 15 through the air on 3 receptions. Two holding calls brought back runs of 12 yards and 7 yards. All will be right with Bell and the rest of the offense in due time.
30
What a performance from Antonio Brown. Of the Steelers 290 total yards, Brown had 182 of them. This was his 30th 100-yard game, which breaks a tie with Hines Ward for most in Steelers history. What’s even more astonishing is the fact that he was targeted 11 times and caught all of them. This is the first time since 2014 that a quarterback targeted a receive 11 or more times without an incompletion.
14
This was Antonio Brown’s 14th game with 10 or more receptions since 2013 which is first in the NFL. His last 10+ reception game was Week 16 vs. the Ravens last season where Brown caught 10 passes for 96 yards.
13
I’ve got to give credit to the Browns for playing well, but this game was closer than it should’ve been due in part to the 13 penalties for 144 yards. Of the 13, five of them were holding calls and four unnecessary roughness penalties. However, some of the penalties including the unnecessary roughness on T.J. Watt and the illegal peel back block on Bell were very questionable. Moving forward, the team will have to use their head mentally, not physically.
7
The Steelers harassed Browns rookie quarterback DeShone Kizer all day to the tune of seven sacks. They were led by Anthony Chickillo, who was starting in place for an injured Bud Dupree, and rookie T.J. Watt, who was making his regular season debut, who had two sacks each. Watt is the first Steeler to have two sacks and an interception in a game since LaMarr Woodley did it in 2010 and the first player in 30 years to have that stat line in his NFL debut. Joe Haden, Javon Hargrave, and Cameron Heyward had one sack a piece.
4
How many receptions did the other wide receivers not named “Antonio Brown” have? Four. Eli Rogers and Martavis Bryant each had two receptions totaling out to 25 yards. Luckily, tight end Jesse James bounced back from an up-and-down preseason with his first career multi-touchdown game, but the Steelers will need bigger contributions from their wide receivers if they want to reach their potential offensively.
