The Pittsburgh Steelers have managed a 6-2 record during the first half of the 2024 season. With two three-game winning streaks separated by dropping two in a row, the Steelers find themselves in first place in the AFC North coming out of their bye week.

So without further ado, here are some of the numbers involved in the Steelers first half of the season.

+10

Through eight games, the Steelers have come out on the right end of the turnover margin in a big way. With only 5 turnovers compared to 15 takeaways, the Steelers have a +10 turnover margin which is second in the NFL going into Week 9. The only team that had a bigger margin was the Buffalo Bills at +11.

+68

Another place where the Steelers are on the right end of a significant margin is that of points scored. The Steelers hold a +68 point differential on the season. This equates to an +8.5 point margin of victory through the first aid games. To put this number in perspective, the Steelers have not finished a season with a positive margin of victory since the 2020 season and have not had more than an +8.0 margin of victory since 2010 when they finished with +8.9.

+117

Although sometimes it feels as if the Pittsburgh Steelers are having too many penalties called on them, they actually are doing quite well when looking at penalty yardage surrendered versus penalty yardage gained. The Steelers are a +117 which is second in the NFL going into Week 9 only behind the Los Angeles Rams at a +195. The Steelers have only had one accepted defensive pass interference penalty on the season, which is a number that surprised me. In all, the Steelers have had 52 penalties called against them that were accepted for 392 yards. The most common penalty has been offensive holding with 11 penalties followed closely by false starts which has been assessed 10 times.

46.4%

One place where the Steelers offense as a whole needs to improve is their red zone efficiency when it comes to finishing with touchdowns. The Steelers have only converted 43.4% of their red zone trips which ranks 28th in the NFL ahead of Week 9. When looking strictly at volume, the Steelers are averaging 1.6 red zone touchdowns per game which has them tied for 20th in the NFL. So part of the reason the Steelers percentage is ranked lower than the raw number is because they have seen an increase in number of times they are reaching the red zone.

15.1

The Pittsburgh Steelers seemed to really turn things on in the second half of games. When looking at the offense, the Steelers are averaging 15.1 points scored in the second half through their first eight games.This is tied for the top number in the NFL ahead of Week 9 with the Philadelphia Eagles.

5.6

Looking at the second half from a defensive standpoint, the Steelers have been lights out particularly in the third quarter. In all, the Steelers have surrounded no points through eight games in the third quarter while giving up 5.6 points per game in the fourth quarter. This means that 5.6 is their total points surrendered in the second half per game, which is the best second half scoring defense in the NFL.

13.3%

Not wanting to leave special teams out of these numbers, the Pittsburgh Steelers have blocked 13.3% of field goal attempts this season which is first in the NFL by a large margin. The next closest team is the San Francisco 49ers with 7.7% and there are only 7 teams that are above a 0% going into Week 9.

85

When looking at the standings for points scored in the NFL, the Pittsburgh Steelers see their logo towards the top. Chris Boswell has 85 points scored this season which is second in the NFL only to Austin Seibert of the Washington Commanders who has 88 going into Week 9

9

A number to point out and remember is that the Steelers have not had a lot of continuity on their offensive line this season. In fact, the Steelers have had nine different players who have started at least one game on the offensive line. The only player who has started all eight games is left tackle Dan Moore Jr. with Broderick Jones just behind starting seven games.

6

Numbers are nice. Numbers are good things to look at and can be a lot of fun. But the only thing that really matters is winning football games. And out of their 8 games this season, the Steelers have been victorious in 6 of them.

So there are some numbers to help put the Steelers first eight games in perspective. The Steelers now head into the second half of the season, which includes all six of their divisional games.

So what numbers from the first half of the season stand out to you? Please leave your thoughts in the comments below.