The Pittsburgh Steelers had their second contest in preparation for the 2024 season by coming up short at home against the Buffalo Bills in Week 2 of the preseason. There was plenty to take away from the game on the negative side, so there is plenty to dissect and improve on moving forward across all units that took the field.

So without further ado, here are some of the numbers involved in the Steelers preseason loss to the Bills.

+1

The Steelers improved from their first preseason game when it came to taking care of the ball. The offense had no turnovers and their only fumble was at the end of the game where Justin Fields had the ball knocked up in the air where he grabbed it and still was able to make a throw. The Steelers landed on the right side of the turnover margin with one take away in the form of a Miles Killabrew interception of Mitch Trubisky. Even though the Steelers moved the ball 22 yards after the interception, the drive ended with a missed 52-yard field goal so it did not lead to points.

0/3

Although the Steelers did not turn the ball over in the typical sense, they did have three turnovers on downs. The Steelers were 0 for 3 on fourth down conversions with all of them  coming in the three drives in the second half. The Steelers failed on a 4th & 1 inside the Buffalo 10-yard line and had an incompletion on a 4th & 3 at the Buffalo 20-yard line. The Steelers final offensive play of the game came in desperation mode on a 4th & 11 at their own 27-yard line with less than a minute to play.

2

When looking at the preseason, the biggest takeaways often come when looking at the first unit on either side of the ball. With Russell Wilson getting his first action at quarterback leading the first unit, he played on five drives but only yielded two first downs. The Steelers had three drives of three and out, another drive with one first down but only netted 7 yards, and Wilson’s final drive of seven plays for 22 yards and one first down which ended with the missed field goal and was the only drive to cross midfield.

1/7; 3/6

The Steelers third down conversion rate with their first unit is another red flag again this week. In the first half of the game, the Steelers only had one conversion on third down 1 of 7 opportunities. During the second half they improved to 50% as they were 3 of 6. While the 4 of 13 for 31% looks concerning enough, seeing how it is broken down by half and when the first unit was playing is even more concerning.

58.6

One of the few highlights of the game when the Steelers had the ball in their possession was when they were giving it away in the form of a punt. Cameron Johnston had 5 punts for a total of 284 yards with a 56.8 gross punting average. After factoring in the Bills five punt returns of 63 yards, the net punting was at 44.2 yards per punt.

8:53 & 6:02

The Steelers only had three possessions in the second half of Saturday night’s game. Their first possession was 14 plays and took 8:53 off the clock. Next drive was 11 plays and took 6:02 off the clock. These two drives alone lasted five second shy of an entire quarter. Unfortunately, they didn’t net the Steelers any points as they both ended in a failed fourth down conversion.

42 & 125

When looking at the overalls statistics, seeing the Buffalo Bills with 167 rushing yards on 34 attempts for a 4.90 yards per rush average looks pretty bad. But 125 of those yards came on 23 rushing attempts in the second half where Buffalo was averaging 5.43 yards per rush. During the first half with the first unit on the field from the majority of the snaps, the Bills managed 42 yards on 11 attempts for a 3.82 yards per rush average. As for the Steelers, they rushed for 106 yards on 27 attempts for a 3.90 average with Justin Field’s 42 yards on 8 attempts netting more than twice as many yards as any other Steelers rusher.

4

It appeared that the Buffalo Bills dedicating themselves to running the football in the second half was a specific plan. In fact, the Bills only had 4 passing plays in the entire second half out of their 27 offensive plays. Of those four plays, one ended in a sack while two of the three passes went for completions but only for a total of 12 yards.

3

Last week I outlined how the Steelers offense scoring 12 points in a game isn’t enough to get the job done. Unfortunately, the team went in the wrong direction in their second preseason game by only putting three points on the board. Typically holding a team to nine points gives a very high probability of success, but only scoring three points is not going to win games. The defense can’t be forced to pitch a shut out every week in order to achieve a victory.

3?

Once again, the more important number to finish up is not about wins and losses but about any injuries that were sustained in the game. The Steelers had three injuries which were noted by Mike Tomlin after the game in his press conference. Two players are dealing with a hamstring injury in running back Jaleyn Warren and defensive back Anthony Averett. Rookie linebacker Payton Wilson left the game with a concussion. These are three significant injuries to monitor, but there may be even more (hence the question mark) that may not be reported until a later time.

So there are some numbers to help put the Steelers Week 2 preseason loss in perspective. The Steelers’ defense kept the Bills out of the end zone, but the offense only managed three points on the night.

So what numbers from Saturday night’s preseason game stand out to you? Please leave your thoughts in the comments below.