The Pittsburgh Steelers were on the road for the ninth time in 10 years to open the season. Even though the game was in Atlanta, Steelers’ Nation showed up again taking away much of the home-field advantage. With the defense leading the way, the Steelers offense complemented well enough to leave Atlanta with a victory.

So without further ado, here are some of the numbers involved in the Steelers Week 1 win over the Falcons.

+3

In what is one of the most important statistics outside of the score, the Steelers won the turnover battle on Sunday which was a significant factor in the game. The Steelers did not turn the ball over at all on Sunday while having three takeaways in the form of interceptions from Deshon Elliott and Donte Jackson as well as a T.J. Watt fumble recovery. The Steelers would have had another turnover on a strip sack which Watt recovered in the first half but was called offsides. The officials told Watt later they had missed the call, but it’s still didn’t give the Steelers a takeaway and led to an Atlanta touchdown on the next play.

6

The Steelers had six scoring drives in the game, but unfortunately they only led to six made field goals and no touchdowns. Chris Boswell was up to the task hitting field goals from 57, 56, and 51 yards as well as 44, 40, and 25 yards.

137

The Steelers were able to stick with their running game on Sunday and gained 137 yards on the ground on 41 rushing attempts. Although it only came out to a 3.3 yard average, it was a question of volume which got the Steelers to a significant total. The Steelers would have had even more if it were not for one carry by George Pickens for -10 yards. Najee Harris led away with 70 yards on 20 carries followed by Justin Fields with 57 yards on 14 carries.

1

The Steelers defense did the job throughout the day, especially in the second half. Giving up only 51 yards of offense in the second half, the Falcons only had 1 net yard of passing over the final 30 minutes. Kirk Cousins had 3 completions on 8 attempts for 19 yards but was sacked twice for a loss of 18 yards.

2 for 8

George Pickens led the way receiving for the Steelers with six receptions for 85 yards on seven targets. Pickens had another significant gain called back on questionable offensive pass interference which would have put him over the hundred yard mark for the day. But the concern is the other Steelers wide receivers only totaled 2 catches for 8 yards on 4 targets. Van Jefferson only had 1 reception for 1 yard while Calvin Austin had 1 catch for 7 yards.

47%

Although they never got the ball into the end zone, the Steelers did have success moving the football in part to having a 47% conversion rate on third down. The Steelers were 8 of 17 on their third down attempts and 5 of 8 in the first half. As for the Falcons, they were only 2 of 9 on the day for 22% with both conversions coming in the first half as they were 0 for 5 in the second half.

74%

Switching around the digits from the previous number, Justin Fields only threw the ball for 156 yards passing but was very efficient in completing 74% of his passes. Fields finished with 17 completions on 23 attempts for the day an averaged 5.3 yards per pass.

2

The Steelers defense got the job done throughout the day. Of the Falcons 10 offensive possessions, only 2 of them went for more than 25 yards, and both of them resulted in points. In the second half, the Steelers did not give up a drive of more than 13 yards or a drive where the Falcons had multiple first downs.

9

One significant area of concern for the Steelers was the number of penalties they had called against them. The Steelers had 9 penalties that were accepted on the day against them, and the bigger problem was the significance they played. Whether or not they were accurate calls does not change the statistics. Even though it was only officially for 60 yards, the Steelers had penalties which called back a significant pass play, two T.J. Watt sacks with one of them being a strip sack and fumble recovery, one negating a quality punt return, and one causing Chris Boswell to have to punt for an injured Cameron Johnston. Of course the Steelers want to keep the penalties down, but even worse is when the penalties erase a significant play.

1

To think the Steelers played a close to perfect game would be inaccurate. Although the defense played great, there were some times where penalties erased splash plays. Even though the offense managed a number of scoring drives, they did not find the end zone. But with all things considered, the Steelers left Atlanta adding a tally to the win column which is the most important number of them all.

So there are some numbers to help put the Steelers Week 1 win in perspective. The offense did enough to get the defense while the defense gave a dominating performance, especially in the second half.

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